19 April 2020 Groundhog Day Bird Blog Llandudno Wales
Great excitment today, we turned left instead of right on our daily walk.
Window watching can turn "common" birds into rarities - Shelduck today!
So another day in lockdown Britain and the government is saying we have at least three more weeks of this ahead, going to be tough. The number of people dying each day is still close to one thousand so desperate times for all the families and friends involved in each and every one of those terrible cases. With the numbers so high it is difficult to appreciate the terrible sadness that each brings to each family and how devastating it is. The numbers kind of wash over the individuals. It is important not to see this as numbers these are real people, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, doctors, nurses dying from a virus here in modern Britain. Just think about that, thousands of people dying here, not in some far off war torn or drought ravaged land but right here in our own country.
Then we look across the pond to North America, I despair, I really do, there are armed gangs demonstrating on the streets against the lockdown! This is so frightening, is America about to slide into civil war? It looks like it could happen however bonkers it might sound in 2020. Florida recorded a record number of deaths and the same day re-opened its beaches! The gun totting folks are winning, how long before a back lash against this right-wing madness? Why are crowds of arm people allowed to gather on the streets? All mad.
Sandwich Terns were seen at North Shore and West Shore Llandudno today.
So back to birds, this morning started with some window birding here in Llandudno, Wales. A few nice records to get the day started, a pair of Common Shelduck circled over the town, a gang of Sandwich Terns plunged head-long into the bay for fish as the early clouds gave way to beautiful sunshine. Then a Willow Warbler sang from below our fourth floor window! Wow a real thrill we don’t see many here, not many trees, and hear even fewer. This lovely migrant didn’t stay long, soon flying off over the roof tops, but that short visit and that lovely song had been a real joy.
The big news today comes from the daily exercise walk, so far every day we turn right out of the front door, not today, we turned left! I know, crazy, radical, wild but sometimes you just have to do these things! By turning left we can soon be on a footpath that leads to the west shore of Llandudno. This path follows the southern side of the Great Orme through woodland and then gorse covered slopes to give wonderful views across Conwy Bay to the mountains of Snowdonia, about fifteen minutes-walk. Bird wise it doesn’t have the stars of the turning right walk but nice to see some different views. Two Whimbrel on the tide edge on West Shore beach were the highlight and offshore here Gannets and more Sandwich Terns were feeding. We logged House Martin, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Blackcap. Thinking tomorrow will be back to turning right.
Common Sandpiper are arriving so keep an eye on warter bodies.
News from our birding friends across North Wales today….
James – Lesser Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Common Sandpiper, pair of Mandarin Llay Pool, near Wrexham.
Marc – Tree Pipit over Penrhyn Bay
Bill – Cuckoo Roman Camp, Bangor
Dave, Mike, Tom, Marc – Cuckoo Nant-y-Gamar, near Penrhyn Bay
John – 18 Whimbrel, Little ringed Plover, 2 Common Sandpiper River Clwyd south Clwyd
Simon – 3 Great northern Diver, 50 Red-throated Diver, several Manx Shearwaters Dinas Dinlle.
Brian – Red Kite Brynteg Anglesey
Jonni – Garden Warbler RSPB Conwy
Via Derek – Osprey over Mona, Anglesey
We meet some of Llandudno's residents on our turn left walk today.
We are so lucky to have so many species and habitats within easy reach here in North Wales, and once the world returns to normal, we would love you to join us for one of our Best of North Wales Birdwatching Trips days out. We expect to enjoy a lot of birds during these relaxed pace tours and we can tailor make the day to suit you.
We would love you to join us on our Birdwatching Trips in the future just drop us a line to arrange a custom tour and please see our tours pages for set departure trips. If you have any questions at all please fire away here….
info@birdwatchingtrips.co.ukWe look forward to enjoying wonderful birds in beautiful places with you soon!