Ynys-hir

Another swift post to sum up the best of the birding enjoyed on my camping holiday to NW Wales.

Top spot had to be the RSPB reserve at Ynys-hir, never heard of it? Me either before I went, but I am quite comfortably confident it's the finest RSPB site I've ever been to. Where to begin describing the plethora of habitats? The oak woodlands? The mudflat estuary? The fresh water pools? Or how about the reed beds and open pasture? I could go on.
As you may imagine, this extraordinarily rich variety offers a true wish-list of summer birds in early June... maybe 10 pairs of Pied Flycatcher by our straw count, almost as many Redstart, and best of all a single Wood Warbler - a lifer for the girlfriend and I. May have been too late in the day for the bird's amazing stuttering trill song (listen here), however a plaintive 'tuh' contact call quite unlike anything I've heard from a Willow Warbler of Chiffchaff helped to confirm with our ears what we seeing with our eyes through the thick green foliage.

In at least three of the hides we found nesting pairs of Swallow, probably my girlfriend's favourite part of the whole holiday came in watching them toing and froing, watch out for the video at the bottom of this post.

Other top sights for the two days spent there (we simply had to go back after the first one!) were family groups of Raven and Stonechat, a single Whinchat, display flights from Common Sandpiper, overflights from Little Egret, Sedge/Reed/Grasshopper Warbler among the reeds, Oystercatchers and Lapwings, hovering Common Buzzards, Siskin and Great Spotted Woodpecker visiting the feeders by the visitor centre/shop, and a sunbathing Treecreeper - stubby wings outstretch against tree trunk, to name the highlights.
For me most memorable of all was a Goldfinch nest riding the strong winds in the outermost branches of an oak tree at eye level from one of the hides - rising and falling five to six feet after every gust. We couldn't have planned to see a Goldfinch feeding its day old chicks, which trust me is an extraordinarily privileged view into the precarious early days of those birds.

Some pictures to illustrate all this beauty...

(Goldfinch nest just to right of picture.)

Perky Pied Flycatcher.

Those Swallows.

More Welsh birding to come.

Best of 2007

It occurred to me that I failed to make an end of year appraisal for 2007, so here's a quick best of round-up...

Best birding site visited... difficult to choose, it'd have to be the North Norfolk Coast, and those magical dawn moments of thousands of roosting Knot, thousands more commuting Pink-feet, Shore Lark below the dunes and Barn Owl quartering closer than you'd dare imagine.

Best bird seen... for rarity value, the juvenile Night Heron at Fairbun Ings in July. Rumour has it this may have been the first true wild bird of the species hatched in the UK.

Best bird photograph...

This Swallow fledgling feed at Bempton Cliffs RSPB, also in July.

Best bird video...

Barn Owl at Holkham NNR, late August.

Best local find... not a classic year, but a pair of Whinchat at Brierley Forest Park stirred interest in the place during April. They would probably breed were it not for the dogwalkers. According to BirdTrack these were earliest birds reported in my region for the year.

Best memories... too many to mention, a shortlist list would include the Starling roost near Carsington, wintry days and rare ducks at Hoveringham, Osprey days at Rutland, magical Montagu's Harrier in Lincolnshire, the Nightjars of Sherwood Forest, 3 lifers in one day with Long-tailed Skua/Sabine's Gull/Red-necked Grebe, picking up a stranded Little Auk at Snettisham, and really I could go on and on.

Best decision... getting involved with the RSPB, volunteering at their Aren't Birds Brilliant(!) events at Carsington Water in Derbyshire, where I educate the public about the RSPB, conservation and birds in general. A genuinely worthy cause, I get to watch and talk about birds all day long, and it's a great crew down there too. That moment when you see it click within a kid, the gasp and dazzle of discovery when they realise how amazing the birdlife is out there, it'll never get old.

The numbers:

190 species on the year list
18 lifers

For the foreseeable future my prediction is 2007 will be my best year for sheer numbers of birds seen. Between moving house, rising petrol prices, and the intention of greenifying my birdwatching activities, I should be cutting back on the travel for 2008/9.

Bempton Swallows

Of course at Bempton Cliffs there is more than just seabirds. On our final day there most visitors were enthralled by a busy family of Swallows feeding in the picnic area outside the centre. They were very bold and tolerated the closest of encounters...


Common bird, and amazing.