Iceland Gull - 30/04/13
Found a cracking Iceland Gull on the Clwyd this evening
Summer Migrants
Little Ringed Plover - 2nd April
Swallow - 6th April
Chiffchaff - 6th April
Willow Warbler - 14th April
Common Sandpiper - 16th April
Whimbrel - 24th April (although usually have them a lot earlier than this)
Whitethroat 24th April
Wheatear - 27th April (been reported earlier further up the river)
Whinchat - 27th April
Swift - 27th April
No sign of any Blackcaps, House Martins, Sand Martins or Sedge Warblers yet!!
February
Keep hoping I'll find a white-winger down here this month and I guess there's till a good chance yet. Vey quiet so far this month although 140 Black Tailed Godwits were a good count on the 14th.
A few grey Plovers and a Bar Tailed Godwit is still about.
Plenty of Dunlin and Lapwing on Marine lake
28th January
25th January 2013
After managing to miss pretty much everything that's been reported on the Clwyd lately, I
re-found the Pink Footed Goose that I saw last week. This time, a little closer, and for a half recognisable pic!
Couldn't flipping find the White Fronted Geese though that keep getting reported. Certainly not with the Greylags today that for sure! Scaup did divert my attention for a short while which was nice!
18th - 20th January 2013
Spent quite a bit of time up on the Clwyd lately attempting to dodge the snow when possible. With North Wales missing out on a lot of the snow, we have been taking advantages of the birds forced in to find food. Bird include:
12 Snow Buntings on mouth of river
8 Sanderling
Turnstones, Redshanks, 2 Ringed Plover
250+ Dunlin
Large numbers of Lapwing and Curlew
5 Snipe and 1 Grey Plover
7 Goldeneye
8 Little Grebes
Huge numbers of Wigeon
Teal, Mallard and Gooseander also present
Common, Black Headed, Herring, Greater and Lesser Black Backed Gulls
Yellow Legged Gull also reported on Marine Lake (20th)
Grey Phalarope reported on mouth of river (20th)
Large numbers of Fieldfare and Redwings
Significant increase in Skylarks and Meadow Pipits
2 Waxwings
103 Canada Geese and 100+ Greylags
2 Pink Footed Geese (19th)
1 female Reed Bunting
11th January 2013
28th December 2012
Had quite a good selection of birds down on the Clwyd lately with a male and female Merlin, Wildfowl consisting of Shoveler, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, plenty of Wigeon, 3 Little Grebes, the odd Little Egret and a few Swans and Geese.
side viewing. Weather was horendous today and the tide came in quicker than I wanted so only got 30 mins this morning but worth a look if in the area. It was last seen heading in the direction of Rhuddlan and there are a few shingle edges and islands that way that Common Sands like to favour in the Summer.
Plenty of waders on the Clwyd including great numbers of Lapwings of over 1500 birds with about 200 on the Marine Lake. There are plenty of Redshanks and Curlews on the river along with small numbers of Grey Plovers, Oystercatchers and I had 4 Dunlin on Marine Lake a few days ago.
A bar
tailed Godwit is still present too. In terms of wildfowl, it has been quite good
in the last week with about 200 Wigeon present, 60+ Teal, 3 Shoveler, 2 Tufted
Duck and a drake Goldeneye and 5 Red Breasted Mergansers on Marine Lake.
A Little
Grebe is also still present along with 2 Little Egrets and a couple of Herons. A
flock of 12 Canada Geese was also seen today. It was also great to see a female
Merlin down on the Clwyd yesterday (22/12) which flushed the waders and gulls.
I also came across a ringed Mute Swan on the Clwyd with the
details as follows:
I'm not one for taking too much attention to geese but this was outrageous, something out of Pokemon or something.. Nethertheless, an escape from someone's precious wildfowl collection and one for my plastic list!
30th October 2012
Getting a lot colder down on that Clwyd and with all the summer migrants gone, the winter migrants are starting to move in. A great count of 430 Lapwing were present today (one, if not the highest count I've had here).
190 Greylag Geese are also present and a flock of 100 came in whilst I was here. Let's hope to some Pink Feet over the next few weeks!
