Talacre's manned lighthouse?
Gronant Little tern colony.
Little terns, the birds of the day.
Heading for the lunch spot at Prestatyn.
On the rocks.
A posing Linnet.
View across the estuary from the site of the former RSPB hide.
Walk stats: Distance: 10.1 miles. Climb: 500'.
Time: 4 hours 24 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.8 m.p.h. Overall average: 2.3 m.p.h.
Group:Martyn, Phil, Sylvia and Dave J., Sue and Dave P.
The weather forecast suggested that me might have a couple of heavy showers, thankfully they were wrong and we only had a very short shower that in reality didn't justify the effort to put on waterproofs! In the main we had bright sunny spells with lots of blue skies.
The outward route followed the beach from Talacre, past the Lighthouse. It's always a treat to walk beside the sea, especially as the tide was on the way in (high tide at Point ofAyr was 11- 49). this was the wrong time of the year for waders, but it was delightful to hear and see so many Skylarks around the marshes and dunes. At Presthaven Sands Holiday Camp we were forced off the beach so that we could cross the Prestatyn Gutter and head for the Little tern colony view point. They didn't disappoint, as we saw over 100 on the beach beyond the protected area and at times they flew up en masse before settling down again. We also saw a few landing in the nest site area and a few over the sea and diving to catch fish.
Lunch was taken early, as we all agreed that overlooking the sea was the best option as the next stage took us through a golf course with no opportunities to picnic!
We arrived back at Talacre, amazed that we had had so little rain, two of us continued to the Point of Ayr RSPB hide site, whilst the others called it a day or went to a "coffee/tea shop".
Birds seen or heard today included: House sparrow, House martin, Barn swallow, Mallard, Skylark, Meadow pipit, Greenfinch, Moorhen, Common coot, Shellduck, Mute swan, curlew, Linnet, Black-headed gull, Herring gull, Lesser black-backed gull, Greater black-backed gull, Grey heron, Carion crow, Great cormorant, Oystrcatcher, Stonechat, Raven, Winter wren, Chaffinch, Sedge warbler, Reed warbler, Tufted duck, Jackdaw, Grasshopper warbler, Goldfinch, Common starling, Collared dove, Woodpigeon, Black-billed magpie, Blackbird, Dunnock and Pied wagtail.
Quite a few orchids were seen around the Gronant sand dunes, including Marsh orchid and Pyramidal orchid.
Quite a few orchids were seen around the Gronant sand dunes, including Marsh orchid and Pyramidal orchid.
After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Britannia Inn at Pentre Halkyn, where once more the Lees bitter was on form. As we left "Chelsea", one of the locals, kindly gave us some upto date Flintshire guides that included some walks in the locality. An interesting read, especially as the cricket test match from the Rose Bowl was rained off. Not all Chelsea fan are bad!
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