Wednesday 17 June 2009 - No AFRICAN ROYAL TERN but plenty of sunburn! - 16/06/09
Tuesday 16th June 2009
AFRICAN ROYAL TERN dipped at Morfa Bychan, Gwynedd
I received a call from 'Mr Belvide' on Monday night. His first words to me were "Is your arse twitching?" "WHAT!?!" I replied. I hadn't looked at my pager all afternoon or evening so it was a complete shock when Steve announced that there was an AFRICAN ROYAL TERN in Wales. I hastily arranged to take Tuesday off as holiday. Amazingly another ASBO Birder - Steve 'Four-leafed Clover' Richards was currently on holiday in Porthmadog! Not surprisingly a phone call was received shortly afterwards from him to say that he and his missus were currently watching the bird roosting on the beach at Black Rock Sands. Jammy bleeder!
The alarm was set for 1.15am, Steve Nuttall was picked up from Wolverhampton at 2.30am and shortly after 5.00am we were lined up at Black Rock Sands ourselves. Unsurprisingly there was no sign of the bird as it would have been pushed off by the incoming tide during the early hours of the morning. Hopefully though it was fishing somewhere in Cardigan Bay, fingers were crossed. As we scanned the ocean, hundreds upon hundreds of Manx Shearwaters showed well streaming past. A nice surprise was an adult pale phase Pomarine Skua harrassing Gulls offshore. In addition there were around 6 Sandwich Terns, 2 Little Terns and numerous Northen Gannets having an early morning feed in the Bay.
Steve Nuttall scanning the Cambrian coastline for 'Royalty' at Black Rock Sands, Gwynedd
Fact of the Day: 8 of 10 birders prefer silver vehicles in which to twitch.
As the tide went out the bird sightings started to dry up with just an pale phase Arctic Skua heading down the estuary and a group of 6 Red-breasted Mergansers milling around offshore. It was at this stage that we decided to change locations. The AFRICAN ROYAL TERN had been reported briefly at a place called Abersoch around 15 miles further west during the previous two days. We had nothing to lose so we decided to give it a go.
AFRICAN ROYAL TERN dipped at Abersoch, Gwynedd
The picturesque former fishing village of Abersoch, Gwynedd.
We arrived at Abersoch just after 11.00am and it was here that we stayed until 6.30pm. Needless to say there was still no sign of the AFRICAN ROYAL TERN anywhere along the Lyn peninsula during this time. This location was , in fact there was no sign of anything much except a Peregrine drifting over. In order to occupy ourselves we went from enjoying scoped views of a frolicking pair of young lesbians on the beach to twitching fish species on the incoming tide.... Oh yes we were that desperate!
A Selection of Mischevious Photos..... apologies to those involved but I was beginning to get rather bored.... hopefully you'll see the humourous side!
Steve Nuttall enjoys a crafty 'power nap'. If you look carefully you may detect a slight 'tenting' of his Crag Hopper slacks! Was it the prospect of an AFRICAN ROYAL TERN dropping in or was it the hot, girl-on-girl action that he'd just witnessed that gave him the 'laziest of lob-ons'?
Times have been very difficult for Brian Harvey since the split of his 90's boy-band East 17. This photo was taken shortly after he physically assaulted a star-struck, young birder who was guilty of nothing more than enquiring how he'd managed to run himself over a few years ago. Hopefully Brian's new hobby of twitching will cure him of his anger issues and in the process slow down the visible signs of premature aging.
This young bird-spotter was that concerned about missing a fly-through AFRICAN ROYAL TERN that she opted to 'crimp one off' into a child's bucket rather than risk a quick trip to the toilet.
AFRICAN ROYAL TERN dipped (again) at Morfa Bychan, Gwynedd
After the fun of Abersoch, as well as the sun-stroke and the dehydration we decided to finish off the day back at Black Rock Sands. Would the bird come in to roost at this site like it did yesterday evening? Would it b*llocks! We left the area as the sun went down and I arrived home safely (thanks to vast quantities of Red Bull) at around 11.40pm. Despite the lack of MEGA rarity I had still enjoyed the day out in the sunshine.... it certainly beats slaving away in a sweaty office in Birmingham.
The 'Lean Mean Silver Twitching Machine' roosting on Black Rock Sands with the Snowdonia National Park in the distance.
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