Day Out to Point of Ayr for a Migrants and Wader Watch 20th April 2011
Point of Ayr is the northernmost point of mainland Wales. It is situated immediately to the north of Talacre in Flintshire, at the mouth of the Dee estuary. It is the site of a RSPB nature reserve, and is part of Gronant and Talacre Dunes Site of Special Scientific Interest. This was an RSPB guided event. The high tide at Liverpool was 1pm and the height was to be 9.7m. (Enquiries were on 0151 336 7681) so we were expecting something of a spectacle as the tide rose.
We were to meet at 10.30am in the car park of the Smugglers Inn, Station Road, Talacre which was easier said than done as by the time we arrived the car park was full and none of the other holiday making type places would permit the parking of cars except for people eating in their cafes and restaurants. Neither were they too keen on people using their toilets – some cafes didn’t even have them necessitating the use of the very minimal and rather crude public toilets.
In general the local businesses did not like anyone unless they were their direct customers. One eating place actually parked an empty car across the entrance to their car park (which could have held at least 100 cars) to deter casual parking. Parking on the street is difficult so we and several other cars drove around and around looking for a place to park. In the end we found a relatively quiet place on Didsbury Avenue (sic) which is just by an entrance gate to the dunes and from there there is a pedestrian only lane between the houses (called Gamfa Wen) that runs across to Station Road. You still have to be early,however, because when we returned to the car at 2pm there were so many other parked cars that some people had the greatest difficulty getting out of the spots where they had parked.
Anyway, by the time we had parked, the group had already set off. There were around 12 other people including 2 RSPB wardens. I wouldn’t say that they were the most forthcoming of wardens but they would happily answer any direct questions put to them. The others were quite happy to help each other out with spottings etc. so it wasn’t to bad – though we both thought that RSPB wardens are usually much more forthcoming by way of general introduction and little talks about species etc. Perhaps he did it at the beginning and we just missed it.
So we started with a walk along the raised walkway between the power station and the sea and as we walked along I saw some Skylarks rise from the marshland. Others saw Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs but I could only hear them. When we got along a bit we turned towards the sea where there is a bit of raised ground that gave us a view of the sea and the various birds that were collected there. There were Curlews aplenty – more than 100. There were also large numbers of Oystercatechers and Shelduck. We saw small flocks of Knot and Dunlin overhead and apparently there was a Ringed Plover in with them.
On the marshes there were lots of Skylarks ascending and singing and Meadow Pipits as well as the odd Reed Bunting. We had good and prolonged views of 2 Whimbrel which stood out well against the slightly bigger and paler Curlews. There were also 2 Little Egrets and there were Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits. We got a particularly good view of a Godwit in its brick red breeding plumage which stood out strongly against the rest. A Lone Redshank put in an appearance, we saw three Common Terns in the distance – well I saw three dots that the RSPB chap said were Terns. On the marshes there were also Pied and White Wagtails. For a full list of birds see below.
The weather was great and we did see a lot of birds so it was a good day out. I was actually expecting the high tide to push the birds closer towards us but a lot of them just stayed where they were and floated on the water so I was a little disappointed with that – I was expecting a spectacular. Be that as it may, confirmed Whimbrel were a first for me and so was a White Wagtail so I was pleased by that and with the good weather and the good views of the birds we were pretty happy we had made the effort to get there – of which, more below. Additionally it was interesting to see just how quickly the tide did come in. I overheard an interesting conversation between two people about the human need for consultation of tide timetables to figure ut the high tides when – according to them – Little Owls suddenly appear when there are high tides whereas previously they had been hard to see anywhere.
Point of Ayr is probably an entirely different kind of place out of the holiday season as it is very geared up to a British seaside holiday crowd of caravanners etc. Fish and chips, lager and sandcastles being the order of the day. I would imagine that come the end of the season it is desolate cold and windy – and probably also easy to find a parking place.
Bird List
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Bar-tailed Godwit | 100 |
| Black-headed Gull | 40 |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 8 |
| Buzzard | 4 |
| Carrion Crow | 12 |
| Curlew | 120 |
| Dunlin | 16 |
| Goldfinch | 1 |
| Herring Gull | 8 |
| House Martin | 8 |
| House Sparrow | 1 |
| Knot | 20 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 6 |
| Little Egret | 2 |
| Magpie | 5 |
| Mallard | 10 |
| Meadow Pipit | 1 |
| Oystercatcher | 100 |
| Pied Wagtail | 4 |
| Redshank | 1 |
| Reed Bunting | 1 |
| Robin | 1 |
| Shelduck | 100 |
| Skylark | 8 |
| Starling | 1 |
| Swallow | 8 |
| Whimbrel | 2 |
| Woodpigeon | 4 |
How To Get There
- Head south on Chequers Rd toward Beech Rd 308 ft
- Turn left at Beech Rd 0.2 mi
- Turn right at Barlow Moor Rd/A5145 1.2 mi
- Turn right at Princess Rd/A5103
- Continue to follow A5103 1.7 mi
- Continue onto M56 (signs for Chester/Warrington/Wythenshawe/Birmingham/M6) 32.3 mi
- Continue onto A5117
- Entering Wales 2.3 mi
- Continue onto A550 2.3 mi
- Continue onto A494 (signs for Mold/Wrexham/Wrecsam/A550/Conwy/A55) 2.3 mi
- Continue onto A55 7.1 mi
- At junction 32, exit onto A5026 toward Holywell/Treffynnon 2.4 mi
- Turn right at Whitford St/A5026 56 ft
- Turn right to stay on Whitford St/A5026
- Continue to follow A5026 0.3 mi
- Take the 2nd left onto B5121 82 ft
- Turn left at New Rd/B5121
- Continue to follow B5121 1.3 mi
- Turn left at A548 6.3 mi
- At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto Station Rd 0.3 mi
- Keep left at the fork
This route is the one suggested by Google Maps but it is a bit complicated. We came back the simpler way by staying on the A548 until nearer the motorway. It took about the same time and was less complicated but it is a much narrower road and you can easily imagine getting stuck behind trucks or caravans so perhaps the roundabout route is more relaible