May 2011 archive

Wales Break Day 2 : South Stack : 12th May 2011

South Stack

Our first full day was spent on Anglesey. We started out driving up to the RSPB cafe and shop. When you drive up the road  leading to it you are given the impression that the parking is some way from the shop and cafe but if you keep driving past the car park there is further parking just outside the cafe and this is where we parked. In fact there is more parking a little further on if you want to see the cliffs from the north side looking south which is the best view.

The whole place has been refitted and is very comfortable with good toilets and a little shop. You can sit in the cafe and look out onto a field where we saw Pied Wagtails, Goldfinches and other birds bobbing around on the ground. Apparently a Grasshopper Warbler had been seen a little earlier (as were Choughs) but we did not see it. On the other side of the cafe the windows look out to sea and there are a number of tables and chairs outside which would be great in mild weather. The day we went there was a fairly high wind so it would have been a bit draughty but it was very nice sitting drinking tea in the warm and bird spotting in comfort.

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Wales Break Day 1 : RSPB Conwy : 11th May 2011

We booked 4 nights in the Premier Inn in Caernarfon with a view to using it as a base for touring Anglesey and The Lleyn Peninsula. On our way we stopped at RSPB Conwy for a spot of lunch and a walk around the reserve. The House Martins and Swallows were flying over the water in their masses. There were also a few swifts. It was a pretty good day weather-wise so we walked all the way round the lakes and came back along the estuary side. We were told that a Water Rail had been seen but it managed to elude us. Continue reading

“Watching Waterbirds with Kate Humble”

I have just read this beginners introduction to the kinds of wild birds you are likely to encounter at a WWT site. Aimed at the newcomer to waterbirds, it splits the birds into logical groups (if not exactly taxonomically correct) and in “Kate’s Top Tips” it appears to aim at provide the reader with various aides-mémoire to help in distinguishing the various species you are likely to encounter. This sounds like a great idea – even for a non-beginner – except that it has to be said that these aides may have been what originally helped Kate Humble remember the differences between species but I, for one, didn’t find them memorable at all and I can’t imagine that anyone else would either.

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Birding Group Visit to Moore Nature Reserve 3rd May 2011

This weeks visit of the birding group was to Moore Nature Reserve again. It was a lovely day – the weather has been very good for a while now – so we had a very pleasant stroll through the woods. Our previous visit had been on 18th January when we had quite a good morning. This time we started by walking down Lapwing Lane past the hide  overlooking Lapwing Lake and then down to the feeding station which was disappointingly quiet. There were a couple of Pheasant and a Moorhen wandering around but on the feeders there was just the solitary female Reed Bunting and a couple of Grey Squirrels. Continue reading

Summary of April 2011

April has been remarkably dry and warm. The Met Office described it this way –

“With high pressure influencing the weather for most of the month, it was much warmer, drier and sunnier than normal. The mean temperature was 4.0 °C above the 1971–2000 average and it was the warmest April in the series from 1910, being 0.6 °C warmer than April 2007 (now ranked second). In central England, it was the warmest April for over 350 years.”

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