Birds galore in mid Wales
Birds galore in mid Wales
We headed south into mid Wales for a change of scenery of birds, and what a great day we enjoyed. The weather was fantastic so the scenery on the drive down was lovely, mountains and moors in early morning sun.
Our stop was the beach, and what a gorgous place. At first glance the calm sea seemed to hold a few Herring Gulls but within minutes this changed dramatically! Manx Shearwaters began to fly north past the beach not far out allowing great views of these master fliers. The numbers soon turned into a mass movement with birds passing at a rate of 4,000 per hour just amazing stuff.
The Manx Shearwaters just kept coming and we watched open mouthed at this mass movement! Amongst the Manx were Gannets and three Mediterranean Gulls fed just offshore adding to this amazing scene.
A liitle further up the coast we watched as the shearwaters formed huge rafts, thousands strong, on the flat calm seas, just amazing to see.
Next we headed further down the coast and visited another beach. We could see a flock of gulls roosting to the north so we walked along for a closer look. We got quite a shock when we were near enough to see details of the birds.
The majority of the flock were Mediterranean Gulls!
We settled down to watch the flock as they loafed about at a stream outfall, occainionally disturbed by a passing beach user, and had amazing views. Most of the birds were immatures - first summer and second summer birds - with a few adults but no juveniles yet.
It was a case of spot the Black headed Gull for a change.
We counted at least 142 Mediterranean Gulls on the beach here, likely to be an under estimate as birds were hidden amongst the rocks and quite a bit of coming and going. A wonderful sight to see so many of these once very scarce gulls here on a Welsh beach.
Alan can still remember seeing his first ever Med Gull at Blackpill in Glamorgan, how times have changed!
Next we headed inland for yet another mass of birds, this time raptors. The Nant Bwlch y Arian Kite feeding station is a beautiful place packed with birds. We had timed our visit to coincide with the daily feeding of the Red Kites and what a spectacular sight it was!
The air is full of Red Kites as feeding time approches.
It is a lovely setting to see these amazing raptors, the birds are fed by a lake surrounded by forest and the views are just stunning. We highly recommend a visit here!
We are running more trips to this wonderful area, sorry our next one is full booked, but have availability on Sat 3rd - Sunday 4th August, so if you would like details or would like to arrange a custom trip on a date to suit you do drop a line. On the August weekend we will also visit the Dyfi Osprey project and the Dyfi Estuary, and perhaps call in at RSPB Ynys hir. Sure to be a great weekend.
info@thebiggesttwitch.com
We would to go birding with you soon!