As the weather in the west seemed pretty good on Sunday we decided to visit Anglesey, Wales. Three A Teamers met in Rochdale for a 6am start, both Steve`s and myself with Steve K at the wheel. It was quite a nice, if cold ,morning as we headed into North Wales reaching Holyhead harbour around 8-15am, two Black Guillemots were seen, but not much else. At South Stack RSPB reserve we went to the cliff top view and lots of Guillemots, Razorbills, Kittiwakes and just four Puffins were seen. Fulmar, Shag, Raven, Rock Pipit, Gannet, Manx Shearwater were all seen from the stack, then 2 Great Skua passed heading north, what a nice surprise they were! A couple of Common Scoter and the ever entertaining party of Choughs completed an always good visit. We called in at a new reserve in Holyhead called something like Breakwater Park? Lots of dog walkers,so we moved on quickly. Next stop was what we used to call the inland sea, now called Penrhos with its own small nature reserve. A few Sandwich Terns and two Red Breasted Merganser were fishing in the sea, but the hoped for Whimbrel were not seen.
After a short while we decided to visit RSPB Valley Lakes in Caergeilog, the sun was shining really well now but it was still a little chilly. We soon heard lots of Whitethroats and Sedge Warblers singing and after a very pleasant walk towards the railway track we heard Cetti`s Warbler blasting out their loud song. Willow Warbler, Blackcap and a fine pair of Little Grebe made up a very pleasant hour at this warbler rich reserve. As we were about to leave we saw Alan Davies, of The Biggest Twitch fame, we had a good talk about birding in general. A nice birder on a bike told us about a noisy Lesser Whitethroat about half a mile away, so, off we went and enjoyed hearing and watching the bird perform. We heard about an Osprey that had been seen in the morning perched on a pylon near the Britania Bridge, as we passed over we looked for it, but it had gone!
At the Spinnies, Aber Ogwen a few Red Breasted Merganser, Little Egret and a few birds on the feeders were seen but not much els,e like the hoped for Kingfisher or Water Rail. A few good waders had been reported at Frodsham and as we where passing we called in. As we slowly made our way along the bumpy track to the tanks, Steve K said, Reeling we knew what he meant, a Grasshopper Warbler. With a bit of pishing etc the bird nearly flew into the car and landed a few feet away, nice when this happens! Along the track it became apparent that some construction work was going on, more wind farm nonsense and the usual barrage of no entry sign`s etc. It did not stop me having a good walk through the barriers(the guard on site was okay with us) and being rewarded with views of Ruff, Black Tailed Godwit, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Little Ringed Plover, a birder on site did help me locate a couple of the birds though!
Final call was to be Pennington Flash, Leigh. The weather by now had turned a bit showery and as we reached the flash the heavens opened, we sheltered in a hide and got a couple of Common Terns. Our plan was to see a Black Necked Grebe, but after searching and avoiding more rain we abandoned that plan, five Common Sandpipers where nice though. We looked in at the feeding station, but there was not much happening, must be the weather? I almost left my scope behind, but a nice lady shouted me back from the hide to pass it to me. Many thanks who ever you are. We got home around 6-15pm, 12 hours of really good birding.
