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Puddington
to Shotwick (and Denhall Lane) - December 2004
The villages
of Puddington and Shotwick are ancient, tucked away, and quite unspoilt.
Even without the birds this was an interesting walk and of course, there
was plenty of time to walk round the villages and even look into Shotwick
church.
The day started with an albino jackdaw which looked very strange.
Although the walk was very muddy in parts, there were plenty of birds to be seen - notably fieldfare and redwing of which we had great sightings. Standing watching small birds in a farmyard, a sparrowhawk flew right through our group in pursuit of something for dinner!
After a late lunch, the day was rounded off with a walk along Denhall Lane. The salt marsh was full of birds, and we had superb views of a peregrine sitting on a post, several snipe, plenty of wigeon, a little owl, and at least four short eared owls which came in very close in to the lane.
Field
Meeting to Penrhyn Bay and the Little Orme February 2004
A cloudless blue sky, brilliant sunshine and a bitterly cold wind coming straight
off the sea - thank goodness for waterproofs and thermals! A walk along the
shingle beach yielded a good selection of waders, including turnstone, oystercatcher,
lapwing, while groups of wigeon bobbed on the sea with hundreds of gulls,
and the occasional red breasted merganser and great crested grebe.
Two purple sandpipers were a nice sighting. A bracing climb onto the Little
Orme was rewarded by a peregrine, half a dozen fulmars, some shag, lots of
jackdaws and a pair of ravens. Stopping off at Pensarn and LLandulas on the
way home, a party of 12 snow buntings were on the beach - a lovely sighting
to round off the day.
Field
Meeting to Beeston - December 2003
The weather was kind - bright and not cold - and the sunshine encouraged the
birds to show themselves! A pair of peregrine falcons displayed over the Castle,
followed shortly afterwards by a pair of ravens, their plumage looking almost
purple in the sunlight.
The walk took us over farmland (small flock of redwings, and a large flock of assorted gulls - mainly common) to the River Gowey and Shropshire Union canal, which we crossed by the Shady Oak. Several mallard and two mute swans took great interest in our coffee break edibles but we were largely ignored by a dozen or so happy house sparrows, busy doing what house sparrows tend to do. Walking back up the lane, we had excellent views of fieldfare - their muted colouring standing out extremely well, and just as contrast, the small, energetic, and visually stunning grey wagtail, almost near enough to touch, its long tail never still.
Crossing back through fields and farmyard, the most amazing spectacle of starlings feeding alongside cows in an open barn! They were lined up on the railings, on the cow's heads and backs, and were so thick on the ground it was like a moving carpet, a magic carpet which every so often would take off and fly a circuit of the surrounding fields before settling back to feed. The farmer should be congratulated on his 'open door' policy but it's doubtful if the poor cows would agree.
Over 40 species in all - a great day out.
Derwent Water
Lunch break
Beeston with castle in background
Power Station, Connah's Quay
