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A Saturday on Anglesey (1 Viewer)

James

I'm losing it!
Thanks to the wonder of this web I spent a great Saturday on Anglesey with one of our American members Katy. I must confess up front that the aim of the day was to squeze in as much as possible as I had set a kind of goal and promised 65 species for Katy's British List.

We startted around the Menai Straits and Beaumaris to pick up some easy birds. I made the mistake of saying that it was a good spot for grey heron and that I had often missed this bird elsewhere (you guessed it, grey heron were at just about every site we visited after this!!!). So the day started with:

House sparrow
Jackdaw
Herring gull
Lesser black backed gull
Swallow
Cormorant
Greylag
Grey heron
Oystercatcher
Mute swan
Black headed gull
Red breasted merganser
Mallard
Curlew
Shelduck
Greenfinch
House martin. (17 species).

Not a bad start and promising for a good day of bright sunshine. The next location was Penmon Point where the target species were Shag and Black Guillimot (a hopeful and never guaranteed. As it turned out we had fantastic views of two or three of the lovely bird on the water and in flight, always a treat for me on ANglesey. So we added:

Woodpigeon
Chaffinch
Blackbird
Crow
Collared dove
Goldfinch
Razorbill
Robin
Chiffchaff
Pied wagtail
Great tit
Magpie
Linnet
Song thrush
Dunnock
Rook
Shag
Guillimot
Sandwich tern
Black guillimot
Brent goose
Rock pipit (now up to 39 species and only about 10-30am).

Moving on with a great air of optimism our next location was Cemlyn lagoon and the tern breeding colony. I have had Roseate here in the past but was not expecting it today as I have heard no reports here this season. It was worth the ankle aching shingle walk if only to see the antics of the sandwich terns! Managed to add here:

Canada goose
Coot
Ringed plover
Arctic tern
Common tern (44 so far).

Cutting across land we now headed for Valley Lakes which may not be the most inspiring site for rarities but does add some other things to the list. The target here was for Sedge warbler and Ruddy duck. I know in the past there has been Cetti's but this would be too much to hope for! Added:

Great crested grebe
Tufted duck
Wren
Gadwall
Ruddy duck
Sedge warbler (50 and getting harder!)

On route to our next location we managed to pick up:

Swift
Kestrel (52)

Penros Park is always worth a visit not only for waders but hopefully for some common woodland species. The tide was a little too far out but still worth a look.

Bar tailed godwit
moorhen
raven
blackcap
long tailed tit
goldcrest (58)

Where was blue tit??? I have also had bullfinch here fairly often but you never get them all on any one trip do you?

Calling at Holyhead Harbour virtuallyb guarantees turnstone but not today and nothing new was added except

Redshank (59)

I saved South Stack until near the end as a highlight and hoped to add peregrine, puffin, gannet, fulmar and chough. The only one not to show was the resident peregrine and although quickly found only one single puffin was sighted!

Puffin
Fulmar
Gannet
Whitethroat
Stonechat (had this at several places but forgot to record the first sighting!) (64 and one more needed to keep my promise).

On the (long) way off Anglesey it is always worth a visit to Maltraith and this produced some common birds missed elsewhere:

Common gull
Lapwing
Shoveller
Teal
Whimbrell (69 and home safe with the numbers).

We had debated whimbrell elsewhere from a distance but it is so much nicer when they fly overhead and call isn't it!

Finally driving off the island Katy spotted the one bird we had missed all day!!!

Pheasant (70)

I know its not about numbers but it is sometimes a fun challenge and does make you search that bit harder. Anglesey never produces huge numbers and this was a hard days work (door to door 15 hours) but so worth it!

Also it proves the value of the website. Katy wanted to see Anglesey and I was more than happy to spend the day with an enthusiastic birder from across the water. Now about my trip to the States!!!!!!!!!

James
 
Hi James,

Congrats!

Did you get Chough? - you say you got everything expected at South Stack except the Peregrine, but then don't include it on the list? Does that make it 71 then?

When I was at University at Bangor, the University Bird Group held an annual 24 hour 'bird hunt' on Anglesey, my best score was 115 species, but that was in May when there's more singing of course, and with the much longer day.

Michael
 
Havn't been there for years,
but, i can remember the last birds of the first day there , were:- Barn & Little owls

Getting out of the tent the next morning at 4.30 AM, to the sound of Cuckoo & Lesser Whitethroat, but the first bird i saw was a stunning male Black Redstart !
Someone else went round a different corner and got an Otter !

We were on Anglesey 2 days & saw a similar total to M.F.

Must go back!:t:
 
Sorry if I missed chough - we did indeed see two fly in and sit on the ground near to the steps down to the lighthouse.

So I guess it was 71.

Regards James
 
Steviewol - some good birds there for Anglesey, I have never seen any owls on the island or redstarts, maybe I should either vary my time of year or stay out later!

Regards James
 
James, a good day to say the least! I would have had three lifers with you. Them being, Black Guillemot, Arctic Tern and Chough.
 
Man oh man, what a great day was had on Anglesey with James. Thank you again, James, for squiring me around the island! I never would've found most of these places had I rented a car and tried to do this on my own. Maybe only gotten to South Stack, since that was my holy grail destination. And the weather could not have been better. A fabulous day.

I do have a few additions that I had on the tape. James, correct me if I'm wrong here:

To the Beaumaris area, add common buzzard (and I added feral pigeon, since I always include all birds seen on a trip).

To Penmon Point, add great black-backed gull.

To Valley Lakes, add starling and reed bunting. (This is also where we saw the first stonechat.)

Depending on whether I already have artic or common tern on my "life list" (and I can't check 'til I get home), I got 24 or 25 lifers on Anglesey! Whoa! But the highlights were chough (saving me from having to scour the cliffs of Aberystwyth!), razorbill and black guillemot. Although I find myself quite taken with dunnock, which I never would've ID'd, it's such a nondescript little bird.

I know it's obvious to all of you who've birded much longer than I have, but it is so important to go with a local when you first bird a new area with new species. It just takes so much time to ID each sighting that, aside from not getting target numbers (which, despite James' promise, wasn't nearly as important to me as getting to see 'new feathers'), it is literally exhausting to do on your own. Not to mention, ahem, the less than forthcoming road signage. I would've ended up on a ferry for Ireland for sure.

Needless to say (and I've already promised reciprocity should James ever find himself on MY patch), I'd be more than happy to host folks when they come to NE Arizona. Wish I could say I lived in the mecca SE part of the state! But they don't have nesting Lewis's woodpeckers in their back yard, either! :)

Thanks again, James, and to all of you on the forum who sent me so much web-based info on where to find birds. If the weather holds (it poured this morning but is sunny and gorgeous again now), I'm really going to try to get to the Ynys Hir (sp?) nature reserve between here and Machynlleth (I think). It looked great. I'm bound and determined to find a rail before I go home! LOL!

Katy
 
Thank you Katy - your numbers are correct, I am obviously lacking in the note taking department!
Thank you Andrew - time you visited the North West, maybe after you have hosted me next week!

James
 
Katy! So there you are.. LOL! I rarely have time to read this part of the forum & I'm glad I found this. Sounds like you're having a terrific time and congrats on the lifers. James- ya done good :clap: I'd definitely take Katy up on that offer to bird in her area, she's got a list of 'yardbirds' there that would make any of us American birders drool.
ps, Katy we miss ya over at 'celebrators' and have a couple suprises waiting for you. Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip, now brush up on your typing so you can tell us all about it.. LOL! now go find that rail :t:
 
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