Wales!

This year I was kindly invited by the Grundy family to go on holiday with them to the small village of Llwyngwril in Gweynedd. The scenery was magical in that area and it was just a superb holiday. Here is a diary of what we saw.

Day 1

Sea-watching on our first morning produced the good total of 443 Manx Shearwaters, as well as 61 Gannets, 3 Sandwich Tern, a single Fulmar and a Skua sp. (prob Arctic) south.

A Peregrine flew along the beach during the afternoon.

Highlights in the moth trap included several interesting resident species such as Oak hook-tip, Toadflax Pug, Dusky Thorn and Magpie Moth. The only immigrants caught were 2 Silver Y's.

Day 2

With a strong south-westerly wind the next day we were all up early to sea-watch. Although the tally of just 82 Manx Shearwaters was poor, 2 Balearic Shearwaters close inshore south and a distant but fairly prolonged view of a European Storm Petrel made up for this, while a Kittiwake was also noteworthy.

A walk along the beach to several pools recently created near the sea-wall produced 1 Whimbrel in a flooded field, 1 Snipe, 10 Rock Pipits, a female Wheatear and a superb gathering of c. 800 Swallows.

Day 3

Little of note was seen during the morning sea-watch, although 257 Manx Shearwaters was a good count.

Cycling around Bird Rock in the afternoon produced several decent birds, including 3 male Redstarts, 2 female Pied Flycatchers, 2 Wheatears, 3 Ravens and a Red Kite.

The only resident species of note in the moth trap was a Dark Marbled Carpet, while ther only immigrant was a single Diamond-back Moth.

Day 4

Sea-watching was very poor in the morning with just 2 Manx Shearwaters. A Willow Warbler was a new arrival in the orchard.

Day 5

Sea-watching was better during the morning with 343 Manx Shearwaters logged, but the real highlight was the juvenile Arctic Skua close inshore south. 104 Sandwich Terns was a noteworthy count.

A Chough at Bird Rock was a super British tick for myself and this area was again a superb honey-pot of birds with 5 Wheatear, 3 Stonechats, 2 Ravens a Red Kite, a Willow Warbler and 3 Spotted Flycatchers noted.

Day 6

Not much sea-watching was undertaken on this day as everyone felt they needed a rest. In a brief sea-watch 32 Manx Shearwaters and a Fulmar were noted.

The 'hill behind the house' was visited during the afternoon with 4 Wheatears, 10 Stonechats, a Red Kite and 4 Ravens were notable, while a female Stonechat was present in the garden.

The moth trap was exceptionally poor, with Small Wainscot being the only moth of any real note.

Day 7

A sea-watch was undertaken of the point early morning and although it was slow going at times 514 Manx Sherwaters were logged, as well as a single Balearic.

A Wheatear, 5 Rock Pipits and a Cuckoo were also noted in this area, as was a female Gadwall. A Nuthatch was seen at the centre for alternative technology.

Moth trapping was again poor with 1 Orange Swift the only moth of any real note.

Day 8

Little sea-watching was undertaken during the day as the weather conditions were poor, with just two Manx Shearwaters and 5 Sandwich Terns noted in fifteen minutes.

Several bits and pieces were present at the hill including 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Red Kite, 1 Snipe, 2 Goldcrests, 2 Song Thrushes, 1 juv. Wheatear, 2 Stonechats, 2 Ravens and 3 Buzzards.

Day 9

Sea-watching was better today with 15 Manx Shearwaters, 10 Gannets and the real highlight was 2 Common Terns feeding offshore for c. 30 seconds early-afternoon.

Sand Martin, Mediterranean Gull and Peregrine were all noted during the day.

Day 10

A superb mornig se-watch of the point produced 263 Manx Shearwaters, 1 European Storm Petrel, 1 Fulmar and a juv. Long-tailed Skua north.

Later a visit to Dolgoch Falls and Nant Gwernol produced 2 Crossbills, 1 Willow Warbler, 3 Goldcrests, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Treecreeper and 1 Nuthatch.

Day 11

Nothing of note was seen during the morning sea-watch as the wind had switched round to the east again.

A visit to Penmine Pool RSPB produced a Whinchat and a Great-spotted Woodpecker, while later Arthog Bog RSPB yielded a Spotted Flycatcher and a Nuthatch.

Day 12

A trip to Anglesey was undertaken on this day, largely to look for the Black Stork on the Alaw estuary, which sadly resulted in failure, despite a lengthy search. However, 5 Greenshanks, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 2 Little Egrets, 6 Teal and 20 Knot were noted here.

The moth trap was much better with the highlights being 2 NORTHERN FOOTMAN (the Red data book form of Scarce Footman), Purple Bar, 2 Silver Y, 2 True Lover's Knot, Small Rufos, Dark Spectacle and a Toadflax Pug.

Day 13

A reasonable sea-watch in the morning by S.G produced 40 Manx Shearwaters and 2 Skua sp. chasing terns offshore.

Little else of not was seen during the day

Day 14

The last day! Sea-watching produced 150+ Manx Shearwaters, while a trip to the hill and viz. mig. from the garden produced 1 male Redstart, 2 Chough, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, 5 Rock Pipits, 1 Redshank, 1 Raven and 2 Wheatears.

The moth trap produced the following of note: 4 Dingy Footman, 23(!) Brimstone, 9 Antler Moths, 2 Grey Chi, 1 Purple Bar, 1 Buff Footman, 1 Black Arches, 1 Lesser-swallow Prominent,a Flame Carpet, 1 Oak-tree Pug, 1 Iron Prominent, 1 prob. Crinean Ear, 1 Red Twin-spot Carpet, 1 Dark Marbled Carpet, 2 Sandy Carpets, 1 Narrow-winged Pug, 1 Chevron, 1 Small Rufos, 3 NORTHERN FOOTMAN and the best immigrant of the two weeks, a Rusty-Dot Pearl.

The best trap of the two-weeks was a fitting end to a great holiday and thanks once again to the Grundy family for inviting me.

Summer round-up

(Connor) Well for what is supposed to be the quiet time of year the summer months were surprisingly productive in terms of interesting birds, with Little Bittern at Titchwell RSPB, Dark-eyed Junco at Langham and Alpine Swift at Hunstanton all being extremely noteworthy. As well as this by the beginning of autumn many return-passage waders were starting to appear, particularly Greenshanks and Whimbrel.

Roll on autumn...