It was a little parky, but the Afon Clwyd at Rhyl was a picture this morning, beautifully framed by the Clywdians to the east and the Carnedds to the west.The river looked as if was on the point of freezing-up with hundreds of small sheets of ice floating down river from further upstream.
Close to the mouth of the Gele, a large flock of four hundred Lapwing cowered in the marsh making any attempt to locate a Golden Plover I could hear calling nye on impossible. A few Little Grebes fished at the mouth of the river, but there was no sign of the Slavonian Grebe reported from this location over the last couple of days.
Skylark, Meadow Pipit and particularly Song Thrush were very evident this morning, with the majority of the thrushes feeding on snails – these birds must be utilising every second of daylight at the moment in the pursuit of life sustaining calories.
After crossing Rhuddlan bridge, I headed back down the east bank on the river passing the now resident Bar-headed Goose munching away with a group of Canadas.
Closer to the railway bridge good numbers of Goldeneye were in the channel along with five RB Mergansers and a few more Dabchicks, but, again, no sign of the Slavonian Grebe – this species in intent on giving me the run-around this year!
Fifty yards short of my car – parked near the building merchants near the road bridge – I thought my birding was over for the day until a Water Rail decided to pop out from a hedge and perform quite a convincing Roadrunner impersonation as it sprinted across the tarmac and into cover on the opposite side of the road!
In completely unrelated news, fact is indeed stranger than fiction. Have you noticed that the wife of the Northern Island First Minister who had an affair with a nineteen-year-old is called Mrs Robinson?
Afon Clwyd 08.01.10
7 Goldeneye
5 Red-breasted Merganser
5 Dabchick
1 Water Rail
1 Bar-headed Goose
75+ Wigeon
1 Raven
1 Little Egret
Until later.
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