Indian Summer

A great walk around Newborough today with a whole host of wildlife enjoying a lovely warm October’s day.

A prowling fox was my first encounter, although on seeing me it soon fled to the sanctuary of the dunes. A cracking pair of Chough greeted my arrival at Abermenai and on the strait a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers showed very well preening close in to the shore.

The shingle bank encircling the point looked prime habitat for an over-wintering Snow Bunting, but an extensive search of the area only revealed an astonishing amount of litter including a huge pile of bin bags. Given that the nearest road is about three miles away this garbage must have been dumped from a boat.

The long walk to the promontory of Ynys Llandywn produced plenty of Oystercatchers and Cormorants roosting along the tide line and several of Ravens were patrolling the skies.

When I reached the island, the sea had calmed revealing large numbers of Great Crested Grebes, Shags and smaller numbers of Guillemots and Red-breasted Mergansers prospecting in the bay.

On the rocks, a small flock of Turnstones fed actively around a trio of Grey Seals enjoying a lunchtime siesta. Above them, a line of Cormorants were drying their wings in the breeze readying themselves for another fishing expedition.

The final part of my walk took me through the soon to be felled section of the forest. It was superb for insects: I counted eleven Red Admirals and five Common Darters, but the star of the day was a cracking Small Copper – only the second one I have seen – bathing in the sunshine.

A host of notices seem have to been put up since my last visit detailing local resistance to the proposed felling of forty percent of the forest. The natives seem a little restless at the prospect of the Countryside Council for Wales’ plan to return the wood to its original dune habitat.

In broad conservation terms the decision seems eminently sensible given that dune systems are more threatened and therefore more important than a plantation of non-native conifers. However, about three Red Squirrels and the fact that Demi Moore once filmed here seems to have blinded the locals to this somewhat.

Until later.