Anglesey in December

Having had a couple of days where the weather kept us in, it was great to get out along the Welsh coastline today to have the cobwebs blown away.

From the house we had already seen Herring Gull, huge flocks of Lapwing, Starling, Raven (feeding on a nearby sheep carcass), and Wood Pigeon.   In the garden around the feeders we had Siskin, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Wren and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Brents looking for landing space

We started out at Penrhos where there were Black-headed Gulls on the pond, along with Mallard, Coot and some rather dodgy ducks.   In the nearby woodland there were Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, and on a feeder near the burger truck a Coal Tit was also seen.   We were waiting for the tide to recede to reveal some of the Brent Geese feeding grounds, but by the time we had returned to the coast, the birds were still swimming waiting for food to appear.   We looked for Mediterranean Gull whilst we waited, but no luck so far.

Brents with Curlew

As the mud was cleared Redshank, Curlew, Turnstone and Bar-tailed Godwit came in to feed.   The Pale-Bellied Brent Geese had a few Dark-bellied mixed in with them - as opposed to my usual mix of Dark-bellied with the very occasional Pale-bellied, in the South East.   We were trying to find colour-rings on any of the birds, and with some diligence we finally found six with another potential where the ring had probably been broken.   [When we returned home we found out that one Brent had been ringed in Canada and another in Northern Ireland, the rest will need further investigation].

Some local bird watchers got us on a Slavonian Grebe which was way off in the distance.   As we scanned the bay there were also Great Crested Grebe and Red-breasted Merganser.   By now the tide had receded a little and Oystercatcher had joined the other waders on the shoreline.   The Geese were gradually moving across our line of view and slightly nearer, enabling us to confirm some of our earlier colour-ring readings.

The Skerries

One Mediterranean Gull was found on the beach, but before we could get on it well enough to see colour rings it was off - soaring away from us.

All the birds flew up at one stage, spooked by a Merlin which shot through - needless to say Turnstone and Redshank noticed it far earlier than we did, but then it is life and death for them!

Further out to sea were Goldeneye, Wigeon, Pochard and Shag.   We had our picnic lunch in the car as it was far too cold to sit outside.   We tried to lure the Med gull back in by sacrificing some of Paul's turkey sandwich, but although it brought in a large noisy flock, the Mediterranean Gull refused to show itself.

At Holyhead Harbour we had four female and two male Red-Breasted Mergansers and a Black Guillemot, but little else.

The afternoon was spent at Cemlyn, a windy spot looking out towards The Skerries, which showed well in the short bursts of sunlight we had.   The find of the day came here however, in the form of a wintering Whimbrel.   Perched on top of the rocks along the shoreline it showed well until we tried to photograph it - then it disappeared against the rocks, its plumage camouflaged well.

Whimrel - a dot in the distance!

More Red-Breasted Merganser, Shag, Cormorant, Turnstone (with a possible Purple Sandpiper which refused to re-appear), Redshank, Gannet, Shelduck, Razorbill, Guillemot, and a fleeting view of a Kittiwake was had by Phil.

Inland there were Collared Dove, Rock Dove Dunnock, Song Thrush, many more Raven

In the pools just inland of the coast we had Pintail, Mallard, Shoveler, Grey Heron and Coot.

On the way home we took a detour (or two) inland and added Greylag Geese to our day's tally.   In all we had around 66 species, a pleasing total for a cold and windy December day.