Ternalicious

Another long and enjoyable day's birding along the North Wales Coast on the Sunday just gone.. I met up with good friend Alex early on the Sunday morning at 9am at the layby by the Aber Ogwen reserve by the main road. Since I had been revising solidly for the past 3 days and not venturing out of my room, I somewhat needed some fresh air and the 3 mile walk certainly did the job.....

First stop was Aber Falls at Abergwyngregyn where we enjoyed good views of Wood warbler trilling up in the dense canopy of the truely wonderful Sessile oak woodland, which is predominantly what this site is protected for.. The bird sang from several branches but there was not enough time for a record shot as it was quite flitty. Other birds here were Pied flycatcher, 4+ Male Redstarts, Dipper and singing Garden Warbler

Next stop was South Stack RSPB on Anglesey - Hundreds of Auks on the cliffs! Birds seen here were Guillemot, Razorbill, Chough, Wheatear, 3+ Puffin - {Yeartick} and Alex picked out a Dark-phase Arctic skua {Yeartick} tanking it towards the direction of Holyhead..

Puffin - one of several individuals seen

Next stop was onto Cemlyn bay where we had great views of Sandwich Tern, Common Tern and at least 2 Arctic Terns {the latter/2 yearticks}.. Trying to ID the Arctic terns with a heat haze was rather tricky but we managed to pick out to definete birds; with much smaller legs, bright red bill with no dark tip and a less-extensive black cap..

A short seawatch provided nothing out of interest and no Manx shearwaters, which was a surprise.. However, a Chough appeared, which was colur-ringed! I persued it and got a decent enough shot. I am currently waiting on confirmation of when and where the bird was ringed etc etc

Satisfied with that and 4 yearticks for me and 8+ for Alex, we moved off and onto Penmon point near Beumauris on Anglesey in search for Grasshopper warblers... We were not dissapointed... First the characteristic pose of a 'gropper' reeling, then better pictures..

Grasshopper warbler reeling

Grasshopper Warbler

Grasshopper Warbler

Grasshopper Warbler reeling

A total of 90 species was sufficient enough, so we called it a day and headed for home..

1} Cormorant, 2} Shag, 3} Little egret, 4} Grey heron, 5} Mute swan, 6} Greylag goose, 7} Canada goose, 8} Shelduck, 9} Mallard, 10} Eider, 11} Buzzard, 12} Sparrowhawk, 13} Kestrel, 14} Peregrine Falcon, 15} Pheasant, 16} Moorhen, 17} Coot, 18} Oystercatcher, 19} Lapwing, 20} Dunlin, 21} Redshank, 22} Curlew, 23} Whimbrel, 24} 1 Arctic skua, 25} Black-Headed gull, 26} Common gull, 27} Herring gull, 28} Lesser-Black-Backed Gull, 29} Greater-Black-Backed Gull, 30} Sandwich tern, 31} Common tern, 32} Arctic tern, 33} Puffin, 34} Guillemot, 35} Razorbill, 36} Feral-pigeon, 37} Stock dove, 38} Woodpigeon, 39} Collard Dove, 40} Cuckoo, 41} Swift, 42} Skylark, 43} Sand martin, 44} Swallow, 45} House martin, 46} Meadow pipit, 47} Pied wagtail, 48} Grey wagtail, 49} Wren, 50} Dipper, 51} Dunnock, 52} Robin, 53} Redstart, 54} Stonechat, 55} Song thrush, 56} Mistle thrush, 57} Blackbird, 58} Blackcap, 59} Garden warbler, 60} Lesser whitethroat, 61} Whitethroat, 62} Sedge warbler, 63} Grasshopper warbler, 64} Willow warbler, 65} Wood warbler, 66} Chiffchaff, 67} Goldcrest, 68} Pied flycatcher, 69} Blue tit, 70} Great tit, 71} Coal tit, 72} Long-tailed tit, 73} Nuthatch, 74} Treecreeper, 75} Magpie, 76} Jay, 77} Jackdaw, 78} Chough, 79} Rook, 80} Carrion crow, 81} Raven, 82} Starling, 83} House sparrow, 84} Chaffinch, 85} Linnet, 86} Goldfinch, 87} Greenfinch, 88} Siskin, 89} Reed bunting, 90} Wheatear,

Yearticks in blue...