Anglesey: Reaching milestones!

After a few days in hospital, I was glad to be back out on my feet and in the field. Currently a Common Loon has taken up residency at West Kirby, whilst a recent WeBS produced a handful of Purple Sandpiper at New Brighton. Elsewhere, Britain and Ireland’s 9th Royal Tern showed it’s self at Traeth Dulas, Anglesey. So, after picking up George Thomas, the pair of us headed up for a days touring of Anglesey.

Royal Tern twitch…

On arrival at Traeth Dulas with a crowd of twitchers including some familiar faces, it appeared that the Tern had done a runner; but despite the tern not showing we still had a good day. Common Loon and Red-throated Loon showed well off Traeth Dulas, whilst a short trip up the road brought us to the long staying female Lesser Scaup at Mynydd Mechell which was a treat. Distant scope views with Tufted Duck and Common Goldeneye for company, but still a treasure and a species which I’ve been waiting a while to cross paths with species. My 327th British lifer and George’s 199th bird species of the year in Britain, she was an absolute beauty.

Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)

Following the Lesser Scaup and no sign of the Royal Tern, thought we’d try our best to get George his 200th British bird of the year. A scan of the RBA app showed there to be pretty much bugger all on Anglesey, Black Redstart, Common Loon and Slavonian Grebe was all that was on offer. So then, a short drive up to Bae Beddmanarch to attempt to bag Slavonian Grebe for George’s 200th bird. After a good half hour of patrolling the area, eventually we nailed a stonking Slavonian Grebe which a hysteric George happily announced as his 200th species for the year! In addition to the grebe, several Great crested Grebe were also in the bay with a Common Sandpiper, ‘pale-bellied’ Brent Geese, Common Greenshank, Mediterranean Gull and last but not least, the one and only Ken Croft! In all, a great days birding and twitching with some great birds and an upcoming star in the world of birding for company – happy days!

Slavonian Grebe (Podiceps auritus)

Thanks for reading, E.