Great Orme migrants and some local breeding Mandarins

Two lovely Whinchats were the highlight of this morning's walk around the Great orme limestones. A handsome male and a night pale female. The male was in the field by the gully with 10+ Wheatears and the female was in the field above the churchyard. A single Tree Pipit was also by the gully on the stone wall. Three Black Guillemots have been showing each day to the east of the lighthouse below the cliffs.

Today's female Whinchat - this bird was new in today.

This tidy male Whinchat has been showing for a few days now, feeding with Wheatears in the sheep fields by the gulley.

Tree Pipits are usually flyovers or flushed from the ground on the Orme. This showy bird rested on the stone wall on the limestones.

Three Black Guillemots have been showing below the cliffs amongst the hundreds of commener Auks. I presume the two right hand birds are males and they are busily following a smaller bird with less white on the wings - I presume this is the female?

After a tip off from Adrian Foster, I went looking for the Mandarin Ducks he had seen on the River Dulas earlier in the week. There has been a chequered history of this species here with sporadic sightings over the past decade or so and an intriguing report of a female with eight duckling from several years ago. Despite looking before, I've never seen them here ....until today.

Three birds flew out of some trees alongside the river and showed on the River bank some 1 mile inland from Llanddulas village/ They were extremely wary and soon moved off downstream when they clocked my approaching. Three Dippers and a Garden Warbler also present.