A birding trip can turn into something much more exciting Throughout the unpredictability of wildlife
Fall is obviously an exciting time to stand outside birdwatching, and If you like walking and bird watching combined, then the Isle of Anglesey, or Ynys Môn to give it its Welsh name off the North Wales coast, is an excellent spot to visit.The Anglesey coastal path fringes this beautiful island for 125 miles, mostly along the edge. In a few places the route cuts inland to avoid private land on the shore, like the Bodorgan property, in which Prince William and Kate lived when he served at RAF Valley, on Anglesey, within their Search and Rescue Force. It is no surprise that walkers weren’t able to traipse across their front yard! But, overall, the footpath follows the intricacies of the shoreline, which makes navigation extremely easy and the views just wonderful.
One of my favourite sections is across the north coast of Anglesey, beginning from Cemlyn Bay. The property here is owned by the National Trust and it’s also a nature reserve managed by the North Wales Wildlife Trust; so this double protection preserves the coastline here for everyone to enjoy.
It is the site of Wales’s largest breeding tern colony, and throughout the summertime, the air is filled with snowflakes, or so it seems, as countless Sandwich, Arctic and Common Terns ply to and fro, bringing fish into hungry chicks. Look closely and you may be fortunate enough to select a Roseate Tern among the gathering, which also includes numerous Black-headed Gulls, in addition to several pairs of striking Mediterranean Gulls.
Your ears have been attacked by raucous calls, particularly when the terns all rise in a’fear’, either because they have’spooked themselves’, or in reaction to an opportunistic Peregrine shooting through.
Cemlyn is a superb place to see outside the breeding season as, thanks to this mosaic of habitats, there’s always plenty of attention. The combo of shingle shore, rocky outcrops, saline lagoon, moist pasture, freshwater streams and patches of willow offer considerable selection, and this promontory on the north coast attracts migrants.
So, with the weather set fair, we headed outside to Cemlyn, ancient one fall morning, to walk a part of the coastal route to see what we could find. The stretch we walked is not much in a straight line, as the Carrion Crow flies, but from the time you’ve tackled the uphills and downhills of the coastal cliffs and followed closely the curvaceous bends round individual bays, it makes for a fantastic walk.
Beautiful migrant
We headed west from Cemlyn lagoon, and we soon found ourselves following a Wheatear across the coastal route. The straggling Hawthorn hedgerow here clung into the final inches of the cliff, providing shelter and tons of pests for our amazing migrant. It turned out to be a juvenile at pristine plumage, and it was incredibly obliging as it perched on a fencepost letting for good photos before it hurried headlong after an unwary insect which had approached . Perhaps the Wheatear hadn’t encountered too many people in its brief lifetime, so far.
Further along the path, we paused by a sheltered area of moist reeds and willow scrub, just inland from the coast. By now the wind has been picking up, so surely this silent corner was an ideal spot for a migrant to lurk. Movement one of the Phragmites caused the center to racebefore revealing a curious Reed Bunting, followed by another, then another, a fourth since the whole family grew the reeds to watch us. A wispy sound made us appear to see a Snipe circling over our heads.
Who was more surprised, us or the Snipe?
Either way, we all briefly took stock of one another, and then the Snipe rocketed skywards again before diving deep in the reeds and out of sight. What a moment!
But on this occasion, Bird of the Day was not a bird at all. Alan had stopped to watch some Gannets offshore as they had been beating their way against a currently quite considerable headwind, always such a charismatic bird to watch. I focused my binoculars from the direction he was pointing and sure enough, a dominant swept-back fin broke the water, then another, then three together. From the blunt shape of their heads along with also the Great Deal of back and sickle-shaped dorsal fin observable each time an animal
Broke the surface, we could tell they had been Risso’s Dolphins.
Elder statesman
These critters were very motoring along in pace, and we picked out an increasing amount of them, at least 16 dolphins, all following the exact same undetectable line westwards, parallel to the shore. 1 creature was so pale that it was almost white,
Making it stand out from the crowd, possibly the elder statesman of the bunny, because these dolphins become paler with age.
Every time it surfaced, it flapped its tail multiple occasions against the water, creating a massive splash. Or perhaps this was a signal for the others to follow, as they progressed further along the coast. One dark dolphin leapt
Full-length out of the water, a complete violation, and we both ooh-ed and aah-ed like spectators at a firework display.
What an Amazing experience! Fall is always an exciting time when’expect the unexpected’ is the watchword for any birdwatching trip, and we certainly hadn’t anticipated such an unbelievable screen on the mammal front. It just goes on to prove how the unpredictability of wildlife is the thing that makes watching it such a thrill.