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Goodwick Moor Nature Reserve

15 acres of reedbed, flood plain mire, scrub, and a complex network of ditches. The reserve lies between two streams, and water levels are at their highest from October to April and the entire moor can often be flooded when spring tides coincide with heavy rain.
The extensive reedbed covers much of the reserve.

Very Rare Migratory Bird at Goodwick Moor
November 2007. A Pechora pipit has been causing a flurry of activity at a Wildlife Trust nature reserve in Pembrokeshire, as it has never been recorded in Wales before.

The bird breeds in the tundra of the far north of Asia from Russia eastwards. It migrates over large distances, normally moving in winter to countries in south east Asia such as Indonesia and Malaysia, but occasionally seen in parts of western Europe in September and October. Normally the best place in western Europe to see the Pechora pipit is Fair Isle, just south of the Shetland Islands.

Around 300 avid birdwatchers from across the UK are thought to have been lucky enough to see the bird, including experienced wildlife photographer Melvin Grey, who took the picture.

Nathan Walton, the Wildlife Trust officer for Pembrokeshire, said the bird was mainly seen flitting through the willow and alder carr and hiding in long grasses.

‘This is a fantastic little bird, and to have such a rarity appear for the first time in Wales on a Wildlife Trust reserve is even more special,’ he said.

‘The Pechora pipit certainly gave people something to talk about and was not put off by all the cameras and binoculars pointing at it. Sometimes it was happy to perch within a couple of meters of the patient crowd!’

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