8 Teal, 3 Little Grebes, 6 Gooseanders and a whopping 160+ Wigeon were also present and nice to see!
Quiet in terms of Gulls today opposed to the 2000+ I had last week with a 1st winter Med Gull!
19th October 2012
In terms of Waders, over 100 Oystercatcher flew
in whilst I was there. There were good numbers of Curlew, Redshank and Lapwing
also. A first for me at the site were 2 Ruff (1 adult and 1 first winter bird).
A Grey Plover flew away from me to roost with the Curlews. 8 Snipe were also a
high total for the site along with a lone Bar Tailed Godwit.
I noted no more than 10 Wigeon, and a small
handful of Mallards along with some Canada and Greylag Geese. 8 Little Egrets 2
Grey Herons were also nice to see!
31st August 2012
Having visted a few times since last week the only real difference was the increasing number of Dunlins. Well over 50 today! A Blackcap had been recorded on a couple of recent visits too but was replaced by a Whitethroat today.
The Bar-Tailed Godwit also made a return today but Ringed Plover numbers were right down to just over 10. Lapwings and Redshanks were still to be seen but still nothing of any real significance yet!
Since last week, I also received the information back from the 2 darvic ringed little egrets I saw on the Clwyd. Both birds were ringed as chicks on at Porth Penrhyn, Bangor on 5th June 2012.
23rd August 2012
The suprise but most welcomed bird of the day was a superb Kingfisher sat happily on a post just south of the railway bridge this morning. They're usually commoner much further up the river but never come across one this close to the mouth. Good quanity of waders with over 60 Ringed Plover, over 170 Lapwing, 10 Dunlin, along with good numbers of Curlew, Oystercather and Redshank. 3 Snipe were found out on the mudflats along with 3 Common Sandpiper.
1 Sandwich Tern made an appearance just before high tide and I found a darvic ringed Little Egret which I'm hoping to recieve news upon within the next few days.
A Blackcap was still hanging about and a massive flock of over 230 Goldfinch and Linnet were a great site. Gooseanders, Cormorants and Grey Herons also added to the list on a decent morning on the Clwyd.
19th August 2012
Fantastic numbers of Ringed Plover at the moment and they're really outnumbering the Dunlin at are there. 6 Little Egrets were a good number and a handful of Grey Herons saw numbers rise again. 2 Snipe out on the river mud flats were a plesant suprise and they were joined with 12 Sandwich Terns and a Common Tern. Again very good numbers of Gooseander, Shelducks and Cormorants.
Plenty of Lapwing, Oystercatchers andRedshank still. Still plenty of house martins and swallows!
13th August 2012
2CJ (BTO metal ring MA20687) was ringed as a Great Black-backed
Gull pullus (pre-flight juvenile) on Ireland's Eye, an island off
the coast of Dublin, on 27.06.2009. Marc Hughes saw the bird on 17.09.2011 and was the
first recorded sighting of 2CJ since it was ringed.
I also had it again today, and I believe its been 'hanging' around the area since it was recorded by Marc. Here it was today:
The usual again on the Clwyd: highlights being 2 Turnstone, Bar Tailed Godwit, 12+ Curlew, 60+ Lapwing, 10+ Dunlin and at least 60 Ringed Plover.
6th August 2012
As 'Autumn' is just about approaching us, waders are moving through in numbers. Over 160 Redshanks were visible on the Clwyd this morning. 2 dunlin and 8 Ringed Plover was a bit of a let down as I expected much higher numbers. A handful of Curlew and Whimrel were present and the resident Bar-Tailed Godwit was looking fine. Common Sand, Oystercatchers and Lapwing were also about. A little Egret was nice to see and over 60 Sandwich Terns got a good grilling through as well. 6 Gooseanders were good to see and gave nice close views:
Found a cracking Iceland Gull on the Clwyd this evening
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| Iceland Gull |
Summer Migrants
Little Ringed Plover - 2nd April
Swallow - 6th April
Chiffchaff - 6th April
Willow Warbler - 14th April
Common Sandpiper - 16th April
Whimbrel - 24th April (although usually have them a lot earlier than this)
Whitethroat 24th April
Wheatear - 27th April (been reported earlier further up the river)
Whinchat - 27th April
Swift - 27th April
No sign of any Blackcaps, House Martins, Sand Martins or Sedge Warblers yet!!
