Birding Group Visit to RSPB Conwy : 4th February 2014

Birding Group Visit to RSPB Conwy : 4th February 2014

The birding group date this week was for a full-ish day at RSPB Conwy. We met up in the cafe at 10.30am and after a quick cup of tea we were off. It was a fairly pleasant day with some bright sunny periods. Initial views from the first hides showed Canada Geese, Shelduck, Mallard and a single female Goldeneye.  At the far side of one of the islands we could just see the heads of a dozen Snipe.  We stopped for a while on the bridge over the pond where we tried to find the Firecrest that we were told had been seen there quick often. Just as with our previous visit here, when there were lots of birders looking for Firecrests, we found nothing except Blue Tits, Chaffinches and House Sparrows. However as we got round to the river side of the site we started to see more birds.

On the river we could see a nice pair of Red-breasted Mergansers and on the sandbanks on the corner of the site there were lots of Curlew and Oystercatchers. At the blind there we stopped to look for the Scaup that had been reportedly on the deep water there. There were so many of us that some of us had to clamber up on top of the mound between the blind and the river and look over the top of the blind. This was actually quite a good view and we saw a fair number of Pochards and rather fewer Tufted Ducks. After much scrutiny we eventually found a female Scaup and then a bit later the Drake also showed itself. I was a bit puzzled by this bird because it seemed to be hanging out a bit close to a Pochard for comfort.  Additionally I looked Scaup up in Dominic Couzens’ “Bird ID Insights” and was a little disconcerted to see an illustration of a Tufted Duck/ Pochard hybrid that looked a bit too much like a male Scaup for comfort. After much pondering I was finally convinced that it was actually a drake Scaup.

Also on the same deep water were several more Red-breasted Mergansers, including two males, and a pair of Great Crested Grebe. There was also a Little Egret and roosts of Redshank and Curlew on the edges of the islands.  From the next hide we saw a pair of Buzzards overhead and a Kestrel hovering nearby.

All in all, it had been quite a good morning and the first Scaup and Mergansers of the year were nice to tick off.

Bird Sightings : RSPB Conwy