The terns of Cemlyn

 On the top right of Anglesey is a lovely little reserve, Cemlyn Bay. It's not a big reserve, especially by RSPB standards, being one inland freshwater pool set back from a shingle bank. Run by the local Wildlife trist it is a hotspot though for nesting terns, with sandwich, common and arctic terns all nesting on the islands. It also attracts the rarer roseate tern, which occasionally nests here but mainly visits from its nesting grounds on offshore islands.

We visited twice on our holiday to Anglesey, the fist time with it blowing a right hoolie and the second a much calmer day. Judith spent the time painting the wild flowers whilst I camped out with my 'scope and camera trying to find the roseate tern! It was helped enormously by the very informative and friendly wardens who greet visitors and show them the birds.

As you can see, the islands are mainly artificial, covered in the middle with low vegetation in which the terns nest. The viewing is very good, you are partially sheltered behind the shingle bank and are at a large enough distance that there is no disturbance to the birds. 

As you stand watching them, there is a constant stream of mainly sandwich terns bringing food in to their youngsters. These were parked on what passes for a beach which was a hive of activity. One thing you cannot convey in a blog is the noise, and smell, of a seabird colony. Constant activity and always something to look at!

The fishing must be good offshore as they were bringing back very good sized prey items for their youngsters. Looking out to sea you could see the decommissioned nuclear reactor, as per Dungeness and Minsmere where the warm water brings in fish.

The birds were passing overhead as they came in to the islands, so close it could make tracking them hard, but another was always on its in!

The only disturbance to the colony came not from people but a pair of peregrine falcons which had taken up residence nearby. On the first day I was there one would come bombing across the colony every 20 minutes or so hoping to catch a bird. It seemed to be fairly successful. The first sign of it coming in was all the birds rising off the islands to try and confuse it.

If you were quick you could see the peregrine diving into them before it gets lost on the melee of whirling birds.

Finally, I did manage to find the rare roseate tern. It was tricky to get onto, spending a lot of time on a sandbar off the beach.

Eventually it did come onto the beach area where you could see it a bit better. Smaller than the other terns with an all-dark, slightly down-turned bill and  red-legs. It was also quite aggressive to the other birds around it! Fortunately between myself and the local volunteer we got quite a few other visitors and birder onto it before it flew back out into the bay.

It was the sandwich terns which were the stars though, feeding their ever-growing progeny.

 

Bodnant Gardens

 Continuing on our mini-tour of Anglesey and its surroundings we decided to pay a visit to Bodnant Gardens. This is actually off Angelsey and just inland from Llandudno. It is a national trust garden and unusually purely that, no mouldering ancestral pile attached to go round. We have been there before and is a very pleasant and not too large garden to go round. It is very busy though so we tried to leave early to get there before the crowds built up. This wasn't helped by a large cruise ship docking nearby and depositing lots of Chucks and Wilmers off their coaches.

It is basically a walk though formal, semi-formal and wild areas. The start is the famous laburnum arch which we have never been to when it is in flower so you have to imagine how glorious it would be with the clusters of flowers hanging down.

Interestingly you could still the ghosts of some visitors still inhabiting it nowadays!

After that there was a walk through a wild area with signs of earlier wild flowers. We had been here at the same time last year and many flowers were still out. The hot summer has really brought everything forward, which we also saw in the more formal gardens later with many flowers, especially the roses having gone over.

The garden then headed down towards a wetter area, with a stream flowing though a small valley with many hydrangeas along the edges. I learnt something here, that hydrangea means "Water vessel" and hence is one of those plants which act as indicator species for not having enough water and wilting.

It was quite hot so we stopped for some refreshments near a waterfall which I spent some time at playing with camera settings to freeze or move the water.

Finally we reached the more formal part of the garden, with the lily ponds and roses. Both had suffered in the heat and were no where near as splendid as the last time we visited. 

Next time we visit I think we will try and time it earlier in the year to get the better of the flowers. Still it was very enjoyable though I suspect the cruise ship passengers may have been a bit disappointed!

Anglesey sea zoo

After our visits to Yorkshire and Derbyshire we carried on westwards into Wales and to the island of Anglesey. This is the ancestral home of my brother-in-law Yoss and we have been there many times, mainly staying near Rhosneigr. This time we were a little bit along the coast at Trearddur Bay, a great place to stay with good accommodation and a few decent places to eat.

Our first day of excursions was quite local, firstly to the gallery of Oriel Mon to see the Tunnicliffe drawings (free!!). There was also a wild area outside the gallery filled with wild flowers including spotted orchids,

 and then to the Dingle to try and find red squirrels. We have had luck with them there before but this time they were a bit more elusive, possibly due to the fact there was a park-run happening.

This is a very popular area for seeing squirrels and many people feed them from lay-bys on the walkway. We were really lucky though as we bumped into Hue, the squirrel whisperer who is a legend around there and who invited us back to come and really see squirrels, but more of that later!!!

After lunch we decided to visit somewhere we had not been before, the Anglesey sea zoo. This is a small aquarium just over the bridge onto the island. We are not talking San Diego seaworld here but we went with an open mind and weren't disappointed!

It was mostly local sealife in a series of tanks, nothing too exotic but all clearly well looked after and displayed, starting off with some very large lobsters.

Next up were jellyfish, looking like extras from an alien movie. 

The tank they were in constantly rotated them round and round and the shapes were changing all the time. It was vey difficult to take photos as it was really dark in the tanks and with the movement I had to screw the ISO up to silly numbers. 

We were promised an octopus on the website, one of my personal favourite creatures due to their highly underrated intelligence, but this one was just curled up in a corner and looked sad!

After some sea urchins

there was a tank with young rays in it. These are incredible looking creatures, mainly if you see them from the "underneath" as the cling to the glass. They have a very human-looking expression, although this is totally anthropomorphic projection and they are not smiling!

Next door was a pair of cuttlefish who were very active. The larger male was doing impressions of an elephant and both were pulsating with colour and patterns over their skin.

When I was young I always thought of seahorses as being creatures of exotic coral reefs. I didn't realise that they also live along our coasts where they inhabit the plains of sea grass. They are amazing creatures to look at and seem to be very affectionate to one another, winding their tails together.

Finally we had a tank of big fish, sea bass and sea bream, circulating around in the largest tank.

If you are in the area then I would really recommend a visit here. Its only a short stop but very educational about the aquatic life around the Welsh coast. Next door is also the place where they make Anglesey sea salt!