Half Term Report

Now that things are a little slow on the bird front – yesterday’s Cranes notwithstanding – I thought I’d have a trawl through my records and compile a list of my personal wildlife highlights for the year so far…

10. Great Grey Shrike

Following about ten blanks and additional trips to Fenn’s/Whixall Moss, I finally managed to find a ‘Butcher Bird’ at Cloclaenog Forest. The floodgates were then opened and I saw the bird twice more: at the top of Bron Banog and next perched on a telegraph wire adjacent to the main road to Denbigh.

9. Garth Wood

This humble and scruffy woodland hidden behind the village of Ffynonngroyw near Prestatyn barely gets a mention on the Dee Estuary website, yet this spring I have recorded Pied Flycatcher, Wood Warbler, Marsh Tit, Garden Warbler and Dipper.
It’s only small, but its composition of mixed woodland provides an excellent habitat.

8. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

They are not a myth! Persistence paid at Moore Nature Reserve when I eventually found our most wee woodpecker.

7. Twite

A flock of c30 Twite over-wintering in the Connah’s Quay area was an absolute joy to observe. I first saw them near the West Hide, but they were most confiding when roosting in one of the small trees along the breakwater between the River Dee and White Sands, where they provided me with both company and entertainment during my WeBS counts!

7. The Back Garden

Still no finches, but a large number of squabbling House Sparrows, wintering Blackcaps and breeding Blackbirds, Robins, Blue Tits and Dunnocks have all utilised the dining facilities at Casa Del Shenton this year.

6. Point of Ayr Seawatching

A couple of days seawatching at the back-end of March on the dunes at Talacre produced a mega flock of 6,000 -7,000 Common Scoter blown close to the shoreline by a strong northerly wind. I also nailed a bogey bird – the Black-throated Diver and enjoyed excellent views of a Glaucous Gull and a flock of Snow Buntings. A Harbour Porpoise was another added treat! Let’s hope the hide is replaced at my top birding site on the Dee.

5. Black Tern

It always seems ludicrous to go birding in foul weather and I was asking myself some pretty serious questions regarding my sanity during a ferociously wet mid May’s evening at Inner Marsh Farm. Bad weather brings in the birds though and this night was no exception – a heavy downpour downed a cracking Black Tern on passage!

4. Painted Ladies

I’m still not exactly a world authority on insects, but this spring my eyes have opened to the beauty and variety of our non-feathered flying friends. This year’s incredible irruption of Painted Lady butterflies has been a joy to behold.

3. The Welsh Uplands

I have been on a number of superb walks through the moors and mountains of Wales this spring and seen some fabulous birds: 3 male Hen Harriers; legions of Whinchat and breeding Dunlin on Cadair Berwyn; eight Cuckoos; and Redstarts virtually everywhere!

2. Burton Marsh’s Short-eared Owls

Whether it was down to an excellent breeding season, an unusually high influx of migrants from the continent or a high vole population, the mass of Short-eared Owls on Burton Marsh was incredible. My highest count was 27 birds at the end of February, but there may have been up to 50 across the entire estuary.

1. My First Otter

No doubting the star turn so far this year – cracking views of Otter hunting in broad daylight on the River Severn at Dolydd Hafren in Montgomeryshire. Enough said!

Until later.