Baird's Sandpiper, Traeth Dulas
The Baird's appeared to favour this grassy bank but was known for disappearing for several hours either side of high tide.
Adult Mediterranean Gull, Traeth Dulas
Second adult Med Gullxxxx
Almost forgot – Saturday evening while driving through Croft I diverted down Lady Lane. One of the Little Owls was perched high up in the middle tree – near the top and almost obscured by the foliage. Also I made a quick trip to Newton Lake – a Green Sandpiper was the best bird with 10 Tufties and 11 Teal joined by 20 juvenile yobs all of whom were pissed. One of them decided to be a hero and start messing with me, telling me my dog was vicious and should be under control or he would call the Police (laughable to anyone who has seen Billy) and then demanding the use of my scope. At this point I got fed up with him and fortunately his mate dragged him away before the situation escalated. The pool had around 50 beer bottles floating in it – why can’t the little twats behave?
Xxxx
On Sunday morning I decided to take Billy on a twitch and headed off to Traeth Dulas or Dulas Beach in English. The object of my attention was a juvenile Baird’s Sandpiper which had turned up on the Friday afternoon. Directions were a bit sketchy, however the many years of holidaying on Angelsey have given me reasonable local knowledge so I found it straight away.
Xxx
The place is a little like Aberlady Bay in that a stream cuts through a small area of salt marsh and the beach. The differences are that Dulas is in a small valley with sloping fields to the north and wooded hills to the south – Dulas also has more interesting birds. It was very grey and windy (bloody typical) when we arrived – a few birders were already present with the news that it showed briefly an hour ago and went walk about. There was nothing much around but gulls and nine Little Egrets at the time so I started scanning the gull flock. I soon found an adult Med Gull and when directing some adjacent birders onto it one of the birders found a second adult.
Xxx
Although there was a brief patch of fine weather – it gradually deteriorated through the morning until it started raining by late morning. The tide was flooding the marsh quite quickly and a few groups of waders were flushed and headed off somewhere inland. Curious! Half of the birders present at that point decided to call it a day – the rest of us sat in our cars waiting for the rain to stop and the tide to turn. In the middle of the channel is a long grass covered bar which had been the favourite spot for the Baird’s, so we all parked facing this and scanned through the rain. I managed a couple of Ravens, four Buzzards, a couple of Snipe and a Fulmar!
Xxxx
Around 45 minutes after the tide had turned I spotted two small waders dropping in behind the grass bank – one I saw was definitely a Dunlin and the other was clearly smaller so I got out of the car and spent 20 minutes or so scanning for them but to no avail. I retreated to the car when the rain became heavier and watched through the windscreen as five Curlew Sandpipers flew past. A short time later the chap in the Land Rover next to mine wiped his windscreen and spotted a small wader on the grass directly in front of him. He got out and scanned the bird before signalling to me to come and have a look. I viewed the bird through his scope and concurred – it was the Baird’s Sandpiper!
Xxx
The bird showed well for the next hour or so although the wind and rain didn’t help matters. The first things I noticed were the scaley appearance due to the white edges to the feathers on the mantle and wing coverts. Its shape was also long and flattened – it was clearly smaller than a Dunlin and much daintier. The supercilium was obvious as were the largely unmarked white under parts though some streaking on the upper breast, a bit like a Pec Sand. The Baird’s just wandered up and down the grass bank feeding. And then it was soon time to go home again.
Xxxx
In the evening I had a quick trip to HGF where lots of Swallows, Sand Martins and House Martins were feeding over the pool. The adult Black-necked Grebe had left overnight.
Xxxx
On Sunday morning I decided to take Billy on a twitch and headed off to Traeth Dulas or Dulas Beach in English. The object of my attention was a juvenile Baird’s Sandpiper which had turned up on the Friday afternoon. Directions were a bit sketchy, however the many years of holidaying on Angelsey have given me reasonable local knowledge so I found it straight away.
Xxx
The place is a little like Aberlady Bay in that a stream cuts through a small area of salt marsh and the beach. The differences are that Dulas is in a small valley with sloping fields to the north and wooded hills to the south – Dulas also has more interesting birds. It was very grey and windy (bloody typical) when we arrived – a few birders were already present with the news that it showed briefly an hour ago and went walk about. There was nothing much around but gulls and nine Little Egrets at the time so I started scanning the gull flock. I soon found an adult Med Gull and when directing some adjacent birders onto it one of the birders found a second adult.
Xxx
Although there was a brief patch of fine weather – it gradually deteriorated through the morning until it started raining by late morning. The tide was flooding the marsh quite quickly and a few groups of waders were flushed and headed off somewhere inland. Curious! Half of the birders present at that point decided to call it a day – the rest of us sat in our cars waiting for the rain to stop and the tide to turn. In the middle of the channel is a long grass covered bar which had been the favourite spot for the Baird’s, so we all parked facing this and scanned through the rain. I managed a couple of Ravens, four Buzzards, a couple of Snipe and a Fulmar!
Xxxx
Around 45 minutes after the tide had turned I spotted two small waders dropping in behind the grass bank – one I saw was definitely a Dunlin and the other was clearly smaller so I got out of the car and spent 20 minutes or so scanning for them but to no avail. I retreated to the car when the rain became heavier and watched through the windscreen as five Curlew Sandpipers flew past. A short time later the chap in the Land Rover next to mine wiped his windscreen and spotted a small wader on the grass directly in front of him. He got out and scanned the bird before signalling to me to come and have a look. I viewed the bird through his scope and concurred – it was the Baird’s Sandpiper!
Xxx
The bird showed well for the next hour or so although the wind and rain didn’t help matters. The first things I noticed were the scaley appearance due to the white edges to the feathers on the mantle and wing coverts. Its shape was also long and flattened – it was clearly smaller than a Dunlin and much daintier. The supercilium was obvious as were the largely unmarked white under parts though some streaking on the upper breast, a bit like a Pec Sand. The Baird’s just wandered up and down the grass bank feeding. And then it was soon time to go home again.
Xxxx
In the evening I had a quick trip to HGF where lots of Swallows, Sand Martins and House Martins were feeding over the pool. The adult Black-necked Grebe had left overnight.
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