Great White Egret - last week.

Belated news came in today of a Great White Egret at Cors Erddreiniog on Anglesey a week ago last tuesday. It may still be in the area as it hasn't been looked for since.

Cemlyn Today

A bit of news from David the warden. Spot fly new in plus Whinchat, Yellow Wag and Skylark in the Cemlyn/Hen Borth area today.

Young Dippers

After a soggy morning in Snowdonia yesterday the highlight was a family party of Dippers. Dippers are currently with fledgling young at the moment and there plumage is absolutely fantastic so it is worth getting down to your local Dipper streams in North Wales to check them out. With their scalyness there is definately something Zoother-esque about them!

Bits n bobs

A Roseate tern was coming and going at Cemlyn again today and there were 3 Summer plumaged Purple sands on the tip of the Trwyn. Down on the Lleyn Eddie has three Spot flys over the pool half-way down Porth Meudwy, Aberdaron.

Whinchat and Whimbrel

There's still decent numbers of Whimbrel on the Trwyn at Cemlyn especially at high tide. I also had a female Whinchat past Hen Borth near the Little Owl building this evening. In Beddmanarch bay today from Newlands Parc there were around 20 Barwits including a full Breeding adult. It's just a shame it was a bit distant.

Skua surprise

I had a great morning's birding with Eddie today. Started at Cricieth in the hope of some skuas following last nights wind and rain. Plenty of Manxies out there but all distant. Moving on to Morfa Bychan the birds were much closer with terns  Gannets kittiwakes and Manxes in big numbers in the estuary mouth  and further out. I couldn't believe it when a distant skua I'd picked up flew closer to revealed itself as Long tailed. Very unexpected  - especially as it was the only skua we saw. It chased a tern briefly  which baffled me slightly - I've only seen them dip feeding in the past. It disappeared amongst the waves but reappeared again much closer half an hour later before moving off west  over the breakers.
What a stunning bird! I managed a few snaps at full zoom and looking through the pictures this evening  it just struck again what a beautifully  built, aesthetically  pleasing  creature it was. Whatever pose it was caught in is looked perfect for a logo! It just couldn't look bad whatever it did. The again, maybe I'm biased

 


A little tern joined the Arctic and Sandwich terns feeding in front of us before hypothermia set in  and we headed inland to Cae Dafydd near Nantmor. Here we  had nice views of Pied fly, redstarts and tree pipits as well as hearing a few wood warblers before finishing with a panad in Caffi Gwynant -  a great day out

Swifts and Whimbrel

I had Swifts back over their breeding sites in Llangefni, Amlwch and Coedana on the 6th May and 21 Whimbrel at Cemlyn tonight (8th) on the Trwyn.