Llanddulas

With the naked eye you would think that there was hardly a bird on the sea, but that couldn't be further from the truth. On Tuesday I said that there must be 10,000 Common Scoter, but today a fellow birder put it at around 40,000. I'll go with 20,000, but whatever the actual figure, it's an awesome spectacle, yet one which very few people outside the birding community know even exists. Just look out towards the wind farm, the sea is black with ducks.

I started out at the beach car park and then drove up to the more recognised viewing spot at Llysfaen Station Road which is slightly further away from the flock, but higher up and offering much better views. Most of the birds are on the water, but the flock is constantly active, with many small groups of 100 or so scoter flying around all of the time. Then in one of the greatest birding sights I have ever experienced, a huge group took to the the air, maybe 5000 birds, they flew low over the water, circled round a few times and then landed again. As they flew the bright afternoon sunlight picked out at least 10 birds with white wing bars which contrasted sharply with the birds jet black plumage - Velvet Scoter. Still no sign of any Surf Scoter, but it's hard to be disappointed with a spectacle like this!

Also on the sea today, at least 10 Red-throated Divers.