Llyn Brenig, A North Wales Jewel - 8 June 2013

I have a good spot for seeing the Cuckoo, just north of the wonderfully named World's End, near Llangollen. Hearing the male bird calling is certainly one of the highlights of a magnificent 14 mile walk, but seeing the bird is not a given and the mixed terrain is a bit gruelling. So with hot weather forecast for today, we chose a gentler option for a Cuckoo hunt.

Llyn Brenig, 12 miles south-west of Denbigh, is a really beautiful reservoir and a popular venue for trout anglers, plus the occasional Osprey. It is also a fantastic place for a birding walk, with a great chance of seeing Cuckoos.

We arrived fairly early and enjoyed a coffee in the visitor centre cafe, or to be more precise, outside on the balcony enjoying the view. We soon set off anti-clockwise around the reservoir and after a brief stop for a Willow Warbler, we arrived on the dam at the southern end, where a stop was compulsory to admire and photograph the resplendent vista.

As I looked out thinking 'it doesn't get better than this' it suddenly did when a couple of Cuckoos flew across from the east and settled on the tree tops behind the visitor centre. It got even better when we heard a male Cuckoo calling from behind us and we turned to find another pair in the nearby wood. With 4 Cuckoos in sight, we then had a fifth when another male was heard calling from the east. What a start to the day!

Walking up the eastern side, it soon became clear why the Cuckoos are drawn to this area. The adjacent rough meadows were alive with Meadow Pipit, so there is no shortage of nests for the Cuckoos to parasitise.

Meadow Pipit with tasty catch but is it feeding a young Cuckoo?

We continued north along the path and up to the point where it veers off into a large coniferous wood and here we stopped for lunch at the waters edge. With another fine view across the calm water and one eye to the skies in search of the Osprey that had been feeding in the area, it would have been so easy to miss the days best view of a Cuckoo. But we were still hearing the calls, so we kept checking the trees behind us and out it popped to perch on a fence post some distance away. I was off... first using the cover of the walled bank, then closing in on my belly and crossing the path where I was almost decapitated by a passing cyclist (with PK sniggering into her tea). I had almost halved the distance when I quickly popped the lens through the long grass and fired off a couple of hopeful shots, just before the bird disappeared back into the wood. 

The smell from the animal droppings that I had managed to accumulate in the process, accompanied us for the rest of the day but it was worth it!

A Llyn Brenig Cuckoo - clocked one at last!

Skylark - a welcome sight on any trip

Species (order as seen): Willow Warbler, Mistle Thrush, Pied Wagtail, Chaffinch, Magpie, Crow, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Greylag Goose, Grey Wagtail, Raven, Jay, Swallow, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Skylark, Robin, Sedge Warbler, Reed Bunting, House Martin, Redstart, Stonechat, Goldfinch, Canada Goose.

For more information visit http://www.llynbrenig.co.uk/ or https://twitter.com/LlynBrenig

LLanfairfechan & Conwy - 2 March 2013

It's always a pleasurable journey driving into Wales. But with the added entertainment from my satnav as it attempts to roll its techno-tones around Welsh road names, it's often a hilarious journey also. You can well imagine what it made of our first destination this morning... the promenade at Llanfairfechan (via Dwygyfylchi and Penmaenmawr)!

On arrival we were greeted by the amazing site of a Jackdaw in a trance-like state, sea-watching. We guessed, based on recent weather, it was not so much enjoying the view but wondering what the big orange thing in the sky was!

It was approaching high tide and the increasingly calming sea mirrored the clear blue sky above, thus allowing clear views of Puffin Island, off the eastern tip of Anglesey. Just as well really, as the Red Breasted Merganser - our target bird today - where way out at sea, sharing the serenity with a number of Great Crested Grebe. That is until a lone male in full summer plumage, appeared within 50 meters and dutifully posed for photographs in the pale blue sea.

Mission accomplished, and after watching 100+ Oystercatchers desert the shrinking shoreline to head for their high water roost, we moved on to Conwy.

Lunch at the RSPB reserve was followed by a perimeter walk during which; Teal, Shelduck, Wigeon, Heron, Lapwing, Pochard, Canada Geese, Goosander, Blackbird, Curlew, Snipe, Tufted Duck, Little Egret, Coot, Redshank, Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Crow, Dunnock, Chaffinch and Goldfinch were all added to the day-list.

Conwy RSPB reserve is very well run by its team of dedicated, friendly staff. In my opinion, it is streets ahead of the better known (Springwatch) sister site at Ynys-Hir.

Da iawn Cymru.

Hypnotised by the sea (a state I know so well)

Red Breasted Merganser enjoying its usual 'bad hair day'

Snipe bathing in the lagoon at Conwy RSPB

Curlew taking a breather near the lagoon

A perfect end to the day - Watching a Grey Heron searching for supper at sunset

Little Terns and Much More - 17 July 2012

I made a trip into North Wales today to have a look at the Little Tern colony at Gronant. I parked at Point of Ayre, leaving a 3 mile walk to Gronant, including what felt like a never-ending and rather boring hike through the Haven holiday site!

Arriving at the beach beyond the protected nesting site (well fenced-off and nestled amongst the dunes at the back of the beach), the sight that greeted me was a thing of beauty. A large number of Little Terns were grouped together on the shoreline, whilst a stream of others were flying to and from the nesting site, providing a constant source of food to the young chicks within it. The area is a rich source of sand eels and the terns have no problem locating them.

From the middle of the beach I got a good look at the shoreline terns as they regularly took flight and returned with an array of small fish and eels. This area also held a few Dunlin, 100+ Oystercatcher and almost as many Cormorant.

Taking the direct route back along the beach was not necessarily quicker but it did provide me with a number of bonus sightings including a Grey Seal out at sea. There were a number of Ringed Plover high on the beach (possibly nesting in the shingle) and further along a single bird appeared to follow me for a while as it fed amongst patches of sea-weed.

As the beach widened quite extensively, I spotted a Little Egret feeding around a small area of wet marsh, and to round the day off nicely, two far-off dots proved to be adult and juvenile Peregrine Falcons.

I'll be back...

Little Tern on Gronant shore

Ringed Plover feeding amongst seaweed

Grey Seal - possibly one of the Dee Estuary colony