Usual family mooch down mid-North Wales for a few days, some years very productive when birds have turned up at Conway etc.

This year did itself no disservice with Red Kites galore on the A5 from Llangollen, Osprey at Llyn Brennig, Hawfinch at Caerhun (2), Three at Tal-y-cafn on the west of the bridge and Redstarts galore - at least 3 ad +7 juv. Pied Wagtails covered the field down to the river - 50 or 60 or so.

Great Orme seawatching, first Gannets of the year - not been anywhere coastal yet in the 'summer' thought I'd miss these but many more than normal past the flat we stay in on the headland after the winds on the 19th.

Went to the Little Orme 20th Produced a beauty Sabines Gull adult (first for me, only seen juv prev) Manx Shearwaters, Commic and Sandwich Terns and at least two Cory's Shearwaters (lifer).

Only five seals in Angel Bay.

No Rock Pipits at all in a four mile walk from Lllandudno side of the Little Orme to Rhos! What gives (narked as that would have been my #200 bird on the 2020 list and I do love a Ripit).

Some highlights of yesterday's High Peak RSPB group trip to Anglesey:

South Stack RSPB: 5 Puffin, 6+Chough, 1000's of Guillemots and 100's of Razorbill, Kittiwakes, Fulmar, Raven family, Peregrine Falcon, Common Whitethroat, 5 Stonechat, 2 Rock Pipit

Holyhead harbour: 5 Black Guillemot

Cemlyn Bay: many Arctic, Sandwich and Common Tern, Mediterranean Gull and chick, 2 Black Guillemot, Red Breasted Merganser, 100's of Manx Shearwater, 3 Little Egret. 

World's End near Llandegla from 07:00-14:00 with High Peak RSPB group.

9+ Black Grouse on the lek near road, with all people there following the RSPB code of conduct as far as I could see...4 cars in total. They were giving a great display for a good hour.

Also around between here and the descent down to Llangollen:

1+Red Kite, 20+ Red Grouse, probable fly past Ring Ouzel, 4 Crossbill, 15 Siskin, 6 Stonechat, 2 Common Snipe, 12 Raven, 2 Peregrine Falcon, 5 Common Buzzard, 2 Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, 6 Skylark, Reed Bunting, 30+Meadow Pipit.

An excellent day out in the sunshine of North Wales today.

The trip was organised around the sunshine to start the day at an undisclosed raptor watching spot of mine. I wasn't disappointed with the first of 6 Buzzards being the start of the raptor-fest. Not a raptor but next a small party and then a total of 8 Ravens were seen 'playing' as corvids do in the sunny weather. Two pairs and a singleton gave a total of 5 Red Kites, something new for this area, several years ago I saw none here, just showing how they are spreading. The icing on the cake was the raptor that I had cone to see, a fabulous female Goshawk, relatively close and low and in my scope for a long time. A male Crossbill was also seen in the vicinity, although I didn't spend a lot of time looking for other species!

Next was Anglesey and my tour was a whiz around to regular sites to 'tick' off a few species. First stop was Beddmanarch Bay where the first bird seen was a beautiful adult Mediterranean Gull amongst the Black-headed Gulls. Unlike the full winter-plumaged Black-headeds the Med Gull was already sporting an almost complete jet black hood. There were lots of Pale-bellied Brent Geese out on the mud, as it was low tide, and amongst them was a single Dark-bellied Brent Goose. I wasn't sure whether the tide would stop me getting my target here, but a sweep of the deep central water-filled channel revealed 2 Slavonian Grebes, as well as a female Common Scoter. Next stop was the Fish Dock where 2 Black Guillemots were seen immediately, but no sign of a reported Black Redstart here. A scan of the harbour revealed no divers so it was on to South Stack where 2 Chough fed in fields off the road to the RSPB car park. Ravens flew low overhead and 2 more Chough were seen, but nothing else to report. My final stop was Fryars Beach north of Beaumaris where I picked up 2 Eider offshore but a previously seen Black-necked Grebe wasn't present. Both Shag and Cormorant were seen here too.

