West By South-West

Always partial to some seawatching, the combination of a high tide and a stiff north-westerly wind had me in the automobile and heading for a noon appointment with the sand dunes at the Point of Ayr.

Upon arrival at Talacre my spirits were soon sapped. I had neglected to remember that it was half term week and the car park was already rammed with dog walkers and the great unwashed. A further metaphorical kick to the teeth was received when I noticed the direction of the flag; not entirely agreeing with this morning's BBC weather graphic, it was shimmering west at best.

Faced with this double whammy, I enacted Plan B and headed to the Little Orme for what would be my inaugural visit. Initial impressions were good, a short walk from the road and I was perched on a section of elevated limestone overlooking the Irish Sea.

If anything the wind had acquired a south-westerly lilt now - hardly favourable conditions. Nevertheless, I was soon on to two Fulmars - one of which flew about six feet away from me! Kittiwake and Guillemot were both present in good numbers as were Cormorants, keeping themselves busy by commuting to and fro across the sea in small groups.

Four Manx Shearwaters were the next birds of note to pass through, banking nonchalantly into the head wind. Four seemed to be the magic number today as Gannets and Sandwich Terns appeared in the same digit. Two Shag were nice additions to my year list (now 177) and it occurred to me at this point that I had not seen any at Anglesey the previous week!?

Despite my many misgivings about RSPB Conwy, I decided it would be churlish not to pay it a visit given I was so close. Half an hour in the Benarth Hide revealed little of interest apart from a pair of Black Swans. Is it just me, or do these slimmer, ebony versions of the Mute Swan seem even more snooty and uppity? Time to get the boys from the Environment Agency in?

Until later.