Great Expectations

A brisk north-westerly had me hunkered down in the dunes at Talacre late morning anticipating a decent seawatch.

After a frustrating half an hour watching a handful of distant Shearwaters, the first of what was to be two Bonxies powerfully lumbered out of the estuary fairly close in.

This was quickly followed by a dark-phase Arctic Skua that after a rather half-hearted attempt at flying into the wind ‘flopped’ down on the sea near a large buoy.

Then, after a barren spell a conundrum. It was another Skua that initially I had down as a juvenile dark-phase Arctic, but on closer inspection it appeared to be a bit more beefy and that nudged me towards a young Pomarine…will just have to leave that one…

Another hour must have slipped away watching squillions of terns and a drip feed of Gannets before the first Fulmar of the day moved through prompting a small movement of juvenile Kittiwakes.

After yet another funk, Great Skua number two, but try as I might, no Petrels, and considering the conditions a tad disappointing.

Will be interesting to see if anybody had any Petrel joy over in the Wirral – not much seems to slip past unnoticed at Hilbre!

Point of Ayr 29.08.10

2 Great Skua
1 Arctic Skua (dark phase, adult)
1 Arctic/Pomarine Skua (dark, juv)
20+ Gannet
15+ Kittiwake (mostly juveniles)
1 Fulmar
1 GC Grebe
4 Guillemot
1 Razorbill
1 Wigeon (first of 'autumn')
Lots, and lots, and lots of Terns.

Until later.

Autumn Range

Sat in the west hide at Connah’s Quay this morning it felt as if autumn had arrived as a cool north-easterly breeze coupled with a blanket of grey cloud welcomed me as I opened up the shutters.

The mudflats were very quiet for waders and wildfowl with only modest numbers of the commoner species. There were however, hundreds of Black-headed Gulls and I resigned myself to working my way through them for a Med Gull until the tide had pushed further in.

An hour later – and still no Med Gull – I gave up and had another scan down the channel. A small wader caught my eye amongst a group of three Redshanks and as I trained my scope on the bird a cracking juvenile Curlew Sandpiper emerged – superb!

With the water rising and a few more people arriving in the hide, things then started to improve. I found a pair of adult Yellow-legged Gulls roosting with twenty or so Lesser-black Backed and albeit at distance, I just managed to pick out a couple of Turnstones amongst the Oysties over towards Flint.

Frustratingly, I also thought I had found a Little Stint, but with nobody else being able to find the bird and it also being too far for a positive id, it will have to go into that long list of probables…

Next on the agenda was a hunting juvenile Marsh Harrier found by KLJ quartering the edge of the marsh on the far bank of the river.

With an hour so to spare a trot down to the bunded pools was in order and as has been the case in recent weeks they were chocker with Blackwits, Redshank, plus a count of Greenshank somewhere in the teens, and a single moulting Spotted Redshank.

All in all, pretty darn good. A boost to my Flintshire list too this year - now approaching credibility at 156!

Connah’s Quay 26.08.10

1 Curlew Sandpiper (juv)
13 Greenshank
1 Spotted Redshank
2 Turnstone
2 Yellow-legged Gull (adult)
1 Marsh Harrier (juv)

Until later.

So-so.

With strengthening ‘westerlies’ confidently predicted by the Beeb, I chanced my arm for a couple of hours seawatching down at the Point of Ayr this morning.

Unfortunately both flags near the car park were intent on telling a slightly different tale, with the blow coming from a more south-westerly direction – not ideal.

Things kicked-off pretty well though, with four juv/fem Eider floating along the shoreline with the prevailing wind. Only the second time I have bagged Eider down here, after my first – a Drake – was just last autumn.

Had I have known that this was as good as it was going to get I would have packed-up after ten minutes, but the constant stream of terns kept my attention if not interest.

Whilst a fair few Gannets flew fairly close to the beach, the Skuas – if there were any about – were not playing ball. The only sniff I had was of a large Skua-type silhouette moving distantly across the horizon.

