Rhuddlan, Glan Morfa, and Brickfield Pond NR 16th November