RSPB Conwy Saturday 11th December

This has been long overdue, in more ways than one, and add to that my pent up frustrations, so, as the weather looked dry, high tide was around midday plus a little, I made the early morning jaunt to Conwy.

Always good for the soul, no matter what I see, but it's rare I don't see anything......

My local reserves require boots due to the muddy conditions, which is normal. However, my right foot is still very swollen and my boots don't fit, at the moment. So wherever I went, it had to have solid mud and water freetrails, and Conwy certainly has that, and very wheelchair friendly ones as well. But I was walking, the only assistance was a stick, and my footwear, normal cheap trainers. They have a volunteer who manages to navigate the trails in a hand propelled wheelchair, so it is possible, though hard going.

After a steady drive on quietish motorways, even though two taxis had stacked themselves into the M6 through north Birmingham, central reservation barrier, and road conditions were good, dry, no ice, that didn't hamper the drive, nor did the snow on the A55 driving through Flintshire and Denbighshire, I arrived earlier than planned, which is never wasted time.

There is always the opportunity to walk the Afon Conwy estuary, and even more so at low tide (high tide as another 4 hours away), which it was, oyster catchers, curlew, red and green shanks, among many more, on the mudflats. Sadly, the light was too poor for any photos, it was overcast and just a little after sunrise, but the surrounding hills and Conwy Castle looked stunning.

I did however, see an oyster catcher with what looked like a muscle in its bill, and it seemed to be bashing it on a rock. I may be wrong, but it was very low light, far away, and though I tried to get a photo, the image was too dark on the 400mm with 2x extender, and too miniscule at 400mm to crop.

Those who know the area will know there are muscle banks a little furth sea bound just off the shore of Deganwy.

and looking down the Afon Conwy toward Creigiau Gleision

Checked in, caught up on the gossip, there had been sightings of a long tail duck on the Deep Lagoon, one on my tick list, with the empty tick box alongside, and then the wander around the reserve.

The first usable photos taken from the first viewing screen overlooking the Shallow Lagoon, were Mr & Mrs Gadwall, serenely gliding along the calm waters.

Then it was on to the Tal y fan hide, however, all the activity meant looking into the low morning sun, so I didn't stay long, but long enough to grasp what the activity would be like from the Carneddau Hide.

The ever present robin, hoping for food as I crossed the bridge over the pond, posing nicely for the camera, in hope of some food. It was more than happy to eat the suet pellets, though the pink ones seemed to be more appealing than the beige coloured ones...

and on the nearby bench just across the path, a dunnock dropped in, no doubt hoping to savour the suet pellets and seed....

From there, it was to the Carneddau Hide, and savour the views across the Deep Lagoon and surrounding area.

There had been some considerable landscaping undertaken since my last visit which was back in Easter. Infact I think that week I'd made three or four visits.

I tend to be open minded about landscaping, because it is often done with a plan to encourage certain species, and one species that had dropped in numbers over the years, were lapwings. The landscaping seemed to have brought them back, they seemed to be everywhere, while other species still seemed just as prevalent, taking into account the time of year.

Mr Shovelor, one of many, still fast asleep on the waters edge.....

The carrot bills were still very apparent.

This one was finding earth worms to devour....

One of the newer (well, new to me, I've never seen him before, but then there are quite a few I've still yet to meet) volunteers had entered the hide, and set up his scope, scouring the water, and he calmly said, "The long tail duck is over there, just in front of the Benarth Hide"

A quick reposition of the camera, and there it was, disappeared into the water!

Patience paid off, it resurfaced, many metres from where it had been spotted, only to dive again the moment the camera focused on it!

Then Percy came into play....

We'd sussed  out its diving and feeding path, so I pre-empted the focusing, and guess what?

Yes, it went elsewhere.

But I did manage to get some photos, many of the ring of water around where it dived, and a couple, although not very good ones, of it actually on the water surface.

This next photo is at 800mm and uncropped

I did a quick measure on Google Earth, and I estimate the distance between me and the long tail duck was around 200mtrs, and for a duck that is between 400-600mm long, i think considering the poor light conditions, the camera did well.

Patience and Percy are two very testing friends....

My old favourites, the Carneddau Ponies

Mrs Goosander taking a dive

and again, the opposite way....

The high tide was about an hour away and slowly the waders were flying in, starting with greenshank

Lapwings, and this one was quite close to the hide, more or less feeding where the carrot bill from earlier was feeding.

Around this point, Mrs PR phoned me to say the weather back home had taken a turn for the worse, and was snowing heavily, plus, the M54 had become snowbound and closed due to a major accident.

My plan was to leave around 15:00, but that had been thwarted, if the M54 was closed, the A5, the only other real option, would be very busy, so it was time to leave early, and not be too late back home, even though I had a flask of hot choccie and a quilted jacket for emergency purposes.

Just as I was about to pack up, this song thrush made an appearance

Then someone pointed out a snipe on one of the islands!

I did eventually pack away,  but not before a quick nip to the Tal y fan hide, and what did I see, another song thrush, possibly the same one from earlier, but closer

It is very rare I fully pack away my camera until I get back to the car, you just never know what or who you might see. But everything else is packed away, tripod, binocs etc.

And this poser was looking at me....

Though I had to leave early, it was just at high tide, the viewing angle of the hides (SWLY) and angle of the winter afternoon sunlight (also SWLY) isn't conducive to half decent photography, let alone rubbish photography, but the use of optics generally is usually good. Normally I would wander around to the viewing screens, there the sun would be more or less behind, but with the situation getting home, and the fact my leg was getting painful, it was time to leave.

But it was a good day, perfect therapy and the plus, albeit a frustrating plus, the M54 had literally just opened before I needed to turn on to the A5, and  back home, the snow had melted!

But it was a long overdue good day out irrespective and almost, not quite, fully recharged me.... 

I need another day out, soon, very soon....