On Saturday, 6th June, news broke of a Western Reef Heron in Caernarfon, North Wales. A first record for Britain!
There are two distinct morphs: dark, which is dark grey with a white chin and throat; and a white morph, which can easily be confused with a Little Egret. Best separated by bill colour and structure. Western Reef Heron is common across large parts of coastal West Africa, including parts of southwest Asia and Madagascar.
Unfortunately, we weren't in a position to just drop everything and go. In fact, there was very little chance of an opening until Friday; we briefly considered making the trip Tuesday afternoon, but I had to be home Wednesday morning, so it wouldn't allow for a stopover if we were unsuccessful in connecting with the bird. We kept checking the news services throughout Wednesday and Thursday, and when the bird was still present Thursday evening, we made plans for an early morning start this morning. We set off at 2am with 282 miles ahead of us.
After a brief stop for coffee, we arrived at the small pull-in by the hide overlooking Foryd Bay shortly before 7am, and luckily there was room to park. There's a small group of birders already present, and most are Essex and Herts birders! They had already seen the heron before we arrived, but it had since disappeared with the incoming tide and hadn't been seen since.
I scanned the bay and found the heron in the eastern corner almost immediately. After letting the others know, we walked back along the road and managed to get much closer views of the bird.
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| The eastern corner where the heron was found |
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| Western Reef Heron |
We watched the bird for two hours, until it flew out onto the marshland among the oystercatchers and Curlews. This was our cue to head further northwest and visit South Stack. As we left the car, we could hear Choughs calling overhead. One unfortunately had a broken leg. The cliffs around the lighthouse had thousands of Guillemots and hundreds of Razorbills, but Puffins were proving much more of a challenge. Eventually, after an extensive search, we found two birds. Brian picked out several Manx shearwaters, and I managed to add a single Shag that was drifting on the water among the Guillemots. Ravens were also present and very vocal as they flew overhead.
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| Chough |
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| South Stack Lighthouse |
Heading east, we stopped at Holyhead Fish Quay, and quickly added Black Guillemot to the day total and year list.
The National Trust site at Cemlyn was our next destination, which holds the largest Sandwich Tern colony in Wales. Among the masses of Sandwich Terns were Large numbers of Common Terns and smaller numbers of Arctic Terns. Further scans revealed single figures of Mediterranean Gulls.
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| Cemlyn Bay |
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| One of the two tern islands |
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| Common and Arctic Terns |
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| Sandwich Tern |
I ended the day with a new addition to my life list and nine year ticks.
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