Llandudno 28/29 January Photos

 

By the right, Quick March! Left Right, Left Right 💂

Llandudno 26/27 January Photos

 

Llandudno Farmland

I thought about a Sea Watch after breakfast so I went across the road and watched it for 7/8 minutes, its still there 😋. Then I headed E to Little Orme where there are fields easily viewed from the roadside.

It seems Oystercatcher replace Lapwing in this area; there were many of them searching for grub in the grassland. Quite a fair number of Curlew too and Starling. Jackdaws were plentiful with scattered Herrings throughout. Managed a handful of Common & BH Gulls, 2 Rock Pipit seen also.

Going beyond Little Orme was too much of a task to ask my ageing bones, Mrs Jones 👩‍🦰 so I doubled back toward the W shore. This was a bad move; I got badly sandblasted and the bird species count remained stagnant. Worth a minor mention: House Sparrows are vibrant and numerous.

Great Orme Gift In A Gale

Twas a dry grey start to the trek up and around Great Orme this morning but starting on the Eastern side the strong wind from the W had no debilitating effect. Pr Kittiwake, f Peregrine, couple Shag. Pr Raven one of which was filling it’s beak with grass in readiness for breeding. 

Usual Fulmars and Gulls, mostly the larger sp. including 2 GBBG. Oystercatchers & a couple Turnstone. Also c60 Harbour Seals hauled out.

Then I reached the part of the route just below the top of the Orme where you turn left and face West. 😵‍💫 the force of the blast was horrific so much so I almost fell to my knees and begged Soil Hill for forgiveness.

Two Herring Gull were stood in the car park without a care when I caught sight of an object flitting behind them. It moved again and my dejection sudden spiralled upwards; a Snow Bunting! 😂👍. In typical fashion, it ignored me and kept pecking away and despite me being blown all over the shop I managed some reasonable 📷 lens results. Thank you 🙏 Celtic Spirits 💨.

Llandudno To Conwy via Deganwy

A very bright sunny day. It must have been a large scale Ebb Tide cos the oggin was miles out all of the time.

You probably won’t believe this 🥸 but there were so many Oystercatchers about I could hear the sand creaking under their weight. By far the most spectacular sight was when masses of Dunlin with several Sanderling thrown in suddenly whizzed up the estuary in a stream that would shame Netflix 😎.

4 Shelduck, 2 Little Egret, a few Curlew, 1 Grey Heron, numerous Redshank, 1 Rock Pipit, pr Pied Wagtail & a Raven flying close by.

Gulls everywhere, mainly Herring with 2 GBBG. But as per my last visit in October 21 LBBG conspicuous In Absentia.

I took loadsa photos but the two of you what read this blog can breathe easily - I can’t publish until I return home, if at all.

Llandudno Arrival

Wednesday 26 approx 1435 hrs. Had a 50 minute walk around the Pier and Great Orme bottom area. Fulmars, Herring Gulls, Redshanks, Turnstones & Blackbird.

May do the full Great Orme slog tomorrow or could it be the estuary down to Conwy? Decisions, decisions 🤓

Queensbury Sth Short Walk

Misty and 1c but felt colder. No problem remembering the list of birds seeing there weren't many.

Couple Rook along with the Crows and Magpies. 2 BHG. Guess I was lucky to get 5 Lapwing.

From Queensbury Forum

 

Windy Soil Hell

 I braved the NW’ly nasty and got 3 Snipe and 1 each of Green Woodpecker, Skylark, Meadow Pipit & Pheasant.

21 Fieldfare, 2 Redwing ditto Mistle Thrush, 1 Pheasant and a bunch of Starling were down Taylor Lane.

Morons or Landowners have torn down all the designated footpath posters.

Birds Finally On Usual Route

Ogden Res: Dipper in the overflow. A pr Greylag over > SW. 4 adult Herring & 1 LBB in with the numerous smaller sp. Pr Bullfinch, 1 GSW, 5 Blackbird plus expected residents.

Tree 🌳 planting on a massive scale in the Withens Road area.

Stod Fold was active with Tits incl. 2 LTT, a couple of Goldcrest and a Treecreeper.

Mixenden Res, apart from the gulls produced a few Goldfinch, 1 Grey Wagtail and as I was leaving a noisy Raven low overhead 😁.

Soil Hill to Mixenden

Another poor day. A singing Chaffinch was all the hellish hill could offer apart from tons of mud on the Ned Hill track.

Couple LTT at Ogden and the Kingfisher which was flying about in a frenzy in response to calls being made from a mobile phone. All well and good if it doesn’t burn off too many calories at a time of year when food is not readily available. 3 Roe Deer seen.

About 13 Fieldfare & c25 Redwing at Hunter Hill bottom. Mixenden Res was poor. Couple or three Herring & LBB in with the mob.

Quiet Queensbury South

Pleasant walking. No wind, no mist, no rain, no snow, no ice, NO BIRDS! 😭.

3 Greenfinch, 1 Meadow Oh forget it 🥸

The former Cross Lane bog now has a large concrete foundation base at the entrance.

Oats Royd To Mixenden

Talk about strength through adversity 😖. After today’s bad dream nigh on 🦅 birdless slog I can just about manage to lift a 150g packet of crisps above my eyebrows 😒💫. I also accept that Iceland Gull and I are destined not to meet at any local reservoirs after 3 misses.

Nothing at Oats Royd other than gallons of Mud.

Ogden is not worth a mention and neither is the golf course stretch. However on approaching Brookhouse I had a few minutes relief from abject misery ☹️. At 1105 hours a Curlew gave a loud single bubble burst from Hunter Hill bottom.

Then back to the mental dungeon; a Grey Heron and usual gulls on Mixenden Res.

Soil Hill

Not much doing in a cold SW’ly blow after scouring the hill top and bottom.

10 very flighty Fieldfare, 1 singing Mistle Thrush, 3 Meadow Pipit, 2 Cock Pheasant, 4 Dullard and one other.

Cromwell Bottom

Cromwell Bottom courtesy of DP. Several Siskin that chose to keep us at distance. Pr Teal, 3/4 Goosander & a Mute Swan immature bearing left leg ring Yellow 1Y87.

1 GSW ditto Grey Wagtail & Grey Heron, 7/8 Cormorant. Numerous Common & BH Gulls.

4 Bullfinch, few Chaffinch, couple LT & Coal Tit. Plenty of people at the feeder station.

Birding Getting Harder

https://apple.news/Ack5mrQqQRQ6T9m9uAqxqEw

Ogden Res to Mixenden

In achronological order: Mixenden was dormant but I do wonder how 4 of the narrow streams on the west bank have suddenly stopped running. I thought they were a permanent fixture based on the number of times my socks were soaked

Ogden Res had been a bit busier; 1 each GSW, Sparrowhawk, Jay, Robin & Blackbird. Usual small gulls on the water.

News From The South

Overall a satisfactory session from Queensbury to Shelf Moor along with a blow to future birding in the area.

3 Bullfinch and a couple each of Chaffinch & Goldfinch in the park. Common Tit species also. Plenty of Crows throughout along with 4/5 Rook & a few Jackdaw.

Shelf Moor provided a single Fieldfare in with 4 Mistle Thrush (see the superb photo 🤣). Several gulls and singles of Blackbird & Meadow Pipit.

Now I can’t put my finger on it but something tells me we can forget about the boggy field at Cross Lane. A Snipe flew over it almost as a final salutation.

18 Lapwing were present as were several small gulls in a field further up the frog n 🐸 toad.

Ogden Res

Took a chance with the forecast snow and got away with it until the point where I usually head for Mixenden. I abandoned the final push as the white stuff thickened combined with the atrocious birding. 

Only small gulls on the drink at Ogden until I was fortunate enough to see a Kingfisher perched in a bush. It flew off and disappeared. The only arboreal birds seen were a Robin and a Jay.  A couple Meadow Pipit encountered on departure and a few Goldfinch in the trees on arrival home.

Queensbury South Short Route

Sunny, Dry and cold with icy patches. The park produced 1 GSW ditto m Chaffinch, a few Goldfinch & 4 Blackbird.

The fields were barren and I aborted the Shelf Moor stretch. Just a Moorhen and a single BHG seen.

The trailer park area raised the spirits. 1 Snipe ditto Kestrel and a Brown Hare, probably the same animal seen previously.

13 Lapwing were a welcome sighting especially as the population has crashed of late.

Swillington Ings

Courtesy of DP on a cold bright sunlit morning with a helluva breeze. It was sure worth the effort as there were some good birds about and I counted 27 new species for the year.

We were fortunate enough to encounter 2 Ruff that were creeping in and out of the sedges, hence this award winning photograph 😁.

Other waders: c20 Golden Plover, c11 Curlew and a battalion of Lapwing.

One species we didn't encounter would have lost me money if I were a gambling man; Reed Bunting.

However others more than made up for it: 5/6 Stonechat, 1 Cetti's Warbler seen briefly while alarm calling and 3 others heard.

4/5 Shelduck, plenty of Wigeon, several Teal & more Shoveler thank I have experienced previously.

7/8 Pochard, 3/4 Goldeneye, plenty Tufted Duck. 1 Little Egret, 1 pukka Grey Heron and 3 imitations at Astley Lake.

1 Red Kite ditto Kestrel, 2 Buzzard, 3 GBB Gulls, Cormorants et al.