Fortunate to be staying close by and rewarded with great views of Squacco Heron this afternoon.This was on pond at St Marys Touring Park close to Big Pool Wood.Sad to say bird flushed once again this afternoon by camera brigade and flew to nearby ditches out of sight.

Late afternoon yesterday a report of a rarity in North Wales came through a bit too late for me to comtemplate going, so I waited until this morning and news was positive so off I went!

My destination was a new location for me, Big Pool Wood North Wales Wildlife Trust Reserve just E.of Gronant in Flintshire. Parking here is roadside and limited, but by parking a bit further away it's only a short walk. I was lucky in that a birder was leaving and I parked right by the entrance track marked by a wooden signpost, easy to miss. I headed down the track by some horse paddocks and then through a kissing gate by a metal gate, then straight ahead through another wooden gate into the reserve proper. Taking the boardwalk left past the first screen you come to a hide. Here the pool can be viewed from the boardwalk and there right out in the open on the reedy edge of the pool was my quarry - a Squacco Heron.

The bird could be viewed from quite a length of boardwalk and there weren't too many birders there so it was comfortable viewing, albeit requiring a bit of peeking through gaps in the willows to see the bird clearly at times! By extending my tripod to over 6 feet high and taking advantage of having a straight scope I was able to grab some digiscoped shots of the bird (attached). Again this was a test of my new (2nd hand) Swaro STS65 scope for digiscoping and it seems to be doing the biz After watching the bird for an hour or so I decided to head off birding elsewhere and walked back to my car, only to discover that 2mins after I left the Squacco flew off the pool and inland to later be found on a pool at a nearby caravan site. A mate of mine arrived there just as it flew into a tree and then flew off over a field and seemed to drop into a weedy ditch out of view (he was very unlucky!). The bird had been feeding voraciously whilst I watched it so I have no doubt that it will return. I think mornings are best, so watch out for news if you fancy seeing this bird.

Also in front of the hide was a feeder which was swarming with Long-tailed Tits as well as Blue and Great Tits. This seems like a cracking little reserve, well done to the local patchers who found the Squacco and got the news out for others to enjoy.

 

A most comprehensive and interesting report on a challenging 2020 breeding season for Little Tern at Gronant can be found here.

https://www.brnw.cymru/post/gronant-little-tern-report-2020

Cheers,

Bill.

Ta Sid, great to have some good news, bodes well for the future of the colony

As travel restrictions to Wales had been lifeted I decided on a morning by the caost to lift my spirits. So off to Gronant early doors (glad I did coz traffic queues going west were horrendous as I travelled home!).

Looks like a good year at the Little Tern colony, lots of adults flying in and out feeding and bringing food back. I kept my distance but still dismayed to see dog walkers going right up to the fences by the colony, they were just too close Nice Stonechats in the dunes, female and young seen. Lots of Linnets and a few Meadow Pipits, Reed Warblers singing too. 

1-2.30pm:

93 occupied Little Tern nests although some destroyed by high tides last  few days according to the wardens.

Also 30 Sandwich Tern, 7 Ringed Plover, 4 Sedge Warbler, 2 Reed Warbler, Reed Bunting, 7 Skylark, 6 Linnet. 

Weds 27th July.

With Ian Lyth.

c 27 Little Tern .... flying and landing on the shoreline.

Roger.

A fascinating and informative meeting was held on the evening of Friday 22nd August at the Scala Cinema in Prestatyn. This included a series of presentations by various guest speakers representing many interested parties looking after the welfare and monitoring of the Little Tern colony at Gronant. Speakers Adrian, Alec, David, Leah & Andy all spoke very enthusiastically and knowledgably about their particular aspect of the colony. Some points (which I sincerely hope I re-present here accurately but in no particular order) were as follows: - in 2014 - 128 pairs produced 212 nests containing 477 eggs and provided a total of 77 fledglings. Estimating the number of fledglings is not as easy as it may seem and the total given was, with refreshing honesty, described as a "best guess". Counting the number of fledglings seen down amongst flocks on the beach is the method used but this is made more difficult, firstly by adults moving their young away from their nest sites quickly and also dispersing quite widely and secondly by possible influxes from other breeding colonies. It was generally considered to be a moderate breeding season.

The nesting habitat can change year on year and this year a tidal surge in February reconfigured the beach. If I understood correctly, apparently the colony is slowly moving eastwards and whilst currently in Denbighshire may eventually end up in neighbouring Flintshire! This winter's surge may be beneficial in the long-term but this year the new alignment of the shingle resulted in many pairs nesting in areas that could not practically be protected by fencing and this resulted in large losses (c50 nests) to foxes. Other actual or possible predators seen included Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Carrion Crow, Hedgehog, with some mustelids and rodents too. Other than the February surge the impact of tides this year was considered minimal. Wardens & volunteers have a massive influence on the success and future of the colony and 643 volunteer hours was statistically shown to have an effect in the reduction of Kestrel predation. Interestingly, I understand that Little Terns have shown a recent interest in an area near Rhyl Harbour. For anyone familiar with the area this I understand is now the fenced off shingle covered area on the seaward side of the bike hire shop next to the newish Pont Y Ddraig bridge at the harbour entrance. This too will be need volunteer effort to ensure its success. Some of the fencing currently used at Gronant will be used at this new site in 2015, with new fencing being purchased for Gronant.

