Wales from north to south in a day
Wales from north to south, and back, in one day
Our Saturday began with an early morning walk at RSPB Conwy, stunning scenery
This handsome drake Red breasted Merganser was swimming by the screen.
This male Lapwing was looking cold in the frost.
A Grey Heron against the lovely blue sky.
We then headed south for Gwent in south-east Wales where we were giving a talk to the Gwent Ornithological Society. It was a lovely drive down in the sunshine seeing many Buzzards and a few Red Kites, one right above the car!
Afternoon tea was taken at Ludlow Food Centre, great cakes!
We reached Gwent with some afternoon sun still left so popped over to Bryn Bach Country Park to look for a drake Lesser Scaup that was reported there. This vagrant from North America had present for several days and given we were only ten miles away it would have been rude not to pop in!
We quickly found the lake and there were plenty of duck, some very close to the the car park.
Drake Tufted Duck at Bryn Bach Country Park.
Then Ruth spotted the Lesser Scaup but no sooner had she called it, it dived!
There it wasn't!
Of course the Lesser Scaup soon popped up again, here with a Tufted Duck.
Lovely views in the late afternoon sunshine.
Interesting to note how the head shape changes just before a dive.
and in he goes!
One last look before we headed back to the car.
Our talk on "The Biggest Twitch" went down very well with lots of interesting questions from the audience after the presentation, always a good sign! We do hope we can return again to see this lovely group and share more birding adventures with them.
A long drive home back to Llandudno but a very rewarding, and varied, day out in Wales.
Now getting ready for our guided birdwatching trip to Suffolk, four bird filled days including RSPB Minsmere, sure to be packed with great birds!
For details of all our talks, day trips and tours simply drop us a line at
info@thebiggesttwitch.com
We look forward to hearing from you.