Hared down the North Wales coast in the early hours today and got to Porth Meudwy Valley for about 8.15am, prior to taking the boat to Bardsey, in a vain attempt to connect with the Red Flanked Bluetail that was there yesterday.
Porth Meudwy was stacked with birds - Goldcrests, Redwings, Grey Wags, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Chough, Raven and Buzzard overhead, Bullfinch, Yellowhammer etc etc.
Best of all was a fine Yellow Browed Warbler I saw in the willows just below the gate at 8.30am.
The Lleyn peninsula itself had good nos of Wheatear, pipits, Stonechats as I drove down.
Colin Evans the boatman turned up at about 10.45am, and by then I knew the Bluetail hadn't been seen, but what the hell, I've never been to Bardsey, so off we went with 6 other desperate souls.
Evans the boat razzed across the sound to the island in his spiffing yellow launch (two 160 hp engines mean it goes very fast) - very exciting, and had us on the island by noon.
Lotsa Meadow Pipits, Robins and Stonechat, Chaffinches, and Chough probing the turf, but no sign of the Bluetail (boo hoo), despite the patient ministrations of the warden ("it was right here last night, but elusive")
Watched the garden it had been in for an hour or so, getting distracted by hunting Merlin, some Little Gulls offshore, Chiffies and at least two Spotted Flycatchers.
Wandered off to the plantation, where I got brief views of a Firecrest, and very good views of my second Yellow Browed Warbler of the day.
But they weren't Bluetails.
Red Admirals and Small Tortoiseshell flitting about.
But they weren't Bluetails.
By 2.30pm I walked back to the jetty for the ride back to the mainland, with Turnstone and Rock Pipit in the bay.
But they weren't Bluetails.
Great to visit a new island all the same, and pretty straightforward (the boat takes about 15 minutes and you only have to do a teeny bit of wave jumping into the dinghy at Porth Meudwy....) may visit again someday.
They say Bardsey is the burial place of 20,000 saints, but none of them lifted an esoteric finger to help the twitch today.
You can't win 'em all.
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies....
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ron jackson wrote...
I'm off to Bardsey on the 20th for a week. First visit since 1991. I remember seeing you and Tony Duckels et al waiting near Port Meudwy , you were a pimply school brat I think, when we got blown off and you lot dashed down to Norfolk ( from where I've just returned, see later) and I went back to Southport and got over later (you missed nowt by the way).
Worth a week ( or more or less depending on weather) of anyone's time. Cheap too. See bbfo.org .co uk on the web (or stick BBFO in Google).
No twitch facilities in those days, absolute pot luck once one got over, a major attraction for some of us,
Ron
Posted by: ron jackson | October 3, 2007 8:19 AM