The family and I were staying in a cottage in the Conwy valley from the 26th March - 2nd April, it was great.
Day 1- Conwy
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| Redshank |
This was the first full day (after the first night) We went to a wet Conwy castle and then RSPB Conwy nature reserve in the afternoon, we then went for a walk in the area around the cottage (and got a bit lost!). That morning there were lots of garden birds around the cottage including
Blue tits and
Chaffinches. We then went to Conwy Castle. There were hundreds of
Jackdaws and lots of
Herring gulls there including a few
Lesser black-backed gulls. At Conwy there were lots of Waders as the tide was in, predominantly
Redshank and
Curlew but also
Oystercatchers,
Bar-tailed godwits and a
Snipe. Highlights on the water were
Red-breasted mergansers. On the walk we saw
Mistle thrushes and
Meadow pipits.
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Curlew, Oystercatcher, Redshank and
Bar-tailed Godwit |
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Red-breasted mergansers and
a Moorhen |
Day 2- South Stack
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| Chough |
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| Raven |
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Lesser black-backed gulls and
a Herring gull |
One of the target birds of the trip was
Chough, previously I had only seen them at a distance in Spain. We got great views of them all around South Stack as they came very close. Also at South Stack was a
Lesser black-backed gull colony, this was amazing to walk through. One of the birds was ringed and came close enough for me to read the ring number, GR00992. It was ringed as a nestling at Llyn Trawsfynydd in 2011 making it about 5 years old. We also got great views of
Raven and
Peregrine falcons. The first summer birds were moving through too; a
Barn Swallow and 5
Sand Martins. On the sea there were small numbers of
Guillemot,
Fulmar and a
Shag.
Day 3- Caernarfon and Betws-y-coed
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| Barnacle goose |
We set out to go to Caernarfon castle on the way there we saw a
Jay. The castle was great but to make it better we saw an adult
Mediterranean gull from one of the towers. Then, on the way to Betws-y-coed I saw a drake
Goosander from the car window on a lake. After shopping at Betws-y-coed we stopped at Caerhun church, a small building built on the site of an old Roman settlement, there are often Hawfinches there but we saw none. We did see
Red kites and a
Barnacle goose.
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| Lambs |
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| Red kite |
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| Distant Mediterranean gull |
Day 4- Conwy (again)
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| Little egret |
We got up to go to Caerhun Church again, where we did not see
Hawfinches! We then went to Conwy as there was a small farmer's market on at the nature reserve there. We saw some new ducks for the trip:
Shoveler and
Wigeon. We also got great views of
Little Egrets and
Moorhens fighting. We then briefly drove around Great Orme which produced a
Chough.
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| Moorhens fighting |
Day 5- Snowdonia national park
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| Goosanders |
We started the day at Llanbedr-y-cennin church and then Caerhun church, we saw a
Jay and a
Peregrine but no
Hawfinches! In the National park we went to Cwm Idwal where we went walking, it was incredibly scenic. On the Lakes there were two
Goosanders and two
Great-crested grebes. Also in the area were
Buzzards,
Ravens,
Meadow pipits and
Herring gulls. The natural beauty of the area was even more amazing as we went up, though we couldn't get to the top of the mountains as we weren't outfitted for the snowy peaks. We then went back to the cottage, I was looking out of the window when, after looking for them for so long, a
Hawfinch flew past! Dad and I then stood outside and heard it briefly!
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| Meadow pipit (Graham Scott) |
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| Buzzard |
Day 6- Betws-y-coed, Sygun copper mine and Beddgelert
At the cottage dad saw a
Merlin but I didn't manage to see it. In Betws-y-coed we saw two new birds,
Dipper and
Green woodpecker. We then went to Sygun copper mine, a self-guided tour underground where there were obviously no birds! In Betws-y-coed we saw lots of
Chaffinches and a
Jay.
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| Jay |
Day 7- Going home
On the morning we saw a Nuthatch which sang for a while above the cottage as well as a Great-spotted woodpecker, two nice birds to leave the cottage on. The last addition was a Stock dove on the Welsh/English border.
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| Nuthatch |
All in all we saw a total of
83 species.
On the way home we stopped off a Burton Mere, there we got good views of three Water pipits, Sand martins and lots of Avocets, also present was a Black-tailed godwit, a Barnacle goose and a Little-ringed plover. Better than a service station!
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| Distant Little-ringed plover |
I also managed to visit the patch (Hunmanby Gap) on the 2nd and 3rd. I added two new species on the 2nd: 2
Sand Martins flew south and there were
Kittiwakes on the sea. Also present were 4
Chiffchaffs, lots of
Gannets, 13
Sanderling and a
Fox. Then on the 3rd (after a great morning at Bempton Cliffs, seeing a
Long-Eared Owl) I added a
Sandwich tern and a
Fulmar, also present were 8
Chiffchaffs and a
Song thrush, this left me on 71 species and 85 points for
'Patchwork Challenge 2016'
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Song thrush
Sandwich tern
Pied wagtail
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Herring gull |
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| Fox |
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| Sanderling |
