North Staffordshire's elite birding team were resting on Saturday 7th July, as during the afternoon it was England v Sweden in the World Cup quarter finals. As always during these long hot summer months, we never took our eye off the pagers, and news came through from Anglesey that the summering SNOWY OWL had been refound.
Along with the Shropshire LITTLE BITTERN, we discussed a potentially decent days birding on the Sunday, but I did point out that the SNOWY OWL didn't normally stay in the same place overnight. I made the suggestion that we could pop up after the kick off. I agreed to drive, and after picking up The Stalker and Lord Lichfield, we headed off to Anglesey. We arrived at South Stack at 1930hrs and it was still baking hot. A short walk to the moors and there was a small band of birding brothers watching a hot Snowy Owl roosting.
We stood for an hour or more watching her, until she flew down onto the valley floor. A quick sea watch off the cliffs saw a few Manxies fly past plus a single Puffin and we stood and watched the sun go down to end a fantastic evening trip.
The only other trip of note recently was to Kilnsea Wetlands to see the fine Squacco Heron. Our colleague Grizz kindly stayed overnight and waited for me to arrive and even saved me a parking space. Now thats commitment for you.
