Birding Group Visit to RSPB South Stack : 11th June 2014

Birding Group Visit to RSPB South Stack : 11th June 2014

We stayed overnight on the 10th at the Seacroft Hotel in Trearddur Bay. Some of the group stayed at the Travelodge in Holyhead but we all met up on the evening of the 10th for a meal. We had a nice evening and retired exhausted ready for another birding day in North Wales. We headed off to Holyhead first to look at the Black Guillemots at the old Fish Harbour and they were as reliable as usual giving us views of them swimming, flying and even perching and displaying on the harbour wall. This got our appetite up for South Stack where we headed off to next.

We certainly weren’t expecting to find South Stack clad in a heavy fog and this rather stalled our start. We decided to give it a chance to clear up by having a quick cup of tea. Whilst we were looking over at he paddock opposite we could see a single Linnet feeding amongst the grass and flowers, now quite tall since one of the donkeys died. Obviously the remaining one was finding it hard work keeping all the grass down.

Eventually we decided we had to start anyway so we headed down to the tower. We stopped at the cliff viewpoint where we could see lots of Guillemots and Razorbills but a marvelous addition was a Peregrine perched on the cliff face. There was a nest nearby and after a bit of peering into the mist we managed to locate the chick some distance away. This was almost too close for the scope and even at minimum magnification it was hard to fit all of the bird in. I managed to get some digiscoped video but it was a bit disappointing because it looked so washed out through the mist. We had to drag ourselves away in the end – it is unusual to get such good, close views of a Peregrine chick- well, I say a chick but it was pretty big already !

We walked up the hill to the top of the road and saw lots of Wheatear and Rock Pipit and even a Song Thrush (I think). We then descended the steep steps down to the lighthouse but I decided to stop half way down where good views of Puffins were to be had amongst the Guillemots and Razorbills.

As we came back up several Choughs were flying around and as I walked down the road back to the RSPB cafe I stood for fifteen minutes and watched a pair feeding really close by. There were more Pipits and Wheatear as well. A few Swallows and House Martins also buzzed around. By the time we had done all this it was gone lunchtime and the weather was starting to clear a little.

The rest of the group decided that they wanted to return via the Valley nature reserve but we wanted to return earlier to avoid rush hour in Manchester.

Bird Sightings : RSPB South Stack

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