After the Steller’s Eider fiasco I was very worried when our friend Iolo Williams rang to say that he had been emailed a picture of an unusual bird taken on Anglesey last week. Now Iolo has a reputation as a bit of a lad, in the nicest way, and it was with some trepidation that I said yes send it over! Was it to be another hoax bird or something worse knowing Iolo!! But I need not have worried the bird concerned was a Bittern, rare enough in Wales but not going to set the twitching world in to a panic, sorry Iolo for not being more trusting! It was a really nice story the lady had been out walking with a group and had glimpsed a large brown bird in flight but due to the brief view had not been able to identify it. They returned to the car park at Mynydd Llanelian, Anglesey and just as she drove out there was her mystery bird on the side of the lane – a Bittern. This was the first Bittern she had ever seen in many years of birdwatching, how lucky! What a Bittern was doing on the roadside on Mynydd Llanelian who knows but another example of how birds can and do turn up any where, well Steller’s Eiders excepted!True to my word I was up early, and as it was not raining or blowing a gale, out early. I thought I would start local so checked the wide bay that lies on the north shore of Llandudno between the Great and Little Ormes. It was dead, I scanned and scanned again but the best I could manage was two Great-crested Grebes, half a dozen Shag and five Common Scoter flying east near the horizon. Next stop Penrhyn Bay and the west end of the promenade, but pretty much the same story, a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers would have been nice but they were so far out it was hard to get excited. Rhos-on-sea and the point over looking a tidal rocky beach. More birds here, mostly Herring Gulls, a lot of looking eventually paid off with three nice Purple Sandpipers and plenty of Turnstones. Both Guillemot and Razorbill bobbed about offshore.
A change of habitat was called for so I set off south down the Conwy Valley and stopped at Tal-y-cafn bridge over the Conwy River. Where had this strong wind come from? No sign of the wintering Common Sandpiper so on again to nearby Caerhun. This a beautiful place, well it is without a freezing gale, a thirteenth century church built on the site of an old Roman fort commanding spectacular views over the flood plain of the Conwy valley. The ancient Yew trees here occasionally hold that most secretive of finches the bull-necked Hawfinch. A dog walker emerged from the cemetery just as I arrived, no Hawfinches today then. Given the strength of the wind I doubt very much my luck would have been in any way. A Song Thrush with an all white tail made me look twice as it flew along the path in front of me. On the water meadows below the church a Little Egret fed and a flock of 53 Shelduck loafed around. Back at Tal-y-cafn bridge and this time the Common Sandpiper was feeding on the muddy bank of the river though pretty distant. With the wind increasing and the rain starting it was time to head back for the keyboard.Posted Llandudno 16 January