If you get a chance pop down to Ynys-y-For Reservoir - never heard of it? - neither had I! but it's only 5 minutes from junction 27 of the M4, heading towards Rogerstone, then first road on the right past the 14 locks visitor's centre. There is a Grey Phalarope showing well - it was at a distance when i first arrived but flew towards me then went up and down the pool near the bank for about 40 minutes. I've got quite a few photos and a video which I'll post later - DIY taking precedence as no bathroom sink at the mo until I tile and fit a new one!
Great photos and video, John. They are cracking little birds, always on the move and as Hazy says so tiny. I was lucky enough to see one up in Norfolk in November 2013 just before the tidal surge washed away half the coast.
On my trip to Iceland this June we went looking for them on Flatey Island just off the west coast. A few still breed there apparently but they are are highly protected and the reserve was off limits so we were unlucky. Loads of their cousins, the Red-necked Phalaropes, all over Iceland but I would have loved to see the Grey(aka Red Phalarope) in its colouful breeding plumage.
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
Thank you all for your fantastic comments - it's lovely to get such encouragement! It was wonderful to get such close views but boy was it difficult keeping it in the viewfinder when zoomed in. In fact it was hopeless on the video camera's LCD monitor with the sun on the screen, so I switched to using the Lumix, where I could look through the viewfinder and that seems to have worked.
It is truly amazing that this little bird spends most of its time at sea and unusually for waders is a trans-oceanic migrant.
Real quality photos and videos. It just goes to show that anything can turn up in your local patch if you get out there regularly. With the internet we are lucky enough to be able to share it too. Thanks John.
Cheers Colin - fair play we do seem to get our share of vagrants here - average of one every couple of months. So far this year we've had the Stone Curlew that I didn't get to see, Red-Necked and Grey Phalaropes, Temminck's Stint, Great White Egret, Black Terns (Llandegfedd), Wryneck (Chepstow). We've had aWryneck practically every year in Newport but none reported so far in 2015!