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| Male Wheatear |
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| Male Whinchat |
February
Keep hoping I'll find a white-winger down here this month and I guess there's till a good chance yet. Vey quiet so far this month although 140 Black Tailed Godwits were a good count on the 14th.
A few grey Plovers and a Bar Tailed Godwit is still about.
Plenty of Dunlin and Lapwing on Marine lake
28th January
Despite the howling gales yesterday, I braved the Clwyd to try and boost my January total in my slightly adapted version of 'car it', then footit! Managing to miss the Black Throated Diver and the WF Geese and now the Ruff, I stumbled across a cool Jack Snipe that flushed along with a couple of Common Snipe.
100+ Golden Plover present on the East side of the Clwyd in Fields with plenty of Fieldfares and Redwings. This was followed by a cracking Female Merlin and 2 Pink Footed Geese amongst the flock of Greylags on the West bank. Skylark and Meadow Pipit numbers increased greatly over the cold spell as did the number of Dunlin on the Marine Lake exceeding 250. Small numbers of Ringed Plover were also present. From the beach, 120 Sanderling were present along with a great Gull roost, nothing special amongst them, not even a dodgy hybrid! Snow Buntings still about though.
A seawatch yesterday produced 2-3 RTD's and a very good candidate for GND (but at a distance, very difficult to nail) along with a good passage of close Common Scoter and Great Crested Grebes.
Bar-Tailed Godwit always worth mentioning, with a couple of Little Egrets, and ducks were up to with 8 Goldeneye, 3 Gooseander, plenty of Teal, Mallards, 6 Little Grebe and the drake Scaup.
25th January 2013
After managing to miss pretty much everything that's been reported on the Clwyd lately, I
re-found the Pink Footed Goose that I saw last week. This time, a little closer, and for a half recognisable pic!
Couldn't flipping find the White Fronted Geese though that keep getting reported. Certainly not with the Greylags today that for sure! Scaup did divert my attention for a short while which was nice!
18th - 20th January 2013
Spent quite a bit of time up on the Clwyd lately attempting to dodge the snow when possible. With North Wales missing out on a lot of the snow, we have been taking advantages of the birds forced in to find food. Bird include:
12 Snow Buntings on mouth of river
8 Sanderling
Turnstones, Redshanks, 2 Ringed Plover
250+ Dunlin
Large numbers of Lapwing and Curlew
5 Snipe and 1 Grey Plover
7 Goldeneye
8 Little Grebes
Huge numbers of Wigeon
Teal, Mallard and Gooseander also present
Common, Black Headed, Herring, Greater and Lesser Black Backed Gulls
Yellow Legged Gull also reported on Marine Lake (20th)
Grey Phalarope reported on mouth of river (20th)
Large numbers of Fieldfare and Redwings
Significant increase in Skylarks and Meadow Pipits
2 Waxwings
103 Canada Geese and 100+ Greylags
2 Pink Footed Geese (19th)
1 female Reed Bunting
11th January 2013
After a good hour or so, finally relocated the Sandpiper as it flew in from upstream. I suspect this bird is Common but would love to be proved wrong as I haven't had much experience with winter Common or Spotted Sands. The thing that does worry me is that the legs aren't as yellow as I'd like them to be for Spotted and I also heard it call just like a Common so an over-wintering Common Sand seems likely this time! From the pics it does seem to have a slightly shorter tail projection than what a normal common would have in my opinion but whether that is a 'winter' thing, I'm not sure.
Video is better for seeing over all shape of bird and character
28th December 2012
Had quite a good selection of birds down on the Clwyd lately with a male and female Merlin, Wildfowl consisting of Shoveler, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, plenty of Wigeon, 3 Little Grebes, the odd Little Egret and a few Swans and Geese.
