Porth Dinllaen Diver

Firstly, apologies for the long delayed blog update. I may as well have hibernated during December and January which seems to be memorable for horrible wet weather, a nasty cold virus and a lack of serious birding apart from lots of garden observations and the odd trip here and there. Check my twitter account for more regular missives from the field.

Anyway, less excuses. Today started well with a fine Brambling at the garden feeding station plus 30+ Chaffinch.

This afternoon I met up with Eddie and had a walk out to Porth Dinllaen in what I can only describe as a WNW gale. Expressions like "sandblasted" came to mind although there's always some protection by one of the holiday cottages to scope the bay. The objective was to check for any storm-driven seabirds sheltering in the amazing natural harbour and we had some success. The highlight was a fine Great Northern Diver which was busy munching crabs in the style of last winter's Surf Scoter. A couple of Red-throated Divers were in the area plus a party of seven Great Crested Grebes which were roosting in a tight group. Many of these birds were moulting into breeding plumage.

Small parties of Guillemots were passing offshore (although no Little Auks were picked out) while two Ravens flew past the headland with one carrying what appeared to be a golf ball!

A small gull roost comprised a couple of hundred each of Common' & Black-headed' with the odd Herring Gull. A handful of Lesser Black-backed Gulls have been passing through Pwllheli in the last few weeks although the harbour has been relatively quiet otherwise. Roll on spring!