Gwylio adar yng Nghymru

Did you wonder why there was a premature finish to my post last week? You could have thought that it was due to my having nothing further to say (unlikely), or the Editor in chief saying that I had written enough (probable).

Wrong on both counts.  It was because on the Friday 17^th May, Mary & I together with 5 of our family including Leo, headed off for a long weekend at Milford Haven in South Wales. A long schlep, 250 miles each way, we were all heading for a river side property named the Curlew (apposite!). This was our 2019 foreign family away-break, after Monte Carlo in 2017 and Belgium in 2018. Not quite sure whether Wales fitted into foreign, but other countries we looked at (Gibraltar; Isle of Man etc) were thin on the ground with rental properties 3 beds and 3 baths, so Wales it was. One advantage was that we had strong links with relatives in Pembrokeshire some of whom we saw during our visit. 

We also met Cabbage and I have the scar to show what a cuddly and exuberant dog he is!

Welsh birds?   Although as you can see from the photo, we overlooked a tidal stretch, Shelduck and Grey Heron were the most exciting, but sadly no sign of Chough. House Martins at Saundersfoot, a pretty seaside town near Tenby, was a missing tick off my year list.  And on Sunday, whilst walking near the marina at Neyland, near Pembroke docks, I added a couple of sighting of Rock Pipit…on the rocks, surprisingly!!

Monday 20^th May was for me the birding hi-lite of the weekend when four of us boarded a 50-seater motor boat, The Dale Princess, for an hours trip from the Haven quay, near Dale, to get up close to Skomer Island. (To continue my cruising price list from last weeks blog…..     1 hour = £12)

The 50 passengers (a full cargo!) are not allowed to land on Skomer on a Monday, so we hoved to very close to the cliffs…………………………….  and found ourselves in the midst of an enormous number of Puffins.

Apparently the summer population at Skomer is c 30,000 Puffins, and we saw 29,540 of them… well it seemed like it. I have only ever seen Puffins in single figures and we were completely overawed by the vast number of these cute little fellows….. everywhere. If they were too close to the boat, they just dived or they paddled like the clappers to get airborne. Sarah who had never seen a live puffin before was ecstatic. It certainly ranks for me as one of my WoW moments.

We only spotted a few Gannets.....

....but being so large and with the white and black plumage the mature birds were easy to identify. 

Guillemots……

and Razorbills…….

.....bobbed close around us on the sea so they were identified OK, and the occasional Fulmars were close enough to see the tubenose.  

This is a cracking photo with 3 different species at the same time!

Kittiwakes were well settled on  the cliff, and the crew member giving the commentary, pointed out 1 or 2 Shags.. like this lonely fella!

A big thank-you to my son-in-law Julian Turner for his photographs, taken on a very unstable boat! Photos are a welcome addition to my blog - he can come again!

All in all a good trip and if you do plan to go to or on Skomer check which days allow a trip only, and which allow access.   The trip home was a good ride!!

The return journey was exhilerating

Finally, touring the west coast after the cruise, I added a Sanderling to my year list, at  Newgale. So that added 8 to my year list for the trip, and obviates the need to visit Bempton, at least for the cliff birds.

After the lengthy journey home on Tuesday, I was in two minds as to whether to join the DOS and Ogston Bird Club joint evening walk to see Nightjar and Woodcock at Clumber Park on Wednesday May 22.  But I did!!  Got lost due to a changed route, brought about due to the normal access road being blocked by some idiot who had dumped a load of asbestos. Anyway, I arrived at 1 minute to 7 just before the electronic gates shut at 7.00 pm.

We killed time by visiting the main lake before the normal dusk arrival of the target birds, and the 11 of us were immediately welcomed by a very visible calling Cuckoo. Scopes were pointed, and after 10 minutes the leader was deliberating how much longer we should watch and listen to the Cuckoo before we moved on and disturbed it’s perch. The cuckoo gave in first, and we moved on to spend 20 minutes productively scanning a large reed bed for warblers.

Sadly, despite our patience the usual Nightjar site only produced some churring but no sighting, nor of a Woodcock, but we did have a Tawny Owl flying out and away from the woods.

Finally this weeks birding tip for beginners.   Always check out cattle carefully. Yellow Wagtails will often follow the herd, foraging on the ground for food that gets disturbed and churned up by cattle hooves. 

And as is becoming more frequent in the UK (and I’ve seen this frequently in Majorca)  check if there are any Cattle Egrets on or under cattle!   As the name implies, they do hitch a lift, feeding on the ticks that parasite cattle.

For now,   Happy Birding.

PS...The Title?     Bird Watching in Wales