Waders have been good too with Grey Plover, Bar Tailed Godwit and over 1000 Lapwing wintering at the site. On 27th December I came across a Common Sandpiper type species. By the time I saw it, it was 3.30pm, light was fading and the bird was quite a distance. Although not a clencher for Spotted Sandpiper, it did appear to have a less of a primary projection than what a Common would have, it appeared to have 'light' legs and was very active, and ocassionally getting chased by a Redshank.
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| Probably the most unhelpful picture i.d wise, but it brightens up the post a little! |
If anyone in the area, the bird was seen on the muddy banks along the water's edge just south of the railway bridge and I was on the Rhyl
23rd December
A male Merlin also seen today with a Sparrwohawk.
15th-22nd Decemeber 2012
As a patch, I actually rarely
talk about it too often and only really post when there's something worth
posting about but generally on the River Clwyd, there's been quite a distinction
from autumn to winter with many birds moving through with one day vastly
different from the next which is always good.
Plenty of waders on the Clwyd including great numbers of Lapwings of over 1500 birds with about 200 on the Marine Lake. There are plenty of Redshanks and Curlews on the river along with small numbers of Grey Plovers, Oystercatchers and I had 4 Dunlin on Marine Lake a few days ago.
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| Grey Plover |
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| Tufted Duck |
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| Here's one to show the feather quality of this very lovely female Merlin... |
Taking about gulls, a
cracking adult Med Gull was in yesterdays' flock and just locked onto it before
they were flushed
Today's
best bird was a cracking Waxwing, first I'd seen on the patch after a
disappointing early autumn when there were Waxwings everywhere in Rhyl apart
from the Clwyd. Was great to find one on here.
5th November 2012
Always nice to come across something a little
different on your birding patch, so a Whooper Swan mixed in with a flock of 8
Mute Swans were nice to come across over the weekend. With the first dusting of
snow on the hilltops, winter really is starting to force itself upon us!
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| Whooper Swan - note its yellow and black bill opposed to the more familar orange billed Mute Swan |
Left leg: Metal W32748
Right leg: Blue darvic V6C
Hoping to recieve details soon as I think there was a pair
ringed on the Brickfield ponds less than a mile away. Although I'd rather it to
have come from further afield... make up for the half an hour or so I took to
try and read the rings!
Coming across something a little different on the Clwyd is
always nice, but I nearly fell over my own scope for a split second when I saw
the next bird coming up... What on earth was it? A sea monster?
No, okay, don't be silly, it was a bird, a goose in fact, but
on of which I hadn't come across before.
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| A Chinese Swan Goose apparently |
I'm not one for taking too much attention to geese but this was outrageous, something out of Pokemon or something.. Nethertheless, an escape from someone's precious wildfowl collection and one for my plastic list!
Anyway, other birds on the Clwyd included over 100 Wigeon, 2
Little Grebes, a Gadwall and good numbers of Lapwing, Curlew and Oystercatcher!
30th October 2012
Getting a lot colder down on that Clwyd and with all the summer migrants gone, the winter migrants are starting to move in. A great count of 430 Lapwing were present today (one, if not the highest count I've had here).
190 Greylag Geese are also present and a flock of 100 came in whilst I was here. Let's hope to some Pink Feet over the next few weeks!
8 Teal, 3 Little Grebes, 6 Gooseanders and a whopping 160+ Wigeon were also present and nice to see!
Quiet in terms of Gulls today opposed to the 2000+ I had last week with a 1st winter Med Gull!
19th October 2012
Having kept tabs on the birding on the River
Clwyd over the last few months, there really hasn't been much to see. There's
nothing worse in spending time at a site and seeing nothing day after day and at
the same time hearing reports on birds you've missed!
High tide appears to be the best time at the
moment where 200 Gulls were roosting today. Managed to pick out an adult winter
Mediterranean Gull amonst the Common, Black Headed, Herring and Lesser Black
Backed Gulls that were already present.
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| Adult Winter Med Gull |
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| Grey Plover |
The summer migrants seem to have moved well and
truly out now with the last pair of Swallows moving on within the last week or
so. Blue, Great and Coal Tits were all about along with Chaffinches,
Greenfinches and Goldfinches.
