Llangorse lake is a large freshwater lake nestling below the mountains on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park in Mid Wales. It is surrounded by arable farmland and has extensive reedbeds bordering the water.

A welcome break from the almost constant rain we've had over the last three weeks and I headed for Llangorse, passing three reservoirs on the way, Ponsticill, Pentwyn and Talybont. I was pleasantly surprised to see fifteen Pochard on Ponsticill. It's normally devoid of wildfowl for some reason. A pair of Goodanders were the only birds to break the mirror-calm surface of Pentwyn which is just a little further down the road.

The water at Talybont was at the highest level I've seen for a long time and the wintering wildfowl which normally bunch together at the top end of the reservoir were more widely scattered and therefore more difficult to see. There were approx. 20 Goosanders, similar numbers of Coot, 8 Little Grebes, 50 Wigeon, small numbers of Teal, Pochard and Goldeneye and a pair of Mute Swans. There was no sign of the probable Bewick Swan I saw here a couple of weeks ago.

I parked the car beside Llangasty church at Llangorse and could see a flock of 80 Canada Geese resting on the water a short distance away A single Great Crested Grebe kept disappearing under the surface of the water as it fed just offshore. The usual Coots were scattered widely over the water but I couldn't see much else with my binoculars apart from a few Black Headed Gulls. I set up my telescope and scanned the lake to find large numbers of Tufted Duck and a few Goldeneye resting close to the far bank. Cormorants periodically flew up and down the lake and a single male Goosander flew over in the direction of Talybont.

I walked through the fields towards a small area of woodland. A wooden boardwalk had been built over the muddier areas since the last time I was here. A little further on there was a new bird hide and a sign proclaimed that the area was now called Llangasty Nature Reserve. I didn't see many birds until I got to the trees near the hide. I heard the distintive quiet, rattling trill of a Long Tailed Tit before I saw it. Once I'd spotted one, more and more of them seemed to materialise in the branches of the trees all around me. They were accompanied, as is often the case, by a few Goldcrests and Blue Tits. A Wren flitted amongst the undergrowth near my feet and a pair of Dunnocks watched me warily before flying off just before I entered the hide.

The hide overlooked a small area of reeds which was broken into two parts by a channel which provided a view out to the lake. I could only see a few Coots and Blue Tits at first, then I heard the mewing call of a Buzzard and watched three of them soaring overhead. I was chatting to another birdwatcher when he suddenly said Water Rail! and pointed to the reeds. I looked and saw one feeding amongst the reeds in front of the hide. We watched it for about 15 minutes as it trod carefully on the broken reeds floating on the surface before it went deeper into the reedbeds and disappeared. We were lucky to get such good views of this bird as they are normally skulking and very difficult to see as well as being none too common.

On the walk back to the car I heard more Long-tailed Tits in the trees and I went to get a closer look. There were six Siskins in the trees near the tits and a Treecreeper crept up the trunk of a dead tree just behind them. The drive back up the country lane from Llangasty gave me a fleeting glimpse of a male Sparrowhawk as it shot up from the hedgerow by the side of the road and disappeared behind it.