Visit to RSPB Conwy : 19th July 2013
On our way back from Anglesey to Manchester we stopped off at The Spinnies, Aberogwen, near Tal-y-Bont and then went on to RSPB Conwy. It was another boiling hot day so we were glad of a tea break and a sit down before going round the reserve. The notice board was showing that a Green Sandpiper had been seen so we were keen to see if we could get a year tick on that.
From the cafe we could see large numbers of House Sparrows and Reed Buntings with considerable squads of juveniles. Swallows and House Martins were flying over the water and there were the usual flotilla of Canada Geese and a few Mute Swans. A few Pied Wagtails also bobbed around on the mud. It has been so hot recently, however, that the water level had been much reduced in recent weeks.
We did a circuit of the hides and saw largely the same things. We spent far to long at one hide trying to see if we could fool ourselves into thinking we had seen the Green Sandpiper, In the end we had to admit that it was probably a juvenile Redhank and had only one or two similarities to a Sandpiper and many dissimilarities. There were small groups of Lapwing dotted around and some Balck-tailed Godwits and at the far side of the reserve more Redhshanks. There were a pair of Great Crested Grebes and several Grey Herons but we had no luck with Sandpipers at all.
Bird Sightings : RSPB Conwy
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Mute Swan | 10 |
| Canada Goose | 30 |
| Shelduck | 8 |
| Tufted Duck | 2 |
| Cormorant | 2 |
| Little Egret | 1 |
| Grey Heron | 6 |
| Coot | 8 |
| Oystercatcher | 20 |
| Little Ringed Plover | 1 |
| Lapwing | 30 |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 20 |
| Redshank | 20 |
| Black-headed Gull | 30 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 1 |
| Herring Gull | 8 |
| Jackdaw | 6 |
| Carrion Crow | 8 |
| Swallow | 12 |
| House Sparrow | 40 |
| Pied Wagtail | 4 |
| Reed Bunting | 30 |