Denbighshire

Herring gulls, Colwyn Bay 

It was another mild and mizzly day in Manchester with the tops of the vainglorious tower blocks of the city centre lost in the clouds so the obvious thing to do was to go to the seaside to look for distant ducks.

I had an envelope full of rail travel vouchers to use up so I put half of them towards a return ticket to Colwyn Bay. A surf scoter's been reported all week as being in the rafts of common scoters in the bay, I thought I'd have a go at finding it. And if no joy it's a nice place for a bit of seawatching anyway. There's a surf scoter on the North Wales coast most Winters, I don't know if it's the same bird each time. Last year I struck lucky and saw a couple of them off Llandulas.

It became a clear, bright, cloudy day. The line along the North Wales coast has plenty to recommend it for the sedentary birdwatcher though I could have done with the train finding some signals to stop at so I could have a proper look at some of the waders. Carrion crows, woodpigeons, jackdaws and herring gulls were the staple fare. Here or there there'd be a crowd of black-headed gulls, little egrets or redshanks. A flock of pink-feet grazing in a field near Llanerch-y-Môr viaduct was unexpected .A herd of mute swans seemed to have Rhyl Marine Lake to themselves. Half a dozen drake goosanders were showing off to a couple of redheads as the train passed over the Clwyd.

Colwyn Bay 

I got off at Colwyn Bay and walked round to the beach. The path under the expressway comes out at the pier, it would have been rude not to walk to the end to do a bit of seawatching. 

Mackerel fishermen 

It was a couple of hours after high tide but unlike the Wirral there's a steep shelf just offshore so the sea doesn't go far out. Close by there was a steady passage of herring gulls and there was almost as many black-headed gulls and cormorants as mackerel fishermen setting up their gear on the tideline. Carrion crows and jackdaws fussed about on the beach.

At first sight the sea at Colwyn Bay was empty

It wasn't.
You'll need to click on this picture to enlarge it enough to see the common scoters. There are a few pale cheeked females at the front.

About half a mile out the sea was littered with hundreds of common scoter. It took about ten minutes to get my eye in so I was seeing duck shapes rather than than indistinct dots. I was helped a lot by a few groups drifting in ever so slightly, once I had them in focus the further groups became less difficult. A great crested grebe swimming past about a hundred yards out helped me establish a sense of scale. Hundreds of common scoters. With just my bins to play with I wrote off my chances of seeing any other type of scoter out there without the aid of Providence.

Walking to Old Colwyn

It's a nice walk down the prom towards Old Colwyn. A crowd of herring gulls bathed in the outflow by the Port Eirias Centre in the company of a few black-headed gulls and jackdaws, a gang of carrion crows and a great black-back. A little further on a couple of oystercatchers probed the mud by the seawall.

Herring gulls and carrion crow, Colwyn Bay 

Herring gulls and carrion crow, Colwyn Bay 

Herring gulls, great black-back and carrion crow, Colwyn Bay 

Colwyn Bay 

I kept stopping and scanning the distant scoters. A couple of odd-looking birds turned out to be the back ends of fishing cormorants. Then I saw a flash of white where there shouldn't be one. The surf scoter must have been three-quarters of a mile out but it was facing me and reared up to stretch its wings. A flash of white on the front of the head then it settled down on the water and I lost it in the crowd. I saw it again a few hundred yards down the prom, it had turned its back to the shore, making it very much harder to pick out the white markings on the head. I owe Providence a cup of tea.

Heron and little egret, Colwyn Bay 

Aside from the two oystercatchers I hadn't seen any waders on the beach, it was far too busy with people and dogs. I passed a couple of small stone groynes and had no luck finding turnstones. The third one I passed was different: there were a dozen of them fossicking about on that one. And only that one, I didn't see any more further along. A couple of rock pipits flitted about the sea wall but didn't settle. A bit further along a heron and a little egret shared the fishing on a pool. And out at sea there were more distant scoters.

Old Colwyn

River Clwyd 

I didn't have the legs in me for the walk to Llandulas so I went into Old Colwyn and got the bus to Kimmel Bay for a potter about Horton's Nose and the harbour. The tide was well out here, the tideline marked by a distant line of cormorants. The best part of a hundred gulls loafed on the beach, a large flock of herring gulls and a few smaller flocks of black-headed gulls, there were plenty of both flying about with an eye on the half-term main chance. A pair of goosanders fished the river by the harbour, redshanks and black-tailed godwits rummaged about in the mud, and a large flock of pigeons had congregated on the mud under the road bridge for I know not what reason.

Horton's Nose 

River Clwyd 

The sun finally made an appearance as I walked over to Rhyl Station for the train home, walking by the marine lake on my way. The herd of mute swans shared the lake with a lone goosander and a small flock of black-headed gulls, a few herons and cormorants loafing and dozing on the island.

Rhyl Marine Lake 

The North Wales coast in the golden hour was my reward for good timing for the journey back. Shelducks dabbled in the mud as the train passed close by the Flintshire coast. I often mock myself for staring out of train windows in the forlorn hope of seeing an owl in the twilight. As we passed Hawarden Airport there was still enough light to watch a short-eared owl as it floated low over the trackside field.