Looking at the weather & having a day off I decided to head over to Anglesey for a day out & to meet up again with ex-Manchester birder Norman Rowbotham again, now a core member of the Anglesey Birding fraternity. Arriving pretty early I met up with Norman at Penrhos CP and soon we were scanning Beddmanarch Bay. Late Bar-tailed Godwits, a Grey Plover, several Dunlin & Ringed Plovers and two Arctic Terns with the Sandwich Terns were all picked out as well as a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers.
We then headed down to a woodland where I was told Red Squirrels still thrive. No luck with them but soon we had up to 8 Crossbills and I picked out a first for the year for Norman in the shape of a Spotted Flycatcher, soon seeing a second bird nearby. Red Admirals were everywhere and we also had Green-veined, Small & Large Whites on the wing.
Next stop was a pop into the harbour to see the 4 new nextboxes that have been put up for Black Guillemots and 2 of the aforementioned auks loafing about nearby. Then we visited South Stack RSPB where at least 5 Puffins were seen - 2 in & out of seperate nest burrows & 3 on the sea. Chough were overhead, A Raven was close in the roadside fields and a pair of Stonechats showed well too. At sea a couple of Gannets glided past joining the Kittiwakes, Fulmars, Razorbills & Guillemots just offshore.
Back to Penrhos CP for lunch but that was brought to an end by a text about a Cattle Egret nearby
Back in the car, on my own now, I headed up the A5025 to Llanfachraeth and parked but no birders were about - strange! Walking the paths I bumped into rarity-finder extraordinair Ken Croft & later local birder Grahame Morgan. As there was no sign of the egret in the field in which it had been seen we went for a wander. After tring every farm field to the west and about 1.5hrs later we glanced down into fields to the east & there it was, a superb Cattle Egret, we had relocated it
We then watched it for the next half hour, I put the news out on RBA
pagers too with the new location and folk started to arrive. I luckily
got a few decent piccies and then said my farewells. The bird is still
preesent today at an approx grid ref of SH316832 where we left it!!To be 10mins away when a rarity breaks is fantastic, always read about it happening to others but never me - well now it has & it was great
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