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
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