Ffynnongroyw Rocks

I recently bumped in a chap I know from Oakenholt called Eddie. It was in Holywell and I was doing my shopping.

“Hello Paul, how you doin’? You’ve put on weight.”

He was right.

I had been planning to walk from Lloc to Prestatyn for a while and now it was time for action.

First port of call was the small flash at Whitford. Mallards, Mallards, Mallards, hooray a Teal, Mallards, Mallards, Mallards…you get the picture.

Then something spooked them. I was a largish falcon and although flying unusually lethargically it was definitely a young female Peregrine. Good start.

Garth Wood was next up and although I encountered two sizeable winter flocks of passerines they were both dominated by Long-tailed and Blue Tits.

After the damp and murky woodland it was good to emerge back out into the sunshine at Ffynnongroyw.

The beach and adjoining mudflats were lightly peppered with Shelducks and gulls, but it was the thin rocky shoreline parallel to the railway wall that produced the goods in the guise of a brace of Rock Pipits.

Pushing on I soon reached the old hide site at the Point of Ayr. A scan of the point revealed the unmistakable metronomic swishing action of a feeding Spoonbill – I had seen reports of one in recent days, but I had imagined the bird had probably been clocked asleep on one of the flashes on Warren Fields.

Doubly pleasing was the fact that it was a new bird for the Point of Ayr and the first I have seen anywhere for a good while.

The next leg of the trek involved a slog along the beach from Talacre to Gronant with the aim of unearthing a Snow Bunting or two.

No such luck today, with two small flocks of Linnets as good as it got.

Having nearly reached Prestatyn, I opted to negotiate the sand dunes behind the golf course. After flushing a handful of Meadow Pipits I then disturbed a larger Pipit with that flew off high and fast uttering a call more reminiscent of a Sparrow.

I immediately thought Dick’s Pipit, but I have only seen a couple before and certainly never heard one calling, so this one will have to go down firmly in the possible category…

Until later.