Professor David Norman spoke on many years ringing at the site and on how some birds at Gronant had been sighted at the most southerly locations ever recorded for Little Tern in Guinea-Bissau and Senegal in West Africa during our winter months. He understandably lamented the loss of 7 other Little Tern colonies in North and West Wales in recent decades, along with many colonies just across the Irish Sea on the east coast of Ireland. Whilst the colony at Gronant has grown substantially (15 pairs in 1975) in recent decades, never has the old proverb of not putting all your eggs in one basket rang truer? He indicated that it would be far better for the welfare of the species itself to have 6 colonies of 20 pairs each, rather than the one colony at Gronant holding 120+ pairs. He also marvelled at the astonishing speed that nestling Little Terns grow; at peak times adding 15 -20% of their actual weight on a daily basis! This is amongst the fastest growth rate for all non-passerines. Young can fledge after 16 days and obviously the less time they spend flightless on the ground the greater likelihood of recruiting any young into the adult population. Dr Leah Williams followed, speaking on the current colour coding ringing projects for Little Terns across the UK. With what is thought to be less than 2,000 breeding pairs in the UK there is still plenty we dont know about this species and ringing at the 29 colonies included in this EU Life and Nature Little Tern Recovery Project should hopefully increase our knowledge and to help aid in the recovery of this species.

Finally, whilst the colony has grown substantially in recent times, overall productivity for the last five years has been on the decline and is an obvious cause for concern. The Recovery Project and the funding associated with it hopes to address these concerns. Some aspects of nature that effect productivity (high tides and wind storms that bury eggs and nestlings at the colony) cant be controlled but the evening just highlighted the fact that many individuals and organisations are making fantastic efforts to manage and control what they can at this site for the benefit of Little Terns.

I hope this summary is of some interest to those GM birders already familiar with this really lovely site and for those who haven't yet visited hopefully whets the appetite for a trip over sometime during the 2015 breeding season.

Cheers,

Bill.

Thank you for the information john and simon, im working around that area next week so hopefully will be able to get down and explore

Cheers scott

This is the postcode of the car park
LL19 9ST
from the car park go over the railway bridge turn left and follow the signs to the shore lookout point.
:)

Thanks Bill for the links will take a look when I get home.i just thought it strange that 2 visits to the breeding site at this time of year I Would have expected to see more than 1 flying juv if they had fledged a lot of young, also Dennis Atherton did 5 hours on Sunday and didn,t see a juv, so the only conclusion can be that they move them to some other area. I noticed on the link 63 fledglings have been counted, so that's great, I must have just missed the area they were in Cheers john
:)

-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Wednesday 16th of July 2014 04:58:25 PM

14.07.2014
Little Terns- I am not sure how successful they have been this year as after 2 visits, I have only seen Few Juv and yesterday the volunteer wardens were going through the site with buckets picking things possibly none hatching eggs from the nest site? so presumably all the nesting is finished, there were about 100 adults but very few Juv, I hope im wrong ,but where do all the Juvs disappear to?
Sanderling -1 in part breeding plumage
Dunlin-c30

Went over to have a look at the Little Terns this afternoon, couldn't believe that it was 3 years since I was last there.

Great to see the colony so active with 130 + successful breeding pairs according to one of the wardens. There were certainly plenty of chicks moving around, seen through the scope.

100+ Little Terns feeding close to shore at high tide today.
Good numbers of Ringed Plover also, small groups of Sandwich Tern flying pass and a Grey Seal bottling close in too.

11:00 -- 13:00
High tide 09:30

Little Terns - >250. They are back in force. Very busy establishing pairs. Each male had a sand eel in its bill and was trying to entice a female. No other terns seen.
Great Black-backed Gull - 6
Herring Gulls
Sanderling - 50 (single flock)
Ringed Plovers
Dunlins
Oystercatchers
Cormorants - 100 (bunched together on the point)
Linnet - 1
Stonechat - 1
LittleEgret - 1
Shelduck - 1
Skylark - 1

There was a Lapland Bunting by the observation platform just past the Gray Phal. site this afternoon. Initially it was in a flat area in the dunes 100yds east of the platform. Later, when I looked for it with other birders, it flushed 70yds south of this spot, not far from where the ditch ends. We lost it against the sun and couldn't relocate it.

Speculative Trip over to Gronant hoping to see the Grey Phalarope reported yesterday
Which didn't disappoint, quite elusive initially staying out of view close to reeds, just ripples in the water giving away it's location,but after an hour so it started to venture out into the open water spinning and feeding constantly.
The bird can be found on the lagoon just before the little tern colony.

10.30 - 12.00 warm and sunny

Little Tern c200, Talking to the wardens that oversee the site there are 114 nests within the protected fenced off area.
Ringed Plover 6 +2 chicks
Oystercatcher 12
Dunlin 3
Reed Bunting 3
Skylark 3
Meadow Pipit 5
Song Thrush

Had a trip over to Gronant today with John Barber who had not seen the Little Tern colony previously. There are reported to be 300+ birds in the area - we counted 140 on the beach at high tide. Also present several Ringed Plover and 6 Dunlin. A pleasant couple of hours in the sunshine.

A quick visit this morning after staying overnight at my parents holiday home at Talacre Beach:

100+ Little Terns at the fenced off area (1st day of chicks hatching according to the wardens)
3 Sandwich Terns
1 Grasshopper Warbler
2 Sedge Warblers
2 Reed Buntings
8 Dunlin
2 Gannets
20+ Oystercatchers





-- Edited by Phil Owen on Monday 14th of June 2010 12:22:57 AM

100's little terns yesterday at Gronant plus abut 12 Sandwich terns