North Wales

Herring gull, Rhyl Harbour

Woolston Eyes is having a purple patch with the penduline tit still playing hide and seek, the arrival of bittern and black-necked grebes and first thing a report of a ferruginous duck. I decided to head the other way so's not to spoil anyone's birdwatching. I've been having dreams about seawatching and felt the need for an excursion after a week's feeling ropey so I headed out to Colwyn Bay.

Colwyn Bay Pier 

It was a splendid, sunny Spring day. The wind had an edge but not unpleasantly so. Arriving at Colwyn Bay I ducked through the underpass and straight onto the pier. I have to say, whoever chose the colour scheme for the pier is a genius, the contrast between the ice cream buff and pink against the blues and greys of the Irish Sea is spot on. It was high tide, just right for seawatching.

Cormorant

Herring gulls and handfuls of black-headed gulls wheeled about. Cormorants sat on buoys. I quickly got my eye in on the seawatching. The high tide had done its work, hundreds of common scoters were small black shapes on the water instead of tiny black shapes on the water. There was a lot of preening and bathing going on out there and every so often a bird would rise on the water and flap its wings. It was too much to hope that one would conveniently have the white wing patch of a velvet scorer but it didn't stop me looking. A few groups drifted slightly closer, just close enough to be able to pick out the pale cheeks and brown plumage of the ducks, always outnumbered by black drakes. Every so often there'd be the white of a black-headed gull or a great crested grebe, one of which was in full breeding regalia.

The common scoters were small black shapes on the water instead of tiny black shapes on the water.

There was a huge congregation of rafts of scoters, a thousand or more birds, out opposite Old Colwyn so I walked along the beachfront thataway, scanning the rafts as I went. Most were very distant but I was getting good views of the birds about a quarter mile out. The distances involved in seawatching always amazes me. There was a bit of a kerfuffle with birds scuttling off the water and flying in slightly inshore as a couple of great black-backs passed by half a mile out. 

The further I walked the more I came to realise there were thousands of scoters out there.  I was very puzzled by a white and grey shape amongst the closest group of scoters until I'd taken a few steps further along and changed the angle of view and the bird became very obviously a black-headed gull. The occasional white flash was the wing panel on a great crested grebe as it flew low over the waves. A red-throated diver stood out as it flew by because of its pale underparts and plain wings.

I was about halfway between piers when a touch of white in a raft of scoters caught my eye. I expected it would turn out to be another grebe or gull, or the splash of a scoter coming in to land. The raft was pretty far out and was riding a swell in the wave so I wasn't getting a steady clear view of the birds. The white caught the corner of my eye again, it wasn't a whole bird it was part of a bird and I knew whereabouts to look now. The raft dipped out of view then rose again and I spotted the coot-like white splash on the forehead and the impression of something reddish orange about the beak of a surf scooter. At that distance with binoculars that's as much detail I was getting but it was enough to identify it.

Common scoters

I'd walked perhaps a hundred yards when most of the scoters took flight, heading East and leaving hundreds of birds behind in relatively small rafts of a score or so birds each.

I'd already seen a couple of pied wagtails along the promenade and assumed there was another with the pair of rock pipits flying by the Arches Viaduct until it flew back and I saw it was a grey wagtail. Robins sang under the viaduct as I had one last scan of the sea then headed inland for the bus to Rhyl.

Horton's Nose 

I caught the 12 to Rhyl, got off in Kimmel Bay and walked along the harbour onto Horton's Nose. The tide was still high but was showing hints of the ebb and the turnstones on the jetties were starting to fidget. I was hoping for a sighting of the black redstart that's been here for a while so I had a slow meander about. The only small birds I could find were three stonechats, a pair and a male that wasn't for being chased off far. Every so often they'd fly up onto a fence post, the males would tussle then they'd disappear into the grass. By my second circuit round the interloper had finally taken the hint and was feeding in the open ground away from the fence.

The tide began to ebb, I had to duck as a flock of turnstones flew out to shore and redshanks and curlews started feeding on the exposed mud on the river. I took this as a hint to head for my train home past the marine lake with the black swan amongst the herd of mute swans and the noisy flock of oystercatchers on the island.

Rhyl Harbour 

I didn't have long to wait for the train and struck lucky with the bus home. The cat assumed I'd been to Pennington Flash.

Rhyl Marine Lake

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.