A cold day at Ynyshir

Friday looked like a nice day so we decided to go up to Ynyshir RSPB. At first we saw very few birds - nothing but Canada Geese out on the Saltings and nothing from Marian Mawr Hide. Domen Las Hide at least had some birds swimming on the river and in time produced a few good birds:

A bullfinch:

 A dunnock flying with the bullfinch:

A female Goosander:

And last a 'funny looking' cormorant. I could see that it was a cormorant but it still puzzled me so I sought the advice of experts. Arfon said that it was a 'photograph of continental race of Cormorant (sinensis). The clinching id feature is the gular angle - the shape of skin behind the bill. This race has become increasingly common in recent years and there are now a large number of inland breeding colonies in the UK.' I assume it is of a male in breeding plumage:

All taken with my Canon 500mm lens with 1.4 converter ISO1000 f8 at between 1/1250 and 1/2500sec.