Common Gull
July can produce some great birds but on the whole it tends to be a quiet time. the migrant passage has not really got going and the smaller birds tend to be hard to spot partly because they are quieter but also because the cover in the woods is at its thickest.
So John Small and I set off on our regular Monday trip more in hope than expectation. We first visited the Morfa Madryn reserve at Llanfairfechan where we planned to check out the high tide gull roost. We were pleased to see a good number of Sandwich Terns in among the Black Headed Gulls with a few Common Gulls with the larger Herring Gulls. There were a few waders on the reserve including a Ringed Plover, a Common Sandpiper t and about eight Redshanks.
Little Egret
We then nipped down the A55 to the Aber Ogwen reserve for a quick luck to see what was around. Amazingly there were about 30 Great Crested Grebes on the straights and hundreds of Mute Swans.
Next we popped over to Penmon Point were we hope to find a puffin. Unfortunately none were visible from the shore but we did have a good view of a Black Guillemot as it flew past.
Puffin Island from Penmon Point
