After a gentle paced spin around the Island today producing nothing too unusual of note bar a Great White Egret and Female Marsh Harrier at Llyn Llewenan, the days avian highlight was produced by the Common Starling. Back in November Nigel Brown was going on at Birdgroup about how good the Parys Mountain roost was. Today around mid-afternoon, Tony White mentioned it again just as we were passing through Llanerchymedd so we thought we would give it a go. Birds have been roosting in the general vicinity of Parys Mountain near Amlwch, but tonight we realized exactly where they are roosting., and we arrived just as the sun was setting over Llyn Alaw. If you look at this map we parked by the red X to look over the relatively new plantation at SH 442 894.
I don't think I have ever seen so many Starlings coming into a roost. There were 100's of thousands of birds! There were constant steams of birds heading in to the backdrop of windmills, Parys Mountain and a half - decent Sunset. Whilst they weren't murmurating as such, seeing so many birds were phenomenal. If this was at Conwy RSPB, there would be over a hundred people watching on in awe. But as it was Amlwch, there was just Tony, Myself , the local farmer and 3 Buzzards after a bit of supper!
The almost hypnotic constant streaming of birds, the noise, the smell of guano reminiscent of a Seabird colony and the fact that you could walk through the middle of the roost as a public road bi-sects the small plantation, all added up to a truly unforgettable experience that I would highly recommend.
So if you are in the area, especially if there is a calm evening with a nice sunset, why not pop over to experience it yourself, in case they change roost sites as Starlings tend to do. You won't be disappointed!
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