Gronant grey phalarope

Some shots of a grey phalarope at Gronant on the large pool at the end of the track approaching the little tern breeding area this afternoon (initially put out as a red necked). The bird was distant in the first instance but eventually returned to a small inlet right opposite the path and gave superb views.

Bunting hunting

A lapland bunting and two snow buntings were putting on a nice show along the cycletrack at Llandudno West Shore this afternoon. Found by Pete Alderson the buntings ranged from just passed the beach cafe to around 800 yards along the cycletrack, feeding on the beach, grass and in the case of the lapland on the cycletrack itself. Still present late afternoon. Weather wasn't good so a few record shots.

SCAN

The SCAN ringing group had a very successful day on Traeth Lavan, Saturday, with a catch of 379 Oystercatchers. The oldest Oystercatcher was originally ringed in September 1981 by the group and has not been recorded since. In fact this bird was older than many of the ringing team.

SCAN have been monitoring Oystercatchers on Traeth Lavan since 1973, and have recently begun colour ringing a sample of the wintering population to ascertain their breeding locations. Initial reports show that some of the birds breed on the Shetland isles.

Some of the team waiting for the cannons to be fired

Several captions come to mind, best one gets a free cup of tea and a biscuit at the BTO Cymru office.

If you are interested in the helping out with SCAN please contact the BTO Cymru office.

Red Warf Bay Today

I went down to Red Warf Bay this morning with Richard Birch to check out a Wheatear seen yesterday, but unfortunately it had gone.However there were still plenty of birds around including the following. Red throated Diver 3, Water Rail 3, 1st year male Goosander, Mergs 4, Greenshank 4, Rock Pipit 6, Ringed Plover 20, Curlew 108, Redshank 103, Crossbill 62, Barwit 2, Little Egret 10, Common Snipe 57 

and 3 Jack Snipe.

Beddmanarch Bay plus odds and sods!

There's at least 141 Pale bellied Brents back in Beddmanarch bay at present. Norman had 8 Med Gulls on the Alaw Estuary today (1 x 1st winter, the rest were Adults and 2nd Winter birds, plus a Wheatear. I also had 2 adult Meds at Llanynghenedl in the recently ploughed fields with the Black heads. That's great as it tests Alan and Ted's Welsh pronunciation to the limit when they put the news on the local Birdlines ;-) There was no sign of any geese at Hen Borth, but I also had a 2nd W Med at Cemlyn tonight plus this pleasant sight of the sun setting behind these feeding Curlews.

Them Jackdaws again!

I saw this pair of Jackdaws today. One of them showed some Nordic features. They were commuting between a horse paddock and a little cottage and looked at home. They were near Llandonna on Anglesey by the road junction at the southern tip of the village.

Yellow Browed Warbler at Holyhead Breakwater Country Park

This bird showed well today in the small quarry behind the new Cafe with the stand of pines in it. The bird was moving around the sycamores in the middle of the quarry.I missed the late Swift that had been there earlier seen by Ken, Norman and Martin but was reassured that it was just a Common Swift and not a Pallid or pekinensis!