Last day of my trip to North Wales.
On previous days I went to the the top of the Great Orme after tea, in the hope of finding the ring ouzels that were reported daily. So I thought that I would reverse my order of visits and start off on the Great Orme.
The birds were reported to be near the limestone pavement so off I set.
there is more than one bit of limestone pavement, so I slowly worked my across all the three main bits that I could see. I saw this meadow pipit having a bath in the one of the cracks.
I came across this male wheatear
the area is popular with dog walkers, so after 90 minutes, I gave up. My phone thought that I was on the Isle of Man, so I could not check bird guides, so drove back down to Llandudno.
It was nearly lunch time and no reports of anything special so I decided to go to RSPB Conwy for lunch. They have a good selection of sandwiches and make a nice cup of tea, Jason was on reception so we spoke about the female pied flycatcher that I reported on Monday. He had not been able to go and see it but the warden had. It was only the second record for the reserve, so Jason sent me off to try to find something special.
On Monday it was short sleeved shirt weather, not today, back to woolly hat etc. Lots of chiffchaffs and willow warblers singing, but they were well hidden. From one of the screens I saw this white wagtail.
Whilst I was scanning the area I could see swallows and sand martins swooping low as they hunted for insects just above the surface of the water and whilst doing that I saw my first swift of the year. The cold weather meant that the insects were not flying very high and it was difficult to keep track of the swift as it hunted over the water.
Further along the path I met a lady who asked if I could identify this bird.
she had never seen a long tailed tit before. It was high tide so there were no birds to be seen on the estuary and I could not find a common sandpiper that had been reported on the lagoon. From one screen I was watching a pair of red breasted mergansers when I heard a cetti's warbler to my left. I had heard the birds on other parts of the reserve and at North Cave, but this was my first sighting of a bird this year. A very poor photo
Nothing of note to report from the rest of my time on the reserve.
A pleasant few days in the part of Wales. The weather could have been a little warmer and more sun to improve some of the pictures but overall I had a good time. 80 species for the trip, with 13 year ticks to take my total to 131.
No comments:
Post a Comment