Border crossing

Popped over the border to Parkgate and Burton Mere Wetlands for today's big tide and was rewarded with a good variety of birds. Two great white egrets were watched together from Parkgate Baths where ringtail hen harrier and short eared owl also performed, the latter having a tough time being constantly mobbed by a variety of species every time it took flight. A water rail gave a quick glimpse as it was flushed out by the tide. At BMW the long billed dowitcher was infront of the reception centre although spent most of the time roosting among the teal. A hobby gave excellent views as it flew close to the centre at times.

Great to meet up with Norman, Mogs, Tony & Dave at the Barred Warbler at Holyhead Breakwater CP today. The bird showed really well, preening in the sun as soon as I arrived but did spend long periods out of sight between its visible times. As Mogs says earlier a flyover of 7 Crossbills was nice and a Peregrine soaring up high in the blue sky above the warbler bushes was some backdrop. A morning visist to the Orme was scuppered by very very strong winds. Not a bird moved up on the limestone pavement for fear of being blown to Ireland if they had ventured out of cover.
At least 3 Blackcaps - 2 male and a female were in the bushes by the 2nd footbridge, taking advantage of one of the best blackberry crops I've seen anywhere this autumn, as was the Barred Warbler, evidenced by its purple stained beak. Managed a few digiscoped record shots of the Barred Warbler, one below.

unplanned day again :-)

Ok so i wasn't meant to go birding,but hey the Barred warbler had been joined by a yellow browed warbler and if i could catch up with the YBW then it would be another first for me ,so yep ya guessed it up at 5.45am , in work by 6am, finished by 9.30am and meeting up with dave and charlie at soldiers point ,holyhead at 9.45am.

So we searched for the YBW be to no avail :-(,BUT we still managed to see some good birds and met some nice people again.

In the marina area near the beginning of the breakwater we managed to get great views of stonechat and  black guillemot. Quite a few gulls about sheltering from the gusting winds ,it was bitterley cold !

A quick scan of the sea only gave us a solo Gannet,so we decided on moving onwards to try to pin down the Barred Warbler as it would be a first for Dave.

We met up with Ken,Cathy and Norman and we only managed to get a couple of fleeting views and decided at 11.30am we needed some food and a warm drink so I headed off home.
upon my return Dave hadn't had any luck really so we walked down towards soldiers point only to receive a text to say it was back!
We wandered back up the road where Norman had returned with Tony and Paul. They had some great views prior to us arriving back and so the wait began again..

We didn't have long to wait and we managed a few better sightings than earlier, Dave was happy and decided at 2.30pm it was time for home and said his goodbyes. Whilst there we had also managed to spot Crossbills7, Goldfinch 30+, Green finches,BlackCaps,Choughs 4, Peregrine plus other usual suspects for the area.

Unfortunately about 10 minutes after Dave had left us the BW appeared again and this time it showed off really well and i was lucky enough to be ready and i managed to click off some decentish pics.

So that was it another day of graet birding combined with new friendships made and a few laughs along the way, dont worry dave i wont say lol

Roll on tomorrow 7am start for us as we're hitting Inner Marsh Farm and fingers crossed some birds will be logged yet again:-)

Phalarope eases the Sibe Warbler pain!

These late sunrises are no good allowing very little birding before work. Add to that the pain of missing a very showy Yellow browed warbler on the Orme yesterday meant that a birding fix was a must today. I saw an opportunity at lunchtime between a visit to two Llanfairfechan schools, to visit the saltmarsh at Glan y Mor and boy I wasn't to be disappointed. The saltmarsh was flooded with hardly any of the spit showing and the flooded area was a cacophany of birds.

A fine Grey Phalarope was the highlight, feeding amongst the Oycs on the spit (thanks to gentleman who pointed it out - I owe you one), and was still present feeding on the saltmarsh itself later on appartently (Pete Latham at 2.30pm). Seven Pale bellied Brent Geese were present with 100+ Pintails, 150+ Eurasian Wigeon and good numbers of Teal. Waders were well represented with a single juvenile Curlew Sandpiper, 14 Bar tailed Godwits, 4 Black tailed Godwits, 8 Knot, hundreds of Curlew and Oysterctachers, 9 Dunlin and 12 Ringed polver (including a  juvenile bird with an orange flag on its leg). A Peregrine caused panics at one stage and at least 9 Little Egrets were present.

Not a bad lunchtime!

Anglesey today

The Barred Warbler was back in the bushes (birdguides) by the second bridge on the way into HHBWCP today and there was a Yellow browed Warbler at Soldiers Point (Ken). There was no sign of yesterdays YBW at Hen Felin, Hen Borth near Cemlyn today. I had a cracking male Merlin with prey and a late Wheatear on Carmel head tonight just before it went dark.I also had 2 Whimbrel at Cemlyn yesterday.

Morning on the Orme

Me and Tony headed over to the Orme this morning as Robin had invited us over to see the rare Sibe he was going to catch at his new ringing station at the back of the cemetery. Two female Bramblings showed well in the bushes plus a few Redwings and lots of common finches.The ringing was a bit quiet but we did get fantastic views of Wren in the hand.As my Ritilin started to wear off we headed over to the Limestone pavement. The bunts were initially somewhat elusive but we did have a very vocal Richards Pipit flying over our heads around the end of the Orme but we never saw it land. After a while Robin and Kel called it a day and we all tried again for the Lap Bunts which had reappeared around the Limestone Pavement giving great views.A Short eared Owl appeared getting mobbed by the local Jackdaws.Then a dodgy propeller driven raptor appeared overhead, causing a bit of excitement and mirth for Marc and young Alex!

Radde's Warbler.....

 A smart Raddes Warbler was trapped this morning at Nant.

 Three lapland Buntings were seen (poor pic, sorry)

and at least one Yellow-browed Warbler