Birding Group Visit To Conwy and Llanfairfechan 20th November 2012

Birding Group Visit To Conwy and Llanfairfechan 20th November 2012

Our visit this week was supposed to be to RSPB Conwy but at the last moment we noticed on their web site that they were closed on the 19th and 20th for repair work to their car park. This was a bit boring for Anne and I as we had wanted to spend a couple of days there and had arranged to stay at the Deganwy Spa Hotel overnight to take advantage of the reserve. Anyway, we had to quickly rearrange our plans so it was decided that we could have a walk along the estuary at Conwy before going on to Llanfairfechan.

We started off from the public car park which was very busy as the whole area is extensively used for dog walking. Our first view was of a roost of around 30 Curlew. A little further along were a group of 8 Ringed Plovers and some Cormorants. A pair of Little Egrets were also around. As we walked up the estuary we came across some Lapwings and Greenshanks and Oystercatchers. We stopped at the only hide that faces the public footpath and from here we could see even more Curlew – perhaps about fifty as well as around three hundred Redhshanks. There were some Teal and Gadwall, two pairs of Snipe and, of course, lots of Canada Geese. In the bushes there were Robins and Goldfinches. We spent about an hour and a half here but we wanted to try Llanferfechan so we drove round the coast a bit and parked on the promenade there. It was a very blustery day but we persevered anyway. As we walked down the coast keeping the water to our left we saw a pair of Curlew, then another and in total we probably saw twenty dotted around on the mud. Half a dozen Turnstones could be seen at the edge of the water. A couple of Great Black-baked Gulls towered over the Oystercatchers.

As we got to the end of the pier walk the path bends inland and there are several pools scattered around some boggy grassland and amongst these we saw a small group of Redshanks and two more Little Egrets. At the end of this there is a path leading to three hides; one overlooking the sea and two overlooking scrapes. We walked to the far end and worked our way back. In the first two hides we saw some Teal in amongst much larger flocks of Wigeon. There were a couple of Grey Heron, three Little Grebes and some Mute Swans as well as small numbers of Lapwing. The highlight was a solitary Pintail which seem to be quite rare this year. On the way back at the sea hide we saw a pair of Red-breasted Merganser. As we came back along the cost we saw Goldfinches, Starlings, Pied Wagtails and Crows.

The wind continued to blow us around, keeping a lot of other birds we might have expected to see hidden away and as the light was fading we decided to call it a day. The others headed off for Manchester but we went to our hotel to have a well earned drink and clean up before dinner.

Bird Sightings : Conwy Estuary

Bird Sightings : Llanferfechan