With bright and warm sunshine it felt as if spring had finally arrived down at the Point of Ayr this morning. Despite the relatively high pressure and benign conditions, the tide absolutely stormed in before lunchtime, completely consuming the marsh – spring weather and spring tides to match!
As a whiskey-soaked old sea dog that I met in Seattle once proclaimed after reading about two people drowned in nearby Puget Sound “Only a fool or a newcomer predicts the tides in Seattle” – seems this mantra holds true for Clwyd too!
A Little Gull migrating eastwards early morning was the first cast-iron evidence that birds are finally on the move. When I first picked-out the tiny larid a good way offshore, the bouncy flight and lack of perspective made the bird initially look like a gigantic tern! However, I quickly came to my senses when it veered towards land iand fluttered past a much bigger Herring Gull. An adult, the bird was in near full breeding plumage.
As a whiskey-soaked old sea dog that I met in Seattle once proclaimed after reading about two people drowned in nearby Puget Sound “Only a fool or a newcomer predicts the tides in Seattle” – seems this mantra holds true for Clwyd too!
A Little Gull migrating eastwards early morning was the first cast-iron evidence that birds are finally on the move. When I first picked-out the tiny larid a good way offshore, the bouncy flight and lack of perspective made the bird initially look like a gigantic tern! However, I quickly came to my senses when it veered towards land iand fluttered past a much bigger Herring Gull. An adult, the bird was in near full breeding plumage.
More possible evidence of migration included a pair of Golden Plover on the beach early morning – unusual birds here – and perhaps more credibly a brace of flyover Curlew. I first locked onto the birds flying high and directly at me from the direction of the Isle of Man. Rather than looking to settle on the beach, the waders gained even more height and then flew directly over Talacre dunes before heading inland. Perhaps - like the plovers - they were returning to their breeding territories up in the hills. Both of these species of shorebird are, after all, early nesters - but who knows...
Other birds of out to sea included a couple of Red-throated Divers and just visible a Great Northern Diver – but as a hippie might say after a particularly agreeable acid trip, it was far, far, out.
God’s own side of the Dee Estuary was far from finished with providing interesting birds though. As I was walking to the location of the old hide, a big raptor came into view flying low over the gas plant. With the first warm day for weeks, I imagined it was probably a Buzzard enjoying some long overdue thermals. Happily I was wrong – it was a superb Red Kite – only my second ever for the Dee Estuary and a much prized addition to my Flintshire odyssey.
Again it is only conjecture, but a wandering Red Kite at this time of year could be a bird seeking out a new territory, although they are of course notoriously reluctant to budge far from where they were originally raised - Godspeed I say!
Point of Ayr 1.03.10
1 Red Kite
1 Great Northern Diver
2 Red-thoated Diver
3 Great Crested Grebe
15+ Common Scoter
2 Little Gull
2 Red-breasted Merganser
Until later.
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