Wales Weekend - 26th - 28th May 2023

Jayne and I had a few days on Anglesey this weekend. We stopped in Treaddur Bay and visited a few well known spots and one new one.

Our first stop was the National Trust's Bodnant Garden, where we enjoyed a lovely walk around, including the beautiful Laburnum Arch, and spotted a few insects - Beautiful Demoiselle (male and female), Common Blue, Large Red and Azure Damselfly. We also spotted a Grey Wagtail feeding recently fledged young - with Large Red Damselflies!!

Beautiful Demoiselle (female)

Beautiful Demoiselle (male)

The following day, we popped into Holyhead Harbour to catch up with Black Guillemot, before heading off to RSPB South Stack. We had a wonderful couple of hours here, in bright sunshine, and spotted: Razorbill, Guillemot, Herring Gull, Fulmar, Linnet, Stonechat, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Hooded Crow, Raven, Peregrine Falcon, Chough, Small Heath, Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Wall Brown and Common Blue Butterfly.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Our final stop of day two was the North Wales Wildlife Trust's Cemlyn Lagoons, where we saw Common, Arctic and Sandwich Terns, as well as Black-headed Gulls and Oystercatcher. 

On our final day we visited  the National Trust's Plas Newydd site, in search of Red Squirrels. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to see any this time, but we did enjoy a lovely walk around the grounds and house.

Year List update: Black Guillemot (164), Sandwich Tern (165) and Arctic Tern (166).

North Wales Weekend

The title of this post isn't quite correct, as I didn't spend the weekend in Wales, but I did have a couple of days over the Bank Holiday there with Jayne. We were based in Llandudno and had a visit to RSPB South Stack to try and catch up with a few "year ticks".

South Stack lighthouse

The "year ticks" in question were Puffin (2 seen on the water), Chough (2 seen flying around the cliffs) and Black Guillemot (1 seen in the Old Harbour in Holyhead). Other species seen included Raven, Guillemot, Razorbill, Herring Gull, Jackdaw and Linnet.

Along with the birds we were also lucky enough to see several insects, including a "lifer". The first insect we saw was Wall Brown (a minimum of 4 individuals) feeding along the cliff tops. We also spotted a Painted Lady, a Drinker moth caterpillar, a Green Tiger Beetle and, best of all, a Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (a new species!!).

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Year List update:
149 - Puffin
150 - Chough
151 - Black Guillemot