The Lifer and the Year Tick

I took Sarah out to North Wales today for a spot of lunch and we just happened to come across a lifer and a year tick for me :)

Our first stop was at Conwy RSPB to year tick the Grey Phalarope which had been present for the last couple of days.  I wasn't hoping for any great photos as they are tiny little birds, very active and often quite distant.  We found it quickly at the first screen without any problems, but our views were straight into the sun and the bird was distant as expected.

So after a couple of record shots, we decided to move on to the main target, which was a Ring-necked Duck on Llyn Bran, near Llyn Brenig.  There had been a lot of rain over the last couple of days and the morning news had shown extensive flooding in the Conwy Valley, so I asked a couple of people about the best route there, as the police had been turning people back to clear strewn braches and even abandoned cars.  As it happens, the most direct route from Conwy to Llyn Brenig though Llanwrst was fine, although many of the fields on either side of the road were still flooded and it wouldn't have taken much for the water to overflow on to the road in some places.

On arriving at Llyn Bran, another birder was present and he kindly put me on to the Ring-necked Duck and allowed me to use his scope -  it was so distant on the far side of the lake that I couldn't really make out the difference between it and the Tufted Ducks with which it was associating. I'd need to get nearer for even a record shot.  I moved the car up the road and tried the other side and as I did so, Alan and Ruth Davies were just pulling up with some other birders, and a little later Tony Pope arrived hobbling as he had just recently broken his toe, again!

We had a chat about what they'd seen in the area whilst viewing the Duck, all the while hoping it would come closer, but it never really did.  So I'll just have to be happy with these records shots for now.

Sarah and I then went on to the Llyn Brenig Visitor Centre for a late lunch consisting of 'Bacon and Brie Paninis' and a hot drink.   We finished off the day by spending some time at the Brenig feeders where I got some shots of this lovely male Brambling, male and female Siskins, a Goldfinch, a Coal Tit and male and female Chaffinches,

 

A Trip to North Wales

After seeing some shots of Brambling, Siskin and Lesser Redpoll by Paul Lee on Facebook, I decided that it was time to spend some more time in the Welsh hills around Llyn Brenig. And it just so happened that Graeme Robertson was thinking along the same lines, so we arranged to meet on the Visitors' Centre car park at around 9am today.

Lesser Redpoll

Unfortunately, the promise of sunshine never materialised in the morning and we spent most of the time here in dull drizzle, which made photography difficult. There were plenty of birds around including these Lesser Redpolls, Siskins, Coal Tits, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chaffinches and one Robin.

Lesser Redpoll

The aim was to try to get decent shots of the birds in the tree, rather than on the feeders, but they were so fast and active that this was also proved to be very difficult.

Siskin

We only saw one male Brambling high up in a tree, with perhaps a female underneath it, but they never came down to the alder tree with the feeders in it. So what do you do when there's nothing else to see? Take a photo of a Robin of course, and here's one dong its best Wren impression.

Robin

From Llyn Brenig we went on to Dyserth near Rhuddlin to track down the famous Dippers which frequent the area around the waterfall here.  There was plenty of evidence of their presence in the form of white droppings on the rocks at the foot of the waterfall and it didn't take long before I'd spotted one in the channel a little downstream from the waterfall. However, after a couple of shots it was off flying further downstream for a while and then back upstream under a little road bridge to the waterfall area.

A Dyserth Dipper about to take a dip

I am told that there are at least one pair regularly here and so this is definitely a place I'll come back to when I have more time to sit and wait for the birds to come to me. 

Dipper with lunch

Our final destination for the day was Denhall Quay on the Wirral in the hope of seeing some Short-eared Owls hunting on the high tide.  There were plenty of other birders around when we arrived and unfortunately, plenty of dog walkers traversing the marsh.  We had decent scope views of a couple of Marsh Harriers quartering and a Peregrine Falcon sat on a pole, and the ever present Kestrels were also seen a few times.  There were plenty of Little Egrets and Crows about, with lots of waders and various Gulls along the river channels. But everything was pretty distant, so there were no real photo opportunities.  Perhaps the best sight was the hundred of Goldfinches that were flitting around in large flocks before setting down to feed on the grasses.