Also, mere dots were a couple of Manxies, a Kittiwake and a few groups of a score or so Common Scoter. With Liverpool Bay having just been given special protection http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-11031671 I would have assumed the Scoters would have been strolling along the beach puffing in cigars rather than toughing it out in strong winds!

With an hour or so to spare there was just enough time to check-out the high tide roost from the old hide area. Try as I might, I could not winkle one Med Gull out of the hundreds of roosting Black-heads; I just can’t seem to bag one in Flintshire this year.

It was scanning through the Mallards though, that the surprise birds of the day appeared: three very early female Pintail – I don’t think I have ever seen the first ‘winter’ arrivals in August before…

4 Eider
60+ Common Scoter
1 Kittiwake
2 Manx Shearwater
30+ Gannet
250+ Sandwich Tern
40+ Little Tern
1 Arctic Tern, plus several ‘Commic.’
2 Ringed Plover
3 Pintail
500+ Curlew

Until later.

Make it Snappy

After getting up ten minutes before going to bed on Sunday morning to attend a car boot sale, I was wide awake at six thirty this morning. Puffing my pillow, rolling over and closing my eyes would have been the sensible option, but instead I was possessed by another entity that coerced me out of my warm bed and no more than ten minutes later into the car and heading down to the Point of Ayr.

Not much doing on the marsh so I opted for a trek through Talacre Dunes and up to Gronant. It was fairly quiet with a few Stonechats and a Bullfinch, plus a steady trickle of Swallows.

The loud calling of a Whimbrel then attracted me to a trio flying high over the dunes in an easterly direction – no surprise considering there as been quite a few reports of ‘Whimbrel en route’ across North Wales this weekend.

Gronant beach was bereft, but there was a mummified fossil of the head of a saltwater crocodile that had been washed up on the shoreline (see above)!

Returning back through the dunes I headed over to the small wood behind the horse paddocks where fortunately I bumped into a mixed flock of fifty or so passerines working their way through the vegetation.

Completely ignoring me, I was able to observe the birds at fairly close proximity as they methodically scoured the twigs and branches for food. Almost all juveniles, the flock contained Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, plus Long-tailed, Great and Blue Tits.

On another note, there are still hundreds and hundreds of waders on the bunded pools at Connah’s Quay NR – a spectacular spectacle. On Saturday there was in excess of fifteen hundred Blackwits with about a dozen Greenshank and four Spot Reds including one in near full summer plumage.

Until later.

Lady Day

With today’s weather being more clammy than a seafood fiesta in Galicia, I opted to drive over to Connah’s Quay where I could both shelter from the frequent deluges and rest my knee that over the last week or so has decided to ratchet up the pain a couple of notches.

Trouble was when I rocked up at the gate I realised for the second time in two weeks that my key was on the set I have left at home – evidently I am too stupid to have more than one set.

Plan B was quickly put into action and I headed over to Cop Hole, the pools adjacent to the steelworks roundabout.

Not much on the pool apart from a score or so of Tufties and a smattering of passage hirundines hawking insects.

The marsh was equally quiet save a solitary Wheatear and a Marsh Harrier that after thirty minutes of scouring around had the courtesy to show to about four miles.

A quiet bird day was however saved by the large numbers of butterflies on and around the Buddleia growing next to the pool.

This area of scrubby grassland is excellent for butterflies and well worth checking out despite the area technically being out of bounds; although it is used by a fair number of dog walkers (not a good idea with the sheep nearby) and a handful of birders.

Lepidoptera this afternoon included Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Red Admiral, Small Heath, Meadow Brown, Common Blue, plus singles of Painted Lady and Grayling – the latter two both on one of the large Buddleia. If there ever was an illustration of the importance of this bush, then today was it with loads of Honey and Bumble Bees feeding on the flowers too.

Until later.

The Dove From Above

Wandering around the nature trail at Connah’s Quay last week I happened across a severed leg on the ground with a ring attached.

Initially, I thought it was a wild bird that had been ringed by ornithologists, but KLJ in full CSI: Flint mode suggested it was a pigeon’s leg and therefore probably a tagged racing bird.

