SNOWDONIA NATIONAL PARK AT LLAN OGWEN - DINORWIG SLATE MINES - LLANBERIS PASS - THE UGLY HOUSE WOODLANDS
All the photographs in today's blog were taken during previous tours of Wales, this is because some dip-stick left his phone in his room this morning!!! Doh!!
WEATHER: today we had light rain, moderate rain and heavy rain, in bweteen we had dry spells and very light rain!
You can gather from the weather report above that we had a very wet day and we saw relatively fewer birds, we missed our main target species, the Ring Ouzel.
After yesterday's blustery, windy day it was calm as can be this morning, not a whiff of wind, not a quivering leaf or a stir on the water, perfectly still. the only problem was, it was raining cats and dogs!
the river seen from my window at the hotel, a Little Egret is shown
We braved the weather and set out after our delightful breakfast, heading for the Mount Snowdon National Park. We stopped in a roadside lay-by and scanned the mountainside and alpine meadows for anything that moved. We saw very little, Grey Wagtail, Grey Heron and Brenda found a Stonechat. It started to rain so we moved on.
several were seen today especially over the river across from our hotel
Our second stop was a couple of kilometers on, at the eastern end of the lake (Llan) Ogwen near Bethesda. There we saw a apir of Goosander, a Cormorant and a single Canada Goose, all of these were in the water. We saw nothing on the mountainside, the rain increased so we moved on.
Pied Wagtail, very common, several were seen today
At the car park just west of the lake we stopped to use the toilets, in and around the car park we saw Sisikin, Chaffinch, Pied Wagtail and a Dunnock. a side road took us into a quiet area where we spent a hour or so scanning the mounatins again from two or three places, each time we stopped the rain caught us up!
We found a few Northern Wheatears, loyts of Meadow Pipits and one Tree Pipit. Magpies, Crows, Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls and more Stonechats. A chough called but we could not locate it.
Having failed to find a Ring Ouzel we decided to drive across to Dinorwig Slate Mines where they have been seen over the last few years. It took 30 minutes to get there, but unfortunately for us the path to the Slate Mines was closed due to a Film Company making a film, something to do with the Game of Thrones.
a sign seen at most woodland walks
That buggered up our plans, so we drove down to Llamberis and parked up for lunch. We bought supplies in a shop and got a soaking trying to find somewhere to eat therm. We ended up in a cafe drinking hot chocolate and/or coffee and we ate our lunch back in the bus.
We drove through the beautful Llanberis Pass in torrential rain, such a pity because it really is a stunning landscape, when you can see it.
Finally we ended up back near Betws-y-Coed at the Ugle House Woodland. We found a few birds around the car park whilst waiting for the rain to stop, which it did. The walk was uneventful until the last 50 meers or so, then it got really good. A Wood Warbler flew straight at us and verred off when it saw us, it had a mouthful of food for ts chicks. The bird was calling loudly and flitted around not far away. We moved away quickly and stopped again hoping to see it drop down to its nest, but it never did. Whilst we were waiting we saw a male Pied Flycatcher feeding in an oak tree and a family party of Great Spotted Woodpeckers called from high up.
Pied Flycatcher - taken in the woodland at the Ugly House in 2023
Eurasian Treecreeper, obviously not taken today because the sun is shining!!
Back at the car park we found Treecreeper and a Robin also carrying food for its chicks. Debbie had found earlier a Stag Beetle which had been disturbed from under a log by a horse.