Snowdonia and beyond . . .

Pale-bellied Brent Geese

Day 2, and I woke at 5.30 gmt (6.30 bst) to the sound of curlew in the estuary outside.    After breakfast we were off on a tour to try to find some welsh specialties.    First stop was the Old Ferry area where sandwich tern perched on the buoys and 20 pale-bellied Brent geese were feeding close into the shore.    A pair of goldeneye flew north.

Dipper Country

Slate Fence

We moved onto the mainland and up to a woodland stream where we saw dipper from the road.    As it moved away from us, we continued along a path to get an overview of the confluence of three waterways.   Green woodpecker "yaffled" in nearby pasture where sheep grazed.    A pair of mallard enjoyed the moving waters and the dipper dropped into the water from moss covered stones, bobbing as it decided which direction to go off in next.   Coal tit, blue tit and mistle thrush were also seen as we revelled in the peace and quiet of this glorious corner of the world - truly magical! We continued up the valley towards Nant Ffrancon following the farm track that ran parallel to the A5, stopping regularly to enjoy the scenery and to look for birds. Wheatear were our next sighting with at least four birds, the males calling well from their perches on top of the large rocks.

More delights were to follow with a slow drive along narrow stone-wall lined lanes (with no passing places and beautiful wooded countryside around us.   Our lunch spot was at a picnic site overlooking a fantastic conifer woodland valley, hunting in vain for goshawk there were several common buzzard soaring on the warm thermals, siskin, coal tit, chaffinch sang around us.   Two ravens flew over making their distinctive call.   The generous lunch of salad, ham, bread rolls, cheese, sausage rolls, yoghurt, fruit and copious tea was gratefully received.

Snowdonia

Eventually we had to drag ourselves away from the superb scene.   Taking a circuit including the Llanberis pass we continued onwards in our search for ring ouzel.    More buzzard - at one stage there were five in the air circling over the car - but sadly on this occasion no ring ouzel, maybe next time . . .