Tywyn the knot

Such a fantastic warm sunny weekend had us out and about at every opportunity, our new local patch walk on Saturday yielded redwing, mistle thrush (still increasing) song thrush and blackbird gorging themselves on the hawthorns, as well as a large number of teal and 8 snipe on the flood. Back home we had a male sparrowhawk snatch a chaffinch from the bird feeders and land on the balcony for a brief spell, allowing great views of this dynamic hunter.
Other news from home included a new moth for us attracted to the kitchen window, red-line quaker (see photo), as well as two garden 'ticks', redwing and a group of 9 teal.

Sunday took us north into Gwynedd and the broadwater at Tywyn, a large tidal lagoon, fed by the river Dysynni at one end and emptying into Cardigan Bay at the other. We were there around high tide and had good numbers of curlew, lapwing, ringed plover and c400 knot (photo), which took to the skies when a peregrine passed overhead, adding to our raptor list of red kite, sparrowhawk, buzzard and kestrel. 5 skylark and an overhead chough were noted on the walk to the lake. Best of all, a male scaup was out in the middle of the lake consorting with goosander, shelduck and little grebe. A lovely walk round the scenic, wooded, shady, damp Dolgoch falls didnt add many new birds to the day, except for a very obliging treecreeper and this was followed by a brief stroll along Tal-y-llyn lake which was also quiet, with just g c grebe, little grebe and mute swan on show.