Black and Red does nicely
Great birds back on the local patch. From the Bird Fair Ruth headed south to visit family and friends and Alan headed north to Manchester, with three friends from Tropical Birding. After a very short rest the alarm had us up at 4.30am and we dropped Iain Campbell at the airport and Alan, Christian and Keith headed for North Wales. They made good time and were soon up on the heather moors above Wrexham. We had come to look for that wonderful bird, Black Grouse, these stunning birds display at dawn in the spring and we hoped we might be able to find one on the rolling moors. We stopped at a point that allowed a great view over the purple clad moor and scanned. A Pheasant and three Red legged Partridge showed but nothing else. Suddenly Keith announced, I think I have one! What? Where? Sure enough he had indeed found a fine male Black Grouse. As we watched we were amazed to see there was in fact seven of these magnificent birds and they were displaying!! We enjoyed prolonged views before moving on for our next bird on Keith and Christians shopping list.
We drove further west and pulled up overlooking a small valley, this is the spot, announced Alan. There’s one said Christian. How’s that for timing, instant Red Kite! This elegant raptor soon drifted out of sight over a ridge so we set off in hot pursuit in the hope of better views. Not one but three Red Kites were hunting over sheep pasture and adjacent moor land and we able to enjoy stunning views of these colourful raptors.
Our luck was obviously in so on again for the next bird on the shopping list, Ring Ouzel. We should have quit while we were ahead! When we reached the Nant Francon valley in the Snowdonia National Park it hadn’t just begun to rain it was torrential and the wind was blowing hard. We searched for an hour or so but birding was near impossible so we admitted defeat and headed for a hot cuppa.
Species total 2931 still
Posted Llandudno, North Wales