PRE-BREAKFAST LOCAL WALK IN TREFRIW – ANGLESEY ALL DAY WITH VISITS TO RSPB CORS DDYGA – MALLTREATH BAY – PENRHOS COUNTRY PARK - RSPB VALLEY RESERVE
WEATHER: it was dry all day today, yippeeee!! However the wind was very strong and completely ruined our plans and our sightings!
Our early morning pre-breakfast walk in the village was poorly attended, only two of us turned out! We drove to the far end of the village to the woollen mill and searched the stream for a Kingfisher which is still missing from our list. We never saw a bean or a bird! At the small lake a little further on we watched Little Grebes and Moorhens but no Kingfishers. The grass banks and the local park area was full of birds. thrushes and robins all with fledged chicks but very little bird song was taking place, we did hear Blackcap, Song Thrush, Wren and Robin.
Little Grebe on the village pond
After breakfast we drove straight to Anglesey for our second visit we were hoping to see some waders, ducks and warblers. The first stop was at Cors Ddyga, an RSPB reserve consisting of large areas of flat marshes with ditches, pools, reedbeds - a lot like the Somerset Levels.
A Cetti's Warbler called out as we got out of the car but we never saw it. We noticed that the wind had got up, it was quite cold too! We spent the two hours walking a designated pathway in a rectangular shape. The first leg produced a few sightings, a flock of 20+ Lapwings, others with chicks, also Greylag and Canada Geese, Mute Swans, Mallards and a pair of Wigeon?? didn't expect the Wigeon.
Reed Bunting showing off its tail feathers
We had a close encounter with a Sedge Warbler and Reed Buntings dashed about. On the second leg of the walk we saw Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and Common Whitethroats. The next leg was the most productive as we found some shelter from the relentless wind.
We watched Stonechats, Marsh Harriers (a pair), Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, another Common Whitethroat, Reed Warbler and more Sedge Warblers. We found sheltered areas behind thick bushes that provided a screen from the wind. In these small areas of sanctuary we found dragonflies, damselflies and butterflies. Broad Bodied Chaser dragonflies, Large Skipper butterflies and two spiecies of Damselflies.
a Large Skipper and a Common Bluetail
Both a Field Vole and then a Stoat dashed across the pathway in front of us and the Marsh Harriers were very active. We watched Reed Buntings and Meadow Pipits and found Skylarks settled on the ground and a little further on our second butterfly appeared in the shape of a Small Tortoiseshell.
Skylarks were numerous at Cors Ddyga
We were almost back to the car when we finally got a view of a Cetti's Warbler, we saw this individual dash across the pathway a couple of times, singing where it landed. A Speckled Wood brought our butterfly sightings to three species, we had also seen several Drinker Moth caterpillars walking across the track and both Common Kestrel and Common Buzzard.
Drinker Moth Caterpillar
We drove into the nearest town to buy some lunch supplies before making our way down to Malltreath Bay. The wind was even stronger there, you could hardly stand up let alone use your scope. We ate our lunch huddled on a bench, it was cold and windy, so we dived into the pub for a hot drink. Back at the car park I managed to find a bit of shelter behind a wall and I scanned the bay finding two Curlews, two Common Shelducks and a few gulls.
Ragged Robin see at RSPB Valley
Penrhos Country Park sits on the northern side of the island near Holyhead, it has a large woodland and we hoped to find some shelter there. Wrong!! It was still very winding, only I got out of the car and scanned the bay, the tide was rising, I saw 200+ Oystercatchers, 3 Dunlin and a few Gulls.
one of over 200 Oystercatchers in the Bay at Penrhos
It was 3pm by now and we were all fed up of the windy conditions, but we tried one final place, RSPB Valley which is a series of pools formed by gravel extractions, its sits right next to RAF Valley Flight Training School, so somewhat noisy at times.
We got blown along a track to an embankment seeing Grey Heron, Skylark and Great Crested grebe along the way. From the top of the embankment we scanned three or four pools and found....not a lot. Tufted Ducks, Greylag Goose, Great Crested Grebes and a new bird for the list, a female Common Pochard.
Common Pochard
Wow, that was exciting and proved to be the final straw, we decided to finsh for the day. We did see Common Whitethroat and our first Blackcap of the trip back in the car park. It took exactly 1 hour to drive back to the hotel, we arrived at 5pm.