South Stacks, Angelsey

So last Sunday we set out from Jo's and headed abroad into Wales and overseas to Anglesey and even further overseas to Holy Island and South Stacks RSPB. The weather though was very dull and windy, which was a shame but at least it wasn't raining. We went to the RSPB tower first and had a chat with the volunteers only to learn that the thousands of Guillemots and Razorbills that had been there the day before had all gone out to sea! Leaving just the Kittiwakes and Fulmars behind, mind you both of those were firsts for the year. The screen in the visitor centre was showing a Chough nest hidden in the cliffs so hopes were high of seeing some around and we weren't disappointed, though the dull weather didn't help with any photos , but for the record:

The next good find was a peregrine, one of pair also nesting on the cliffs:

The Greater Black-backed Gulls were displaying well:

We wandered around a while and came across Swallow, Skylark, Wheatear and Stonechat all adding to our tally for the year:

So we will have to wait until one of our other trips for our Auk fix for the year. We left South Stacks and decided to call in to another RSPB reserve on the island, Valley Wetlands right next to RAF Valley, by now the weather was glorious, all be it, still a tad windy. This was our first visit and what a lovely place, although of course the majority of the winter waterfowl had long departed.

There were plenty of House Martin about, another year first, plus some Pochard:

 Tufted Duck:

 Great Crested Grebes:

 and Greylag

All in all a great day ended by a lovely walk plus a some aircraft too!