"The big one travels alone" they say, referring to the fact that very often
true megas don't arrive with flocks of other birds at peak migration times,
rather they're often alone, at unexpected times and often in unexpected
places. I could cite many examples of megas appearing long after migration
seems to have stopped, with June an exceptional month for this strange
occurrence. Cretzchmar's bunting, great knot and spectacled warbler are just a few birds that I can think of which I have seen in June
over the years, and there have been many others which I haven't bothered with. I can now add to that list western reef heron.
Last Saturday news broke that a western reef heron had been found at Foryd
Bay, just west of Caernarfon. It was a first for Britain and there was never
any doubt that I would go for it, especially with it being in North Wales, but there was just one problem - I was in Slovenia at the time! I didn't get
home until midnight on Monday and there was no chance of me going on
Tuesday, so I just had to hope and wait to see if it would stay. It was
still there on Tuesday evening so at 3:30 on Wednesday I was up and by 4:30
I was on the road.
I arrived at the hide at the Foryd Bay at 6:30 to find about 20 birders already
on site. Not exactly the huge crowd that I had expected but I suppose most
people who really wanted to see the bird would have already been, especially
since it had been found at midday on Saturday. At least it meant that the
anticipated parking problems did not materialise.
There had been no sightings up to that point so I had my breakfast and then
had a 30 minute nap in the car! Wake me up when you find it guys. By 8:30
there had still been no sightings and the first embers of doubt started to
creep into my mind. Had it gone? Surely I couldn't be that unlucky? Suddenly
there was a ping on my phone which woke me from my slumbers. A message
informing me that the bird was in the harbour at Caernarfon. Everybody
was now racing to their cars, a mass exodus from Foryd Bay was taking place!
Twelve minutes later we pulled on to a car park right alongside the castle
and even more conveniently right alongside the harbour. There was already a
group of 30 birders at the bottom of the car park peering through telescopes
and more were arriving by the second. We were out of the car almost before
the engine had stopped and joined the growing masses.
And there it was. A blue grey heron, about the same size as little egret, with
full breeding plumes, a white throat and a large bill. It was on the opposite
bank of the river about 100m away, with four little egrets and a couple of
grey herons. It was feeding actively on what looked like shrimps.
The bird was about the same size as little egret but with a heavier bill,
especially at the base. It had yellow feet, just like little egret. We watched it for an hour and then moved on. Anglesey
and South Stack were calling. We spent the rest of the day watching seabirds on
the cliffs and on the sea. A great day!
A really great looking bird and well worth the effort. This bird is thought to
be the West African race gularis. I've seen the species previously in
Kuwait and India where the race is schistacea.
Caernarfon castle, one of several built in Wales by Edward I in the 13th
century.
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