Birding near Caernarfon

I spent the day twitching with Jenny Potts along the coast to the southwest of Caernarfon where tidal marshes almost close the Menai Straits. Due to an extra-high high tide and high winds from the southwest, the bay on the mainland where the tidal marshes are was full to overflowing and Jenny said that she'd never seen the water so high.

We stopped at several places along the water's edge as we worked our way around the bay to where most of the birds were sheltering from the high winds. By early afternoon, the water level had finally begun to drop and we were able to sneak along the top of a dyke behind bushes to check out the birds, mostly waders and ducks.

By the time we worked our way back around the bay to where we'd started in the morning we had 33 species and 31 species respectively as Jenny had missed a Pied Wagtail and Rook earlier because she was driving. Luckily we picked those up as we headed back to Caernarfon and the castle.

Birds seen: Sandpiper, Pied Wagtail, Curlew, Oyster Catcher, Cormorant, Carrion Crow, Starling, Black Headed Gull, Robin, Mute Swan, Golden-Eyed Duck, Great Black Backed Gull, Egret, Shelduck, Buzzard, Wren, Jackdaw, Redshank, Brent Goose, Herring Gull, Magpie, Rook, Blackbird, Red Breasted Merganser, Pintail Duck, Widgeon, Black Necked Grebe, Green Plover, Turnstone, Knot, Great-Crested Grebe, Mallard and Chaffinch.