South Stack

Chough, South Stack

I've had my Senior Railcard a couple of days so I decided it was time it got christened. The other week's timetable changes have brought back the Manchester to Holyhead train so I thought I'd have a trip out and walk down to South Stack.

I was reminded how long it is since I last did this trip: I was baffled by a "new" bridge from the station into the town centre that turned out to have been built in 2008. What surprised me greatly was that once I'd got my bearings in the town centre I could walk up to South Stack from memory (though I'd forgotten how steep that last stretch of South Stack Road is!)

A hopeful scan round of the harbour before setting out netted the inevitable herring gulls and pigeons and a great crested grebe.

Starlings, Llaingoch

Once I'd passed through Llaingoch the country started to look wild, with rolling farmlands on my left and the heather-thick base of Holyhead Mountain on my right. Dozens of herring gulls passed overhead and the hedgerows were busy with goldfinches and linnets. I could hear buzzards calling but it took ages to find them: they were soaring and dipping over the brow of the hills on the other side of the valley.

View from South Stack Road

About half a mile beyond Llaingoch there's a small reservoir or four large square ponds, I'm not sure of its function. A flock of a dozen each of herring gulls, lesser black-backs and greylag geese loafed on the field by the ponds while a couple of dozen herring gulls bathed in the water.

Buzzard, South Stack Road

I'd almost reached the point where you turn right for South Stack when I saw my first two choughs of the day as they tried, and failed, to mingle with a large flock of jackdaws. A buzzard made an even worse fist of it.

South Stack Lighthouse

South Stack was busy. Very, very busy. It's too late in the season to hope for auks nesting on the cliffs, though there were still a few kittiwakes and plenty of herring gulls. There were a few too many loud voices around to hope for many small passerines but a large flock of spadgers took advantage of the dust raised by all those feet.

House sparrows dustbathing

I found a quietish spot and did a bit of seawatching. Plenty more gulls. An adult gannet passed by in the mid distance and a dozen Manx shearwaters seemed to track the fishing boats' buoys past the cliffs. A scan through a crowd of gulls at the base of one of the cliffs added shag to the year list.

Holyhead Mountain

The walk back to Holyhead was more of the same though I was largely distracted by the air sea rescue helicopter landing in a dip in the side of the hill by the road. I hope it was a training exercise and not some poor devil hurt themselves.

Holyhead Harbour

I walked down to the harbour at Beach Road and had a nosy round. More herring gulls and pigeons, a great black-back with a large youngster and a passing curlew.

Back off home on the stopping train to Chester which doesn't connect to anything anywhere and so was nice and quiet.