When two old friends got in touch with Alan plans were soon in place to come up to North Wales and do some birding. Alan and Doug had first meet way back in 1979 when Alan was wardening Peregrine Falcons for the RSPB in mid-Wales and Doug came along as a volunteer. The two sort of kept in touch off and on every since, with not seeing each other in 2008 it was time for a catch up. Eddie a good mate of Doug’s, who we both know, came along to see some birds. We meet at RSPB Conwy, where else?, and Ruth left the boys to go and play while she a meeting to attend, she was not that upset as it was cold and rain forecast. No time to bird at the reserve as with the rain coming we wanted to pack in as much as possible before the deluge came. Caernarfon was the first stop and the River Seiont near the castle. We checked the gulls but nothing rare, a Kingfisher flashed upstream and sped past a fishing Little Egret. As we turned to leave a Peregrine flew slowly over the river and turned right above us giving amazing close views of this powerful falcon, just great. We followed the coast road west from Caernarfon along the shores of the Menai Straits adding Red-breasted Mergansers and Great-crested Grebes to our day list. At the mouth of Foryd Bay we stopped to admire two lovely Pale-bellied Brent Geese feeding close on the seaweed strewn beach. Twenty-three Dark-bellied Brent Geese swept in from the north and landed further down the bay, great to see two sub-species at one site. On the shingle spit near the north end of the bay a gang of Bar-tailed Godwits fed pushing their long bills deep into the soft sand for tasty worms. It was now that the forecast rain arrived and some! It lashed down and visibility was cut dramatically, we headed to the south end of the bay and hopped for more gulls. We pulled up and attempted to peer through the sheets of rain, our luck was in with birds if not weather as the juvenile Glaucous Gull was sat on a tree stump on the mudflats, great! Ok, the views were not the best as we struggled to keep our optics free of water but the bird was here and a great addition to any day’s list. Flocks of Pintail and Eurasian Wigeon showed well and three Goldeneye dived in the river channel.
We headed back east and to the North Wales Wildlife Trust reserve at Aber Ogwen just east of Bangor. As always plenty of birds here and we enjoyed watching a great selection of waders from the seaward hide as the tide pushed the birds very close. Highlight was a fine winter plumaged Spotted Redshank striding through the shallows showing its fine bill, long legs and white eye-stripe. Four Greenshank added to the scene and five Little Egrets showed nicely, one in breeding plumage with lovely fluffy plumes on his back. As we left the hide we checked an area of scrub behind the beach and jammed in on a tiny but colourful Firecrest! What a little stunner but it was moving fast through the black thorn bushes and soon vanished. Very pleased we called back at RSPB Conwy for hot drinks, much needed, and of course enjoyed more birds from the café window. A gang of Black-tailed Godwits roosted on the lagoon and a handsome drake Gadwall drifted around near the reedbed. Drinks, a cake, finished we were back on the road and off to Llandulas Beach to look for scoter. The light was pretty poor but we kept scanning and saw plenty of distant Common Scoter. Eventually a three Velvet Scoter flew low over the water showing off their prominent white wing flashes, very nice. Plenty of Great-crested Grebes and eighteen Red-throated Diver were enjoyed in the failing light. It was back to Llandudno for plate full of fish and chips and steaming mugs of tea, great way to finish a great day.