Creeping Woodlark, Hidden Bonaparte's Gull

The Lark hat-trick was duly completed at Glanwyddan on Friday, with very close views of around fourteen Woodlarks creeping their way through a stubble field

Great to see good numbers of these birds - fairly locally too - and if they continue to increase in population and range then winter visits of these subtly attractive birds will hopefully become a more regular occurrence in the future.

The Woodlarks were only part of the story though, as myself, J-Bo and 007 (clearly suffering after a week of swinging the lead on nights at Vauxhall) decided to try for the Bonaparte’s Gull reported from Traeth Lligwy the day previously.

As is often the case, a fairly reasonable day took a turn for the worse once we had crossed the Britannia bridge – nowhere does cold, grey and windswept quite like Anglesey – and following some dodgy navigation from my co-passengers we eventually rocked-up at Traeth Lligwy.

The scene that greeted us was hardly encouraging – the beach was devoid of birds and after a quick scan we moved over to the adjacent Traeth Dulas that disappointingly was similarly very quiet.

With a few hours of light remaining, we decided to head over to Llanbedr to try and connect with the Hawfinches that had been logged in good numbers recently. After passing the Black Bull – that looks to be suffering the economic consequences of J-Bo’s less frequent patronage - we pulled in the village and started to scrutinise the treetops.

There were a few birds about, but they were typically shy and it wasn’t for a good thirty minutes until I got decent views of a female bird perched atop of an oak tree.

With 007 now flagging badly there was just time for a brief visit to Caerhun. No Hawfinches, but with the mountains cloaked in snow, the Conwy valley looked a picture…

Until later.