ACRE NOOK AND LAPWING HALL SIGHTINGS JUNE

Acre Nook Sand Quarry bird sightings:

By the middle of the month, the water level is now high with good numbers of gulls returning to the site. Black headed numbers have reached 40, Lesser black backed 13, Great Black backed 32 and Herring gull 16 on the 23rd.14 Curlew were seen on the 23rd, along with 2 juvenile Mandarin ducks, 34 Lapwing, 26 Shelduck, and 10 Oystercatchers were also present.

 With all the rain that fell in June, the quarry is now filling up

 Two juvenile Mandarin Ducks showed well on the 23rd

 Shelduck now have young

Gull numbers have now increased 

On the 24th, a pair of Bullfinches were present around the entrance to the quarry. A Green Sandpiper was seen on the 28th along with 42 Curlew. On the 30th, a Black tailed godwit was present along with a Shoveler.

 Green Sandpiper

 Curlew

Black Tailed Godwit

Shoveler

Lapwing Hall Pool bird sightings:

The Long-tailed duck, which was found on the 10th, hung around till the 18th before departing. A single Pochard and a Wigeon remained throughout the whole month. Sand martins remain in good numbers along with Swallows. A Yellowhammer was calling on the 23rd, along with the resident Tree sparrows, which are now feeding young. 4 Meadow Brown butterflies were seen on the 25th along the pool path.

 Wigeon

 Juvenile Swallows have now fled the nest

 Sand Martin

Meadow Brown

BUTTERFLY DAY OUT

With the birds drying up, I had a day out and visited Shropshire to a butterfly site at Prees Heath Common. This is the last sanctuary for the Silver-studded blue butterfly in the Midlands. The reserve is on a large common that had been a World War 2 airfield. The silver-studded blues were in good numbers as we walked around the common.

Silver studded blues

Other species of butterfly were seen as we walked around the common, and a cracking Green woodpecker showed well for a few minutes before a dog walker flushed it.

Painted Lady

Ringlet

Speckled wood

After a good walk around the site and a bit of lunch, I moved on to Eyarth rocks near Ruthin in Denbighshire, which is being carefully managed to sustain North Wales' strongest populations of the threatened Pearl-bordered fritillary. After one hell of a hike up a mountain, I eventually found the site, which was well overgrown. I did connect with a Dark green fritillary and gave it a good hour searching around, but couldn't connect with any Pearl bordered fritillary, and then the weather started to deteriorate, so I called it a day.

 Dark green fritillary

LONG TAILED DUCK-LAPWING HALL POOL

I looked at my phone at 3.10pm whilst at work, and Birdguides had put out a drake Long-tailed duck on Lapwing Hall pool. My break wasn't until 4.00pm, but after a quick word with my boss, I was off.

I arrived on site in pouring rain and soon picked up the bird happily swimming around in the centre of the pool.

                                                               

Long-tailed duck

This is the third record of a Long-tailed duck I have seen in the area. The last one was present on Catchpenny Pool from 14/11/2004 until 22/02/05 and was a drake bird, and my first was seen again on Catchpenny Pool on 12/05/1995 and was also a drake.

Another great bird for the area, and nice to see other birders now visiting and hopefully other birds will now be found. Whilst photographing the Long-tailed duck, a party of newly fledged Blue tits visited a reed bed where I was standing.

NORTH WALES BREAK

This week, I decided to book a hotel in Trearddur Bay on Anglesey, taking advantage of the nice weather. On the way, I planned to do some sightseeing and birdwatching.

 

The first stop was Swallow Falls, located just outside Betws-y-Coed. I hadn't been back since I was a child.

 Swallow Falls

Just up the road, I called in at the Ugly House tea room for some breakfast, and while talking to the ladies in the shop, they told me Pied flycatchers had bred in the wood behind the cafe.

I made are way into the woods after some breakfast, and I soon connected with three Pied flycatchers.

The wooded area behind the cafe

Pied Flycatcher

After jamming in on these little beauties, I headed up the A5 towards Bangor, driving through the Snowdonia national park.

 Mountain views as I drove towards Bangor

Arriving on Anglesey, the weather was beautiful, so I decided the next place I would visit would be Plas Newydd house, which is owned by the National Trust and is a good site for Red squirrel.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plas_Newydd_(Anglesey)

 Plas Newydd house

The house backs onto the Menai Straits and overlooks the Britannia Bridge

The house was amazing and the views of Snowdonia were stunning; they were very lucky people living in this house, a millionaire's dream. I had a good look around the gardens, but I had no luck finding the Red squirrels, but did get good views of numerous Small white butterflies.

Small White butterfly

Moving on towards Trearddur Bay, I called in at Aberffraw and Rhosnigr, where I had good views of Stonechat and Meadow brown butterflies.

  Aberffraw

  Rhosneigr

 Stonechat

Meadow Brown

I arrived at my bed and breakfast just after five and chilled for a couple of hours.

Accommodation sorted

Early evening was spent at South Stacks RSPB, which is one of my favourite sites on Anglesey. There were hundreds of seabirds on the cliffs, Razorbills, Guillemots and Puffins.

 Razorbills and Guillimots

  The cliffs at South Stacks, with the lighthouse in the distance covered in mist

Ellen's Tower

Walking around the cliffs, I also connected with several Stonechats, 2 Choughs, 6 Spotted Burnet moths and Painted Lady butterflies.

 Stonchat

 Two Choughs showed well 

Painted Lady

Six Spotted Burnet

A great day finished off with a nice meal, a few beers and a cracking sunset.

A nice end to a cracking day

Waking up this morning to glorious sunshine, I chilled for the morning and then headed home, calling in at Gronant, to the Little tern colony. These little beauties travel all the way from West Africa to this site.

Little tern

There are 225 birds in the colony counted by the on-site warden, and it is well worth a visit for stunning views of this rare bird.

A great couple of days which were abruptly finished by typical British weather, I got absolutely soaked on the way back to the car, but hey, it was worth it!