New Zealand in Bangor

The World Record holding Biggest Twitchers are at Bangor Birdgroup tonight talking about their recent trip to New Zealand. It should be a good talk. I hope to see you later at bangor Uni in the Brambell building :-)

Day Trip Sunday 8th Feb 2015

A quick run down of a fantastic day out in N.Wales today. Started off by leaving the fog in England and heading to Connah's Quay NR. 36 Twite were in the tree by the West Hide car park. They were pretty flighty and flew over the fenceline of the field by the pool, this was in response to the car creeping along the track, much flightier than they were last year! Next we headed up to Old Colwyn & from the top lay-by, once the sun came out, we saw 2 drake Surf Scoters,7 drake Velvet Scoters and 5 Red-throated Divers amongst thousands of Common Scoters. Down the Conwy Valley many Buzzards were in the air but no Red Kites this time. However in what is generally agreed to be a lean year for them, it was nice to see a single Hawfinch in the big trees to the L.of the uphill lane at Llanbedr-y-cennin. Finally to the Nant Ffrancon valley in Snowdonia . The drive was really spectacular with the snow-topped mountains glistening in the sun. At the lay-by on the A5 (so well described in posts below) we immediately saw 5 Ring Ouzels in the field at the base of the slope on the lay-by side of the road. Calling Choughs were heard and eventually a mobile party of 5 birds was seen in the pony fields several fields behind the Ouzels.
All in all a great day out, in superb weather, a few other sites were visited but nothing else out of the ordinary to report! Managed a distant record shot of a Ring Ouzel, taken into the sun!!

Starling Swarm-muration at Llanfaelog!

I went to Llyn Bodgyllched near Beaumaris a few weeks ago to see the Starling roost which seemed a bit low and I thought it was due to low immigrant numbers this winter. But I didn't realise they were all at Llanfaelog! Wait for the next calm clear evening and head for the Llanfaelog turn-off for Rhosneigr/Oyster catcher restaurant (Abeffraw end of the A55 - Rhosneigr/Aberffraw road). Especially if there is a nice sunset it should be awesome!

Please park sensibly, take care and enjoy!

Geese still around!

David Wright had the Whitefronts again in the same area as in the previous post east of Pont Marquis at midday yesterday.

German Common Gulls in North Wales- Kiel City to Colwyn Bay.

Over the past few years, several Norwegian ringed Common Gulls and a couple of Danish birds have been sighted along the North Wales coast. Two years ago I came across a 1st winter bird that had been ringed in Kiel City in Germany. Amazingly, today I came across an adult bird (A73E) and I've just heard from German ringer Matthias Haupt that today's adult bird was ringed on 17.06.2010 on exactly the same flat roof as the 1st winter bird!!!!! Seems like we're getting a good idea of where our wintering Common Gulls come from.

Matthias is forwarding the up to date  history of both birds so I'll update the blog once he does. 

The 1st winter ringed on a Kiel City roof in 2012 and seen on Llanddulas beach on 10th March 2013. 

The adult bird seen today on Old Colwyn beach- ringed in 2010 on the same Kiel City roof!

The Kiel City Common Gull nesting colony from where both North Wales birds came from. 

Young Common Gulls on the Kiel City Roof. How many will make it to North Wales? 

Breeding adult Common Gull on the Kiel City roof- a good probability that it winters in North Wales. 

Matthias and his team ringing the gulls and adding to scientific knowledge in the process. 

The journey many of these birds make each winter where they also join Norwegian and Danish birds.

Watching the Nant Francon Ring Ouzels

On my second attempt I managed to catch up with the over-wintering Ring Ouzels in the Nant Francon Valley this afternoon. They can move around the valley but they do have two favourite spots (see map). Thanks to Connor John and his Bangor Uni Birders for the heads up whilst me and Tony were having a Coffee break at Ogwen Cottage. If you haven't seen them yet, it's worth the effort as they were easier to see and more showy than the birds I normally see in the breeding season.

The old road is a lovely drive throughout the year.

The birds were viewed well from the A5

We saw 5 birds together. 4 adult males and this
first winter male (I think).

They have been showing very well

4 of the 5 birds we saw. I think there have been 6 or 7 in total?

Bangor Uni Birders, Cheers!

Be ready for unscheduled stops!

And don't forget the carrots!

The fields between the lay-by and the house was best.

Happy birder Tony White

They have shown by the lay-by by the cattle grid at B.
They can get in with the mixed thrush flock, but not when we had them.
We had 5 by the lay-by at Point A, off the A5, giving great views.

RING OUZELS - Nant Francon

2 today in Nant Francon.  Second weekend up there looking for them.  First searched the area Brian had them, but no joy.  Later tried an area where I had a number of winter thrushes last Saturday on the A5 side of the river.  As you travel up the valley from Bethesda, there is a lay bye on the right which over looks a farm which I believe is called Braich tu du.  From a quick look at a map, this looks to be at SH6462.  The 2 birds were in the rocky enclosure below the road of the north end of the lay bye (Bethesda end). At one point they flew into a evergreen stunted tree on the far side of the lane to the farm.  After a while they dropped to the lane, worked their way through the wire fencing and back into the rocky enclosure.  A birder I met on the other side of the valley said that he had been told that their had been a family party of 6 birds in the valley during the late autum / early winter.  Anyway, my first January record so a big thanks to Brian for getting the news out.