Tuesday 4 May 2021

The far north

 Not quite the Arctic but it felt like it at 0645 whilst peering out of the car window at Upper Borth (I tried the brickhouse earlier but gave up after nanoseconds). Lots of gannets (250 plus) and Manx shearwaters struggling north but the only birds of note was a flock of 16 black-tailed godwits moving very slowly north and a dark-phase arctic skua flying occasionally backwards north.

At RSPB Ynys-hir Tom Kistruck had a passage whinchat and all the lapwing chicks seem to be surviving well despite the weather.

After work, a trip to Ynyslas on an ebbing tide was a good idea at the time and a short walk (almost a sprint with the wind behind me) to the Leri mouth was rewarding with 8 sanderling, 5 knot, a turnstone, 720 dunlin, 108 ringed plover and a spring-speckled curlew sandpiper the highlights along with 3 common tern and a little tern.

As hail began, I started back to the car and what was a quick sprint took a long 25 minutes staggering back against the rather cruel windy sand storm.

And guess what, I enjoyed it all!