Grey Seals, Bullfinches, Fulmars and Stonechats - my first visit to Angel Bay in north Wales

I'm currently visiting my family in north Wales and as we didn't manage to get out yesterday thanks to Storm Doris, today we went to a beautiful place called Angel Bay at the Little Orme, which is also on the Wales Coastal Path.

 

There were some beautiful views.......

 

 

We were incredibly lucky with the weather and we all enjoyed the fresh air....

 

 

The inlet that is Angel Bay is a base for Grey Seals. We were very lucky to find several females with their growing pups. These pups would have been born at the end of last year. The mothers only feed the pups for the first three weeks of their life, and after that the youngsters fend for themselves but still come ashore to doze with the mother, who by this time are probably already pregnant again.

 

 

I was also lucky enough to spot my 'bogey' bird - the Bullfinch ! I rarely see one where I live, and when I have seen them, I can never get a decent photo. So I was pretty chuffed to spot a stunning male in the scrub today. Not so chuffed with the only few pictures I managed to grab, but that's nothing new.......

 

 

The tall cliffs of the Little Orme are home to many seabirds and the most prolific that we could see today were the Fulmars.

If weather conditions are good these birds will start nesting as early as January.

Today we spotted several birds on cliff ledges.

 

My cousin Dave managed to walk to the top of the cliffs and grabbed a phone photo.....obviously taking great care not to disturb the birds....and I got to practise taking photos of flying birds.......

 

photo by Dave Marks

 

Obviously with all the scrub there were plenty of Stonechats to observe topping on their favoured perches.

 

 

All in all it was a great day out.

Even young Jack enjoyed seeing the seals and posing for photos

 

 

Beautiful place to visit and one that I would definitely visit again.

 

 

 

 

 

Wagtails, Honeybees and signs of spring at Cranford Park

For once the predicted weather forecast was correct. The morning was overcast and cloudy and the afternoon was mild with lots of sunshine. I was hoping that the mild sunny weather would mean my first hoverflies of the year but sadly no, but I did see my first Honeybee and Bumblebee of the year.

 

The crocuses are out. Not a huge spread but there are still some in bud.....

 

The snowdrops in St Dunstans also don't have quite the same sized spread as in previous years, but they're still putting on a nice show....

 



 

The catkins are out, always a sign of spring for me.....

 

and in the copse within the Memorial Garden the first daffodils have pushed through.....

 

There were plenty of Grey Squirrels around today.

 The mild weather meant food was fairly abundant for them......

 

 

Out on the Headland area as the overcast weather cleared and the sun tried to break through the clouds, this Kestrel was just visible as a silhouette.....

 

In Cranford Woods the air was alive with Goldcrests calling. Nearly every evergreen tree had at least two birds in it, sometimes three or four. I always struggle to get photos of Britain's tiniest bird, and today was no exception. The only two images I got below were the back of a female looking towards an out of focus male (with the raised orange crest).....

 

 

and a dodgy sideway shot of another male with his crest raised..... 

 

It's the season where these birds start to pair up and chase rivals away, hence all the noise and raised crests.

 

Whilst I was taking photos of some more snowdrops, a huge bumblebee settled on one......

 

 

but I only managed two more photos before it flew off.....

 

It's a Tree bumblebee and a very welcome sight.

 

Around the Stable Blocks I found a Grey Wagtail. I love Wagtails anyway and often watch the Pied ones on my way to work.

This is only the fourth time I've seen a Grey Wagtail at Cranford Park though, and the last three times I've seen them in the same area - around the Stable Block. Anyway I was able to tuck myself behind the hedges so managed to get some lovely views of this delightful little bird and I wont apologise for the complete photo overload........

 

 

Also at the Stable Block the honeybee hive which started last summer was active again......

 

 

 

and the bees were feeding on the early flowering spring flowers.....

 

 

On the edge of the woods there is a large old oak, and by the base of the trunk I spotted something that looked odd........

 

It was actually a good sixed, but fragile, old honeycomb.......

 

Instinctively I looked up to see if it could have fallen out of a nearby hollow and found another honeybee hive at least 20' up the trunk......

 

The usual wild hive in the ivy in the Secret Garden was also active today, so that's at least three wild hives we have at the moment and all situated very close together.