Conwy Tweeties & Air Show

A bureaucratic and ridiculously overpriced passport application in Liverpool gave us the opportunity to do some birding in North Wales and to check out a new RSPB reserve. Conwy RSPB is fairly new (about 16 years old) and relatively small with lagoons and grass covered islands right by the estuary. A circular route leads the visitor around the lagoons and plentiful hides and screens are scattered along the walk. The tearooms were very nice and the reserve certainly has potential but unfortunately it did not hold anything exciting whilst we were there. The long staying bittern and firecrest had long gone probably due to the cold weather we have been having so we were left with some wildfowl, waders and overabundant robins and song thrushes.

The highlights were good views of six red-breasted merganser, wigeon, teal, tufted duck, pochard and gadwall; the last three being fairly rare in our home regions. Coot was added to the year list (finally!) and on the exposed mudflats we found redshank, dunlin, curlew, ringed plover and oystercatcher. The obligatory grey herons made their rounds over the reserve and a male stonechat accompanied us along the railway line.

                             



Curlew and Pintail



 Next day we headed east and decided to stop at the Point of Air which is a beach sticking out into the Dee estuary with saltmarsh and a shingle spit that hosts Wales' only little tern colony in the summer. For a change we timed it right as high tide had just approached and was slowly receding whilst we were there. The weather also played along (the rain stopped as we arrived and started again as we left) and a newly built hide sheltered us from the cold wind. We were presented with a very enjoyable spectacle of a continous coming and going of waders and wildfowl. Close in amongst the saltmarsh dozens of curlew and redshank roosted and were soon joined by about 30 black-tailed godwit. Numerous pintail, wigeon, teal and shelduck were found behind the waders on the water's edge.

Knot and Redshank

On the shingle spit roosting oystercatcher and knot were soon spooked by a hunting merlin which left without catching anything though. Along the shoreline dunlin were feeding with sanderling and grey plover. Out at sea a red-throated diver flew into the estaury, a flock of linnet briefly landed on the bushes besides the hide and a single skylark filled the air with its song. A little egret made an appearance and on our walk back to the car we spotted a handsome fox running through the saltmarsh vegetation. All in all a very enjoyable couple of days.