Alan was wide awake very early this morning so crept out of bed and fired up the computer. Quite sad really, a lovely morning was dawning but he was keen to get some book done after a blank day yesterday. Surely he should have been out birding? Hammering away at the keyboard good progress was being made, must do this more often. It was all going so well, then the mobile came to life, early for a call. It was Julian Hughes, Site Manager at RSPB Conwy Nature Reserve; he had just seen four Avocets at the reserve! Rare birds in this neck of the woods and of course Alan is always keen to see any good birds at his former place of employment. But there was more Julian had also seen a diver out in the estuary but without his scope to far for a positive identification, now a diver here was rarer than the Avocets. Computer hurriedly closed down Alan was out the door and dashing for the reserve. Arriving at the entrance gate, panic, no other birders in view, where were the birds? Quickly setting up the scope the first bird to appear was the diver! What a piece of luck, straight on the bird most wanted. With the scope and the now excellent light, identification was straight forward, a winter plumaged Red throated Diver. By now Rose and Roy, local birders and volunteers at the reserve had arrived and they were able to watch the diver. Now where are the Avocets? A car was heading towards the diver watchers, two more local birders, Marc Hughes and Chris Jones. The guys had seen the waders at the far end of the reserve but they had flown onto the lagoons and should be visible from the Benarth hide. So off they went, the light from the hide was awful and all the birds were in silhouette. But despite this the four Avocets were there and swimming around near one of the islands. The views were not great and suddenly the birds were flying, oh no! Dashing out of the hide, the Avocets were sweeping towards the estuary, calling loudly, “kleep, kleep, kleep”. Luckily the Avocets turned and circled giving wonderful views in the sunshine before dropping down on the lagoons in front of the coffee shop. Luckily the birds stayed all day, though often out on the estuary and very distant. Many thanks for the call Julian.
Back home in Llandudno we were busy working on the computer, this time working on our presentation for the American Birding Association talk we are giving in Texas in April. As we worked we became aware of an increase in Herring Gull calls over the town. The calls got louder and louder and we knew this could mean an approaching raptor. We dashed to the window and after a few frantic seconds scanning we saw it, an Osprey!
What an amazing sight, an Osprey soaring over Llandudno, watched from our own window! The bird was in no hurry and we had plenty of time to enjoy this majestic bird of prey in the sunshine. We are giving a talk on The Biggest Twitch at RSPB Conwy on 16th April at 7pm, again a donation to the reserve will be made, do come along and hear all about our adventure and support this great reserve. Tickets available at the reserve, 01492 584091 for details.Would you like to come birding with The Biggest Twitch? Well now you can!
We are putting together a package of birding tours here in the UK, Europe and further afield using our huge experience to share our enthusiasm for birds, wildlife and wild places with you. We are offering the following trips as set departure tours:Galapagos Islands and Ecuador: April 2010 – there’s been a lot of interest already!
India, Tigers and the north: November 2010We offer custom tours to the following countries with dates to suit you for an individual tour, or you can join a group of like-minded people:Spain, visiting Extremadura and/or the Coto de Doñana
Eastern Turkey for wonderful birds and mountain scenery
Finland and Norway with the very best guides for all the owls and woodpeckersWe also offer custom tours throughout the year in North Wales, day trips or longer to see all the special birds, dates to suit you. Highlights could include Red-billed Chough, Black and Red Grouse, Dipper, Red Kite, Hen Harrier, Goshawk, Atlantic Puffin, Ring Ouzel.  Expect to see over 100 species on a two-day tour!If you would like more details of any of these, please email us at info@thebiggesttwitch.com.  We would love you to join us for wonderful birds and much more!