North Wales!

I arrived at my first birding location in North Wales - Esclusham Mountain in Denbighshire. This trig point marks its highest point of 457 meters above sea level. It was windy and cold, but the view was absolutely stunning.

Esclusham Mountain has a good population of Red Grouse which breed on its slopes every year. As soon as I got out of the car I could hear the males calling, uttering their strange, bubbling 'Goback, goback, goback' call all the time. 

As I walked along the footpath they would run out from the heather before flying up and away, dropping back down soon after. 

This female Red Grouse ran across my path, closely followed by a male. The females plumage is more speckled than the males, to aid camouflage when they are sitting on the nest. 

Like other species of grouse, Red Grouse have downy feathers on their legs, an adaption to help them live in cold environments.

During periods of snow coverage they will use their feet to dig through the snow to expose their food source, such as heather and berries.

As they are ground nesting, it was extremely important that I kept to the paths to reduce disturbance, and so help to protect these lovely birds.

Next stop was RSPB Conwy, a large wetland reserve with numerous scrapes and hides, only a few minutes away from the town of Conwy.

The highlight from the reserve was watching three displaying male Red-breasted Merganser (accompanied by two females) from one of the hides. You can see how windy it was as their crests are being blown in the opposite direction.

I can't really explain their display, so here's a video to show you what happened...

This was the first time I've seen Red-breasted Merganser displaying and to see them so close was brilliant.

During the winter you can often see them on the sea and by March will have moved inland to breed.

Moving location, this time to Llanddulas for a bit of sea-watching...be prepared for some poor quality record shots!

As I scanned out to sea, I saw a large flock of 300+ Common Scoter on the horizon, with a few Velvet Scoter mixed in with them too. They were all feeding a long way out, where they were only viewable with my 'scope, but these 4 Common Scoter flew closer, allowing me to get this photo.

(Not my own photo, taken from the web) 

I continued to scan the flock when I saw a flash of white and orange - a male Surf Scoter! It was very distant but I could clearly see its striking markings on its bill. 

I didn't manage to take a photo (the one above is taken from the web) as it was very hard to pinpoint among the waves, especially at the extreme distance. 

The Surf Scoter is a rare vagrant to the UK from North America and only a very small number are seen from British shores every year.

I also saw 6 of these Red-throated Diver. You can tell them from other similar diver species by their thin bill, which they usually hold tilted upwards. Most other species have a thicker bill which they usually hold straight forward. There are many other ways you can tell them apart though this can be the most accurate feature you can use at a long distance.

Other highlights species from this sea-watch were 25+ Great-crested Grebe, 7 Meadow Pipit coming off the sea from their migration, 4 Guillemot, 2 Red-breasted Merganser, 1 female Long-tailed Duck and 1 Gannet.

After having a great time at Llanddulas, I meandered along the North Wales Coast Path until I reached Colwyn Bay where I found another good spot to look out to sea. One of the first things I saw from here was a group of 42 Turnstone flying along the shoreline. 

This one stayed behind!

I was pleased to see this pair of Eider duck bobbing along quite close to the shore. The male is the black and white one and the female is the mottled brown one.

I crossed the Menai Straits, onto Anglesey and arrived at RSPB South Stacks. As soon as I stepped out of the car I saw Choughs, feeding in the car park! 

Since records began at South Stacks, there has always been breeding Chough but in the rest of the UK they have declined rapidly. They are doing well in their main strongholds of North Wales, Pembrokeshire, the Isle of Man and Cornwall. 

The RSPB have published a great page explaining their situation in more detail: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/chough/population-trends/.

Choughs are a member of the corvid family and are recognisable by their bright red bill, red legs and their distinctive 'chow, chow' call.

They're a little larger than a Jackdaw and have much longer 'fingers' from their primary feathers on the tips of their wings. 

Next stop on Anglesey was The Dingle (Nant-Y-Pandy) nature reserve, in Llangefni which has some stunning ancient woodland and a good sized population of Red Squirrels.

Grey Squirrels were completely eradicated on Anglesey by 2013, meaning its native population of Red Squirrels could flourish. 

Sometimes they were so close!

They were a joy to watch.

Back on the mainland, on my final walk up Conwy Mountain, bringing me to the end of my trip to North Wales!