-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Monday 19th of February 2024 10:39:03 PM

Four Purple Sandpiper at the usual roost on Marine Drive at Rhos yesterday, could see them  without leaving my cab!!!! Returned on 15th Nov this year according to a local and up to seven have been seen together.

Afternoon visit to the great orme.

Dotterel showing well at the limestone pavements.
26 wheatears
3 stonechat
6 swallows
4 sand Martins
5 chough
2 willow warblers
1 chiffchaff
4 ravens
Not a great deal of sea birds on the cliffs, but mostly kittiwakes, guillemots, razorbills, fulmars & shags.
3 gannets
Plenty of meadow pipits but no rock pipits seen.

Sunday 12th Feb

Llanddulas.
Sightings of target birds had been fairly consistent in the area over the last week or so, so I took a chance on an early morning visit. I was the only one there for a bit and with a wide area to scan it took me a few minutes to get my eye in but it soon paid off.
3 other birders turned up (2 Ive met there before), I got them onto the target birds and everyone was happy.

- 2 drake Surf Scoters
Closest Ive ever seen them, very obliging blurry dots, normally about 25 miles out to sea but these were in view and drifting closer, their white forehead and neck patches were obvious so that made it a lot easier. Kept losing them at one point because they were diving but they soon calmed down.

- 6 drake Velvet Scoters
2 on their own I picked out before finding the Surfs then as luck would have it there was 4 drakes with the Surfs. They were diving a lot too.

Other birds of note..
- plenty of Common Scoter (couple 1000?)
- c20 Red-throated Diver (9 in a line at one point)
- c20 Red-breasted Merganser (m&f)
- 2 pair Greater Scaup
- 1 probable Slavonian Grebe
- plenty of Great Crested Grebe (some displaying)
- 2 Curlew on the beach

Just then, myself and the other birder got onto a distant Diver, quite dark in colour with a pale bill pointed slightly upward, definitely wasnt a Red-throated Diver. White-billed Diver was suggested but without any further evidence I couldnt make that call. I’ll check if anything has been reported online anywhere.

All in all - a cracking couple of hours!

Originally posted by Neil Blood today:

It had been a few years since Id last visited the Conwy area in search of Hawfinch and this morning I visited the following three sites.

Llanrwst 

A quick scan of RBA last night for the Conwy area, suggested that this was the most reliable Hawfinch site within the last year or so. I drove across the narrow bridge and parked by the bowling green/playground area. A quick scan of the surrounding trees gave no joy, so I crossed the bridge on foot and the took the riverside path below St Grwst Church, but none of the churchyard yew trees contained any fruit. I walked a little further downstream to view the beech trees on the opposite bank, where I quickly picked out a single Hawfinch.

Llanbred-y-cennin 

Again none of the yew trees held any fruit, so I walked down past the terraced houses and went left at the fork. Theres a lone house here, which contains several yew trees in the garden. In past years and on occasion, Ive found this spot to be more productive than the church yard. The roadside garden yew tree contained plenty of fruit, but despite a 40 minute search, the tree just seemed to hold Greenfinches.

Caherun 

The yew trees at St Marys Church were also fruitless, so didnt spend too long here.

Spinnies Abergarron - Red-necked Grebe on the Menia and seven Red-breasted Mergansers. 42 Curlew in fields by the layby.

Morfa Aber to Morfa Magdran - 47 Pintail, 32 dark bellied Brent Geese, 47 Ringed Plover, Turnstone, Curlew, Lapwing, Redshank, Dunlin, Knot, Wigeon, Teal, Mallard.

Great Orme (old mine) - fem type Black Redstart

Little Orme (middle quarry) - fem type Black Redstart, Shag and Kittwake out to sea.

Rhos-on-Sea - Purple Sandpiper, Turnstone, Dunlin, Redshank, Oystercatcher.

First visit to Gronant Dunes to visit the tail end of the Little Tern season. Counted 4/5 late season chicks amongst good number of adults still present.

