Probably our final trip of 2019 had myself, Kevin C and Bob K heading for the North Wales coast in my most recent car, a Skoda Yeti! Which, up to now is certainly a car for all seasons and conditions. Our plan was to visit RSPB Conway to try to connect with one of the Firecrest`s that seem to winter on the reserve in most years. A chance meeting with a couple of birders from the Liverpool area on the way in, took us right to the correct area, the dipping pond with a bridge right across it. It was a fresh morning on the reserve along with a wind that might reduce our chances of seeing these tiny birds. After about an hour and with the local Robin population becoming very friendly, my two compatriots became restless and wandered away. What happened next? Yes you have guessed right, a Firecrest flew in for about a minute and gave decent views and promptly disappeared. I summoned my friends to the bridge but after a further 20 minutes no further sign of the bird! A warm up in the RSPB centre was called for before we headed off to try to find a Snow Bunting at Rhos on Sea.
When we arrived at Rhos the tide was just beginning to go out but the wind was certainly picking up, a search of the beach area along with other birders revealed no sign of the Snow Bunting. We also had a look for any Purple Sandpipers on the rocks, again without success. After news that a male Surf Scoter had been seen from near the Rainbow Bridge at Old Colwyn, we headed up the road, parked up and began the walk (with the wind behind us) along the footbath to the bridge. We set up our scopes in what shelter we could find and began to search through the large flock of Common Scoters that winter along this coastline every year. The waves were making it quite difficult to pick out the Surf Scoter as all the sea ducks bobbed up and down. After about an hour of searching and with a large bank of rain coming in we decided to abandon the search. The walk back against the wind was brightened up by a spectacular rainbow appearing, but alas no crock of gold at the either end of it!
Final stop was to be at Denhall Quay near Little Neston on the Wirral, to see the hoped for Short Eared Owls and various raptors. As the sun slowly went down the hoped for owls did not show themselves, up to 6 Marsh Harriers were seen though. Time for home we all thought, after what was a nice but fairly unrewarding day!
