WEST OF LLANFAIR P.G. 21 



remain; their muddy bottoms are far deeper than the 

 water that overlies them; here we found the gaudy 

 shoveler drakes resting whilst their mates attended to 

 domestic duties; here we disturbed the lively teal, and 

 sent the mallard duck squattering to lure us from her 

 scared flappers. A cormorant was swimming, its beak 

 tilted upward, on one pool, a grey heron rose with a 

 squawk from another; coots scuttled into the rushes, 

 and moorhens swam rapidly into cover, jerking perky 

 tails. From the dense fringe of aquatic vegetation came 

 the long musical trill of the dabchick, and with its triple 

 call a whimbrel came in from the sea and alighted to feed. 



The bird of the marsh is the sedge- warbler ; everywhere 

 its chattering song drowned other bird notes; swinging 

 on the stems, creeping amongst the rushes and equisetum, 

 perched on the low hedge or tall weed, it poured its varied 

 tunes upon the air now sweet, now harsh, now but an 

 oft-repeated chatter, now a soft, gentle warble. By the 

 embankment, though the sun was shining brightly, that 

 lover of the half-light, the grasshopper warbler, trilled 

 its continuous song with wide-open mandibles; then like 

 a mouse it crept, still singing, amongst the stems, and 

 once, as it fluttered into the air to intercept a passing fly, 

 expanded its rounded tail. 



Below the railway the Cefni runs across level pasture- 

 land to the embankment and road between Newborough 

 and Yard Malldraeth, better known as The Yard. 

 Between road and embankment, a strong wide barrier 

 to keep the sea from the fertile land, lie shallow lagoons, 

 where swallows and martins skim, protected by the 

 sea-wall from the breeze, where the sheld-ducks bathe 

 and sandpipers indulge in nuptial flight. Beyond the 

 sluices the river winds across a wide estuary, bordering 

 the Warren. On the edge of Malldraeth Sands are salt- 

 ings, flat land overgrown with rushes and intersected 



