It was a decidedly wintry scene as I travelled down the coastal road from Aberystwyth to Aberaeron today. A great many fields I glanced into from the start of my journey in Machynlleth seemed to have Starling, Redwing, Fieldfare and Lapwing too. They were at Furnace, Trerddol, Talybont, Bow Street, Llanrhystud and all the way down the coast. But a couple of fields in particular caught my eye. Travelling south on the A.487 and just before entering the village of Llanon I noticed a lot of bird activity in the fields on my right. I pulled into the 'Cylch Peris' housing estate at Llanon and walked back up the road for just a few yards and stood on the grass verge. In the fields adjoining the road there were hoards of Golden Plover, Lapwing, Redwing, Fieldfare, Starlings and even 3 Common Snipe feeding happily all within a stones throw of me. It was snowing heavily and the whole spectacle was quite magical. I must have looked a right 'nerd' to passing traffic but this is one opportunity I was not going to miss. What other image could you possibly conjure up in your mind of a birding extravaganza on a winter's day? On reaching Aberaeron I had a quick glimpse seaward from the harbour wall but visibility was poor so I didn't see anything of note. There were 5 Turnstone on the beach just to the right of the harbour entrance. But I did see my first Wandering Albatross in the harbour! Before you all rush to grab your pagers just stop where you are. To be more precise I saw my first Albatross in the Harbourmaster Hotel, more specifically in the new extension called the 'Tafarn Inn'. Here there was a 'stuffed' Wandering Albatross in a glass cabinet mounted on a wall. The history of its demise appeared on a framed plaque to the left of the cabinet. It said, and I quote:-
"In 1910 when his (Captain Thomas Davies of Llanarth) ship 'The Naiad' sailed around Cape Horn the Albatross hit the mast and died. One of the sailors stuffed the bird, and on returning to Wales, Thomas Davies took the bird to J.Hutchings & Sons, taxidermist at Aberystwyth"- unquote.
I lay claim to this sighting of a Wandering Albatross as a 'first' for Ceredigion! (do you think Russell Jones (County recorder) would accept it?)