A nice Greenshank was a nice edition to the end
of the walk searching for food in the freshwater by the old tip!
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31st August 2012
Having visted a few times since last week the only real difference was the increasing number of Dunlins. Well over 50 today! A Blackcap had been recorded on a couple of recent visits too but was replaced by a Whitethroat today.
The Bar-Tailed Godwit also made a return today but Ringed Plover numbers were right down to just over 10. Lapwings and Redshanks were still to be seen but still nothing of any real significance yet!
Since last week, I also received the information back from the 2 darvic ringed little egrets I saw on the Clwyd. Both birds were ringed as chicks on at Porth Penrhyn, Bangor on 5th June 2012.
23rd August 2012
The suprise but most welcomed bird of the day was a superb Kingfisher sat happily on a post just south of the railway bridge this morning. They're usually commoner much further up the river but never come across one this close to the mouth. Good quanity of waders with over 60 Ringed Plover, over 170 Lapwing, 10 Dunlin, along with good numbers of Curlew, Oystercather and Redshank. 3 Snipe were found out on the mudflats along with 3 Common Sandpiper.
1 Sandwich Tern made an appearance just before high tide and I found a darvic ringed Little Egret which I'm hoping to recieve news upon within the next few days.
A Blackcap was still hanging about and a massive flock of over 230 Goldfinch and Linnet were a great site. Gooseanders, Cormorants and Grey Herons also added to the list on a decent morning on the Clwyd.
19th August 2012
Fantastic numbers of Ringed Plover at the moment and they're really outnumbering the Dunlin at are there. 6 Little Egrets were a good number and a handful of Grey Herons saw numbers rise again. 2 Snipe out on the river mud flats were a plesant suprise and they were joined with 12 Sandwich Terns and a Common Tern. Again very good numbers of Gooseander, Shelducks and Cormorants.
Plenty of Lapwing, Oystercatchers andRedshank still. Still plenty of house martins and swallows!
13th August 2012
2CJ (BTO metal ring MA20687) was ringed as a Great Black-backed
Gull pullus (pre-flight juvenile) on Ireland's Eye, an island off
the coast of Dublin, on 27.06.2009. Marc Hughes saw the bird on 17.09.2011 and was the
first recorded sighting of 2CJ since it was ringed.
I also had it again today, and I believe its been 'hanging' around the area since it was recorded by Marc. Here it was today:
The usual again on the Clwyd: highlights being 2 Turnstone, Bar Tailed Godwit, 12+ Curlew, 60+ Lapwing, 10+ Dunlin and at least 60 Ringed Plover.
6th August 2012
As 'Autumn' is just about approaching us, waders are moving through in numbers. Over 160 Redshanks were visible on the Clwyd this morning. 2 dunlin and 8 Ringed Plover was a bit of a let down as I expected much higher numbers. A handful of Curlew and Whimrel were present and the resident Bar-Tailed Godwit was looking fine. Common Sand, Oystercatchers and Lapwing were also about. A little Egret was nice to see and over 60 Sandwich Terns got a good grilling through as well. 6 Gooseanders were good to see and gave nice close views:
19th May 2012:
Iceland Gull still present
amongst the gulls today just south of the railway bridge on the River Clwyd.
Some good numbers of Dunlin (165) and Ringed Plover (106) are looking good for a
migrant Curlew Sandpiper or Little Stint over the coming week or so I would
think. 3 Gooseanders, 6 Whimbrel, 2 Curlew and 2 Bar-Tailed Godwits were the
best of the rest!
7th May 2012
A super Little Stint was on the River Clwyd this afternoon. It is quite a rufous individual and any spring Little Stint is educational. Couldn't turn it into a red necked though. Six Whimbrel, two Common Sand, a Knot and a Barwit too. 30 Dunlin and 10 Ringed Plover. 2 1st summer Common Gulls were still present and make this site a good one for anyone thinking of doing a bird race over the next week or so. No sign of the Greenland White-front - looks like it's finally moved on after a few months in residence.
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| Written and taken by Marc Hughes via We Bird North Wales |
