A Sunny Day In The Uplands Of North Wales Great Birds Beautiful Scenery
A Sunny Day In The Uplands Of North Wales Great Birds Beautiful Scenery
We enjoyed wonderful views of Common Crossbills in the winter sunshine.
We are so lucky living here in North Wales, from our living room window we can see the sea and the mountains of Snowdonia. This panoramic view is very helpful in planning our birding days out. If the mountains are crystal clear in the morning sun then we might head that way. We did just that and soon we were heading south down the scenic Conwy Valley with the snow capped mountains looking glorious in the January sunshine. What a great day to be alive and out looking for birds.
Leaving the valley we climbed up and onto the ridge on the east side and here we were met with a fantastic view right across the Conwy Valley and the whole of Snowdonia! A breath-taking vsita with the snow covered mountains popping up through cloud in some of the valleys, just wow!
A drake Goldeneye such a handsome duck.
Moving on to an area of upland conifer and moorland we were soon watching Siskins and Lesser Redpolls in the bright sunshine with ice and frost all around. Walking alongside a lake we soon heard the distinctive "chup-chup" calls of Common Crossbills. Luckily these bulky, colourful finches landed in some trees above us and had wonderful views through the telescopes. A little further along and two more Common Crossbills landed in a bare tree much lower and although a fair way off we managed a few ok photos. The views through the scopes here were just fantastic, every detail could be seen, sun behind us, blue sky behind, perfect. Out on the lake a few Goldeneye and Cormorants dived for food, not much spends the winter in these uplands. As we scanned another area, hopefull that the elusive wintering Great Grey Shrike might pop up, a large raptor rose above the trees. Goshawk! Panic as we got onto this powerful bird. But no panic required, this wonderful raptor was in the mood to show off and slowly drifted above the tree tops in the sunshine, just brilliant! We were elated to have such a fantastic view of a Goshawk, we really love these birds and are so lucky to have them here in North Wales.
On the way home we stopped off at Colwyn Bay sea-front and marvelled at the masses of Common Scoter offshore, thousnads of them! Amongst the black rafts of scoter were Red-throated Divers, Great Crested Grebes and Red-breasted Mergansers the latter displaying always great to watch. Had we had more time perhaps we could have picked out more, another day.
We would love you to come and join our Birdwatching Trips to discover the wonderful birds and wildlife that we have here in North Wales and beyound. Please email us here to arrange your trip...
info@birdwatchingtrips.co.ukWe look forward to enjoying great birds and wildlife with you soon!