Others of note included 100's of gathering Swallows over the reed and dune areas, a pair of Red Kite, and a successful Peregrine beach hunt with a further two birds joining on the sand to feed, a good watch.

-- Edited by Matt Gillett on Monday 18th of July 2022 03:30:16 PM

The return to Anglesey. Sunday 5^th June 2022

   Apart from a quick dash over to see the Elegant Tern at Cemlyn Bay last year, it was nice to visit one of the nicest islands in Britain, Anglesey again. A team of 5 birders filled Kevin C`s vehicle and we departed at 7am on a rather dull, damp day, the forecast was not very good with lots of morning rain. First stop was Holyhead harbour/fish quay, we were greeted by a nice bout of cold and rain. We soon saw the Black Guillemot`s in the harbour dressed up in their summer finery of black and white feathers with red feet and beaks. We headed up to RSPB South Stack and donned our winter gear as its always a bit fresh here. Next to no cars on the usually bustling car park, obviously due to the weather! We headed down to the tower and followed the cliff edge footpath, lots of Guillemots, Razorbills and various gulls nesting on the spectacular cliffs but no sight our sound of the Choughs that are usually make their presence known fairly quickly here. As we reached to just below the first car park we could see Rob D and Chris looking at something. It was a Hooded Crow sat on a fence, apart from being a bit wet, its plumage was unmistakeable. As we all got together the familiar sounds of the Chough could be heard, as we looked down the cliffs they were there huddled together sheltering from the rain! Two adults with 3 fledged young, complete with rings, radio transmitter, when the rain stopped they began flying around. We called into the nice RSPB café and sampled some of their cake, what a treat.

    At one of my favourite places, Cemlyn Bay, it was dull and cold but the rain had gone, thankfully. The regular throng of Sandwich, Common and Arctic Tern`s were there to greet us in their noisy fashion as they came and went collecting Sand Eels from the sea to feed their young ones. Always great to watch this spectacle. A Red breasted Merganser was also seen as we headed of onto the point at Trywyn Cemlyn, views of The Skerries make this a beautiful place to enjoy. We began searching the sea for passing seabirds and saw around 30+ Manx Shearwaters dashing around showing their distinctive flight of shearing over the water

    Apart from the rain we had enjoyed an unhindered day out, but as we headed east along the A55 we ran into various pockets of heavy traffic, bank holiday and retuning from Ireland we think. We eventually made it to Gronant Dunes and beach were the smallest Tern species breed in Britain, the Little Tern. A nice walk through the dunes and then near to the wardened area to enjoy these small, beautiful seabirds. A few Sanderling were also seen on the beach, these birds are making their way north to breed. More heavy traffic was encountered on the way home and our driver Kevin is too be commended for his cool after a long drive. Good to have the Huddersfield lads with us and Bob K for his tireless work trying to get pictures of the day out!

Dave O.

Day trip to Anglesey on Saturday (21/05) saw a modest return of 61 species.

Newborough Beach & Llyn Parc Mawr

Highlights:  Sandwich Tern, Stonechat, Little Egret, Grey Seal.

Cors Ddyga

Highlights: Marsh Harrier, Red Kite, Curlew, Little Egret, Linnet, Black Tailed Godwit, Sedge Warbler, Cetti's Warbler.

Best part was just sitting in the sun, listening to multiple Skylarks singing whilst watching a pair of Curlew mobbing a hunting Marsh Harrier.

Distant Surf Scoter from Rainbow Bridge viewpoint in Old Colwyn this morning at 10.45. With at least 1 Velvet Scoter, Long Tailed Duck, 6 Red Throated Diver, 4 Red Breasted Merganser and many Common Scoter. 3 Fulmar were on the quarry, and a Rock Pipit near the viewpoint. 

A trip inland to Llyn Brenig gave good views of the Great Grey Shrike at the turn off to Nantglyn. Crossbills calling too. Cropped Shrike picture attached. Watched it for a good 45 minutes, catching a Lizard/Newt at one point.