Birding Group Visit to RSPB Conwy 13th May 2014

 Birding Group Visit to RSPB Conwy and the Conwy Estuary 13th May 2014

The birding group visit to RSPB Conwy was a little lacking in spectacle, unless you are into Sedge Warblers in which case this was thest place in the world to be. The entire site seemed to be full of Sedge Warblers flying up into the air and parachuting down, then singing long and loud and doing the same thing over again. At first it was just a joy to look and listen but as we walked around the paths it became ridiculous with them pospping out from everywhere.The one bird that stuck out for me, however, did not sing the same not did it fly the same. I was unable to get a definit id on the bird but I think I convinced myself that it was a Lesser Whitethroat. I later looked up the web site and it indicated that there were some nesting there. I wished that I had come to that id a bit sooner when other people were around for their opinion. Oh well, next time. As we walked around we heard a Grasshopper Warbler and there were Swifts and Swallows and House Martins in the air everywhere.

The water was less interesting with mainly Shelduck there. We did see a single Dunlin but nothing much more. We walked around the estuary path hoping to see Whimbrel that had been reported. We saw three birds but I could not convince myself that any of them were other than Curlew. A chap that stopped and spoke to us told us later when we ran into him again that he had seen a single Whimbrel !

As we got to the end of the estuary path before turning up again into the reserve car park a Whitethroat landed atop a bush and gave us good views for quite a time and also gave me the opportunity to convince myself again that it was probably a Lesser Whitethroat I had seen before. Be that as it may, the star of the day was the Sedge Warbler !

Bird Sightings : RSPB Conwy and Conwy Estuary