Day on the Dee

  Burton Marsh

 American Buff-Bellied Pipet

Burton Marsh Wetland Centre

 Great White Egret

 Chaffinch

 Little Egret

 The Great Orme from Conwy

Sunset at RSPB Conwy

The wife kindly bought me a day with Alan Davies (The Biggest Twitch) for Christmas so with an early start on the Sunday in Wales I decided to travel up on the Saturday via the Dee Estuary an area I have not visited before.

The weather appeared to very gloomy on the way up however within 15 minutes of my first destination Burton Marsh the sky cleared as forecast. I pulled up along side a local birder who was set up watching the marsh closely. Recognising I was not local he kindly marked my card to the lay out of the surrounding area.  I’d clearly parked in right place as there directly in front of me were two Hen Harriers roosting at a distance. Both Harriers took to flight and gave some great views. I’d only seen one Hen Harrier before and that was in Norfolk.

Next to catch the eye were 2 Merlin chasing and then catching a Meadow Pipit, the Pipet had no chance against these rapid raptors. 

I didn’t realise we were standing where the American Buff-Bellied Pipit had been seen over Christmas and again the previous day. There were hundreds of Pipets flying all around and they were landing just to our left. Then suddenly a very distinctive coloured Pipet showed on top of the silage. I couldn’t believe my eyes, I managed to get a few poor images and a tiny bit of video of the bird. The Pipet is a rare vagrant in the UK. A very lucky find indeed.  The marsh was full of wildfowl whilst the trees were full of Linnets and huge numbers of Pied Wagtails. I would have loved to see a Short-Eared Owl but sadly no luck.

Next stop was the Burton Mere Wetland Centre and Inner Marsh. This new RSPB visitor centre is a great centre for local birders. The staff were very friendly and the hides offered great viewing. They are currently working on a path to link up the two marshes. In the distance there were Whooper and Mute Swans grazing whilst the lagoon hosted Shelduck, Wigeon, Teal, Greylag, Lapwing and a flock of 100 Redshank. There was also a very strange Ringed Teal !  Another Merlin was sat up on a fence post contemplating an early lunch.

I then headed to the famous Parkgate scene of many high tide watches. As I passed the shops a flash of white caught my eye on the Marsh. Stopping instantly I set up the scope and located the Great White Egret which had been wintering locally. I then drove down to the Old Swimming Bath’s to park up. I thought a big twitch was on as the car park was packed, sadly it was just a pensioner group watching the Pied Wagtails ! Oh well.  2 Peregrines were terrorising the local wildfowl whilst the local hedgerows were full of Chaffinches, Linnets and Goldfinch. I checked out the field behind the car park to find a Common Buzzard, 3 Mistle Thrushes, Blackbirds, Redwing and Fieldfare. Curlews flew on and off the Marsh for the duration of my visit.

I then decided to head to Conwy to walk along one of my favourite beaches. Oystercatchers were feeding all along the shore line with good numbers of Curlew and Redshank. Two Great Crested Grebe were swimming just off shore.

Final stop of the day was RSPB Conwy. The Centre was suffering a power cut so sadly no afternoon tea and cake.  3 Scaup (1 Drake) caught the eye easily as there were few birds on the lakes. 30 Snipe were roosting on one of the islands.

As I turned onto the Estuary there was instantly more to scope. Dunlin, Oystercatcher, Curlew, Shelduck were all on display. I stood to watch 3 Little Egrets have a squabble near the path (still recovering from the storm) whilst a very tame Dunnock pecked around my feet. The final find of the day was four Red-breasted Merganser swimming towards the main Conwy bridge.

1 Lifer and 8 for Year List – Awesome day !