The numbering and lettering read WHU D07749 and so off to the interweb it was. Assuming that it wasn’t the property of West Ham United or the Welsh Hockey Union, I settled on the Welsh Homing Pigeon Union. For some inexplicable reason they omit the ‘pigeon’ from their acronym – the most crucial part I would have thought.

Lying barely a hundred feet from the Peregrine’s nest it doesn’t take Columbo (or should that be Columba) to deduce the probable cause of death. Clearly the falcon was the owner of a very discerning palate as it had left the leg in favour of the far superior breast – and I swear the blood was actually red wine gravy.

I had initially considered notifying the relevant fancier, but given I imagine the general consensus around the coops is not too positive towards the record numbers of Peregrines breeding in Britain I will probably keep schtum.

Until later.

P.S – There is a rumour that more hardline sections of the Welsh Homing Pigeon Union unhappy with the tolerant attitude of its committee are plotting to get rid of the current board. The suspicions of Chairman Bryn Hughes were aroused when an entire lorry load of pigeons were overheard saying “Coup, coup, coup” when he was driving them to a release location in North Wales.

The Big Mig

With my sister whimping out of a slog up Carnedd y Filiast, a less strenuous route across the sublime wilderness of the Migneint was a decent second option.

The term ‘austere beauty’ was invented for this place with miles and miles of rolling moorland, crowned by the imperious Arenig Fawr. Apparently this is the largest area of blanket bog in Wales and thus is absolutely superb – and relatively unspoilt – habitat.

Having said that the best birds today were viewed from the roads – a pair of Red Kites on approaching Ysbyty Ifan and a female Merlin that zipped past the car when we had parked up to start our walk further down the valley.

The walk itself was a fairly easy stroll up to the old farmhouse of Cefngarw. That said, we made a complete hash of finding the bridge that crosses the Afon Conwy and it was only after an incredibly friendly farmer had pointed us in the right direction that we were on our way.

Birding was a little slow when we had eventually reached the track, with the standard moorland fare of Meadow Pipits, Ravens and Buzzards all that was on show. Then, from nowhere, a Red Kite appeared and very obligingly afforded us a close view of its aerial mastery in the gusty winds.

When we reached Cefngarw the heavens opened – something of a surprise to my sister whom had taken the best part of the weather forecast – ‘sunny spells’ - as the prevailing conditions and dressed accordingly, thus choosing to ignore what any of the other ‘spells’ may bring. Ray Mears would not have been impressed!

The old farmhouse must have acted as something of a bothy in years gone by, although judging from its appearance visitors are now few. This is a great shame, because a couple of night up here in the spring could be magical – and you would see the ‘fresco’ of a large ram too.

Although no Hen Harriers or Short-eared Owls were seen today – perhaps not surprising at the fag end of the breeding season – they surely must be here. And I wager a few other goodies too…

Until later.

Hola, Hola, It's Good to be Back

Well, the old internet is finally up and running!

I had forgotten how difficult this writing malarkey can be sometimes, so I’m not sure where to start. I suppose today is as good as any.

With the wind from the north west it was probably a good idea to do some seawatching from the Point Of Ayr today. Henceforth, I did precisely the opposite and sauntered up to the site of the old hide and back over the high tide.

Plenty of Sandwich Terns were screeching around, but probably most notable was the large number of Oystercatchers that are starting to build up – I have seen them reach formidable numbers here in early autumn.

Minus telescope there wasn’t much scope (sorry, bad pun), for picking out anything unusual, but with the sun shining on my back and an abundance of butterflies at large it was one of those occasions to sit on the bench and feel like a king.

Incidentally, one Grayling on the path today – never seen them down here before, but them again I have never looked until this year!

On another thread, it is worth mentioning that Connah’s Quay is particularly good at the moment with big numbers of waders using the bunded pools – something that regrettably isn’t always the case.

Wont be too long before the Black-tailed Godwit flock reaches its full compliment down at Oakenholt. Catching them all in flight from the west hide at high tide is to me the quintessential birding experience on the Dee and there isn’t too long to wait!

Until not as long as last time.