Today Alan, Ruth and Ken met up with Owen and Glynis Roberts who are over in the UK for a few days from their home in Cyprus. Owen and Glynis are old friends and you may remember they helped us out during The Biggest Twitch when we stayed with them twice, in March and again in May.
We all met up in Beaumaris and piled in to Owen’s car for a day of birding on Anglesey. We did not have far to go for our first birds, just a mile east of the town we stopped and watched a flock of twenty-two Pale-bellied Brent Geese feeding at low tide. Further east and we reached the tip of Penmon Point overlooking Puffin Island. It was a gorgeous morning, calm and sunny, and we all enjoyed great views of the seabirds. A gang of ten Puffins bobbed around on the sea off the island and with the scopes we could enjoy these colourful auks, the first we had seen this year. Razorbills, Guillemots and Kittiwakes were all showing off and Ken managed some photos of birds flying through the channel. A little further out three Black Guillemots were seen diving for fish. A Gannet powered past and a pair of Grey-lag Geese flew over. Six Common Eider floated out from behind the rocks on the islands and we enjoyed great views of these handsome large ducks. The stony beach on Puffin Island was covered with Atlantic Grey Seals hauled out enjoying the sunshine.
If you would like to go birding with Alan, you can, see below! Stonechats showed off on the brambles and Meadow Pipits passed overhead.
Moving back west to Menai Bridge we again visited the rubbish tip and were pleased to see a good flock of gulls in the adjacent fields. The Glaucous Gull was quickly located and great views were enjoyed, it showed off nicely, walking, stretching, had a fly around and then preened, very nice.
South Stack RSPB reserve next but the wind had sadly picked up and no auks were back on the cliffs, we had hoped for more photos of birds flying up the towering rock faces, but no one. A lone Razorbill sat on the sea but showed no signs of flying near enough for a photo. A pair of Chough rode the breeze above the cliff tops and Raven “cronked” as they flew over.
Down to Holyhead Harbour and we enjoyed amazing close up views of Black Guillemots in their smart breeding plumage, they were so close the bright red feet could be clearly seen. A young Shag came even closer!
Just round the corner we stopped off at Beddmanarch Bay where Ken added to his large collection of Black-headed Gull pictures. A first-winter Mediterranean Gull was amongst them and showed off both in flight and sat on the sea. A flock of 72 Pale-bellied Brent Geese flew over the bay.
On again and the next stop was the Valley Wetlands RSPB reserve and Llyn Penrhyn. The strong wind was again a pain but we added plenty of birds for our day list including two pairs of Ruddy Duck, Pochard, Great Crested Grebes and three Sand Martins.
A quick look at Llyn Maelog, near Aberffraw, and we enjoyed Shoveler, Gadwall and plenty of Tufted Duck, two Buzzards posed by the approach road.
Down to Malltraeth where the wind was even stronger and the light awful looking out on to the estuary. Plenty of Redshank, Curlew and Oystercatcher, the only other birds of note were two Little Egrets.
Would you like to go birding with Alan? See below for details….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 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!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 woodpeckersIf 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!