Though far from bright, the weather remained dry throughout our walk
from
New Quay to bird rock this morning. A small group of us enjoyed
some great
bird sightings. The list was: gannet, fulmar, Manx
shearwater, cormorant,
buzzard, kestrel (a pair were feeding a nest
full of young on the sea
cliffs), oystercatcher, herring gull, great
black-backed gull, kittiwake,
guillemot, razorbill (there were chicks
on the ledges but they were difficult
to view and we could not decide
which type of auk they were), swallow, house
martin, pied wagtail (with
a juvenile), rock pipit, wren, dunnock, robin,
blackbird, chough,
magpie, crow, house sparrow, goldfinch, and
linnet.
We also spent some time watching dolphin activity very close to
the
shore. There was a grey seal at bird rock and, as we were walking
back,
we found a toad - the most unexpected sighting of the
day.
Thanks go to Aline Denton who led the walk on behalf of the
Cardigan
Bay Marine Wildlife Centre. Aline will be leading these walks
every
Wednesday throughout the summer and they are well worth attending
if
you find yourself with a morning free. Details of the walks are on
the
CBMWC facebook page. Extra thanks go to Liz Snell who carried her
scope
up the cliff path and enabled the group to get great views of
the
kestrel feeding.
Elaine Izett