Having loaded 800 metric tonnes of boxes, bags and butties into the car, we shimmied down the huge slopes to the coast road. Then we zoomed along the fairly new "expressway" which is a monstrosity hated by all, it's only cheerful thing being a giant Puffin mounted on the roof of a petrol station .. I was tempted to tick it too. We headed for The Great Orme .. That's is down there.... and it is a hotspot for choughs. We paid a trifling sum to drive right round it, constantly worrying that some nit at the other end has not realised it is a one-way road and will smash us to tiny pieces on one of the numerous blind corners. Or even worse, nudge us through the "barrier" and down the 150m ? cliff and into the sea .... ouch...... ... but we survived all the dangers ..the gormless goats, rolling rocks on the road, precipitous views ... and three ( 3) choughs !! Hey-ho !! And then, you'll never guess, we went to another Beach Cafe .... it's got an elevated platform overlooking, er, everything. If you go 6 tenths of the way up the middle of the picture, when you get to the sandy bit, there it is. Various ticks were ticked, skylarks, a mipit, oiks, swifts, 3 House Martins, and, surprisingly, no swallows etc etc. A Buzzard drifted over as well. Our final target was an actual bird reserve !! Conwy RSPB reserve, which for many years was v. hard to find, lots of confusing roundabouts with no signs and lots of the wrong roads that looked tempting. But recently, they seem to have realised that a bit of proper signing on the numerous aforementioned roundabouts might be a good idea. The OS map thingy is 796778 We were greeted by a whole conglomeration of Cardboard Children and Plywood Parents. They look a bit too swotty to me. We/I got a rush of new stuff ... several Great White Egrets ...which nowadays seem to have become rather common ...... it is truly amazing how many once-rare birds have stopped being rare. Sand Martins appeared, an untickable plywood kingfisher was nailed to a post, some new waders, wily warblers in the reeds, but then it was time to go ....... Flintshire beckoned ! Here's a few more snaps of various things we encountered en route pour la joie ! As my loyal readers know, we bring him everywhere with us, he travels in "kit" form, and is re-assembled on arrival...... For some unknown reason this object appeared in the hedge behind the caravan. There's were several pictures in the caravan, and this was by far the oddest..... This magnificent and popular edifice was the only toilet on the site ...... it brought the community together and created many new friendships .... (Meantime, here's the music ... from one of the finest Welsh bands, The Joy Formidable ...... full-on stuff !) But what you really want to know is...what was my list .... ..... and so do I !!
if you really want to know, it was 71
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Aha ! The Beautiful Bangor Pier Day Two was mostly directed by The Significant Otter. And that means piers. Despite that, I got, at last, a single Swallow ! I told you they were scarce. We went to two different beach eateries and drinkeries, there's loads of them, and intense scrutiny revealed 5 distant cormorants, and 3 Tern sp. about 700 miles away. Beware of the Ferocious Herring Gulls. We strolled through Bangor where we both spent our University years. The best bookshop has been demolished ! Razed to the ground. Bangor Pier was a priority (see above) ... good for birding, but not today. ( 3 House Martins) . Then Llandudno Pier ... but it was so crammed up with visitors, we couldn't get onto it. And Llandudno itself was packed to the gills with what seemed like the entire population of Wales. I mopped up a few passerines in the bushes, a selection of Larids on the sea, etc etc, but nothing galvanising. Then to Colwyn Pier ... which fell into disrepair and was demolished .... but now it has been restored to an amazingly remarkable edifice ! That's it. And its not even open ... its all fenced off. Bah !! Note the total absence of any birds. Or people. Or any sort of mammal. Except, of course, us. The music is obvious ... Seddi Gwag, ( empty seats) performed live on Bangor Pier by Huw M and, presumably, his young lady ... It's rather strange when you're more swizzled by what you haven't seen rather than what you have !
I'm sure you all know about "Dodgy" ... I've written quite a lot about him on here. And yesterday I "found", deep in the tumultuous catastrophe that is my "study" an unseen-for-many-years copy of Knot BB1 (March 2001) ...containing this article featuring said Dodgy .... here we go ... On the Garrison, Egos were Shattered The date was October 2000. Following a pager request for assistance with the identification of a mystery Phylloscopus at Lower Broom, up strolls self-proclaimed expert , the super-duper Dodgy Steveson. Dodgy: "Huh, it's a Wood Warbler!" Uttered with sheer contempt. Tim Grilling : " I think you'll find that it's actually a Willow Warbler". Said in a tone that reflected the character of Mr. Nicey-nice ... the world's politest man. Dodgy: "Look at its yellow throat and clean white underparts. It's Wood NOT Willow!" The statement amplified with rolling eyeballs and plenty of tutting. Grilling : "Yes, but that's not going to affect it's structure. Look at the primary projection and the comparative length of the tail and undertail coverts. To a lesser extent, the weaker facial pattern the subdued tone of the upperparts and the dull fringing to the remiges and retrices. Pretty inconsistent for a Wood Warbler. I can't see your problem. It's obviously just a bright 1st winter Willow." All said in the nicest possible way. Dodgy: "Err ,mmm, aah, yes, just what I was thinking." Head held low, the masses watch as Dodgy slinks off to Old Town Cafe for a slice of Humble Pie. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Come to think of it, I haven't spotted Dodgy for a long time. Here's a couple of my scribblings about him ..... 168-in-which-i-decide-to-carry-on-being-a-twerp.html 215-my-birding-credentials-have-been-demolished-again.html Yes, I know I put this song on here a little while ago ... and here it is again ... Yes, The Significant Otter and me zipped along the Welsh coastline to lovely Penmaenmawr and its altitudinous caravan park for a 3-day break from tiny tiny Flintshire . And up there is one of our top sightings ..note The Significant Otter's Giant Slice of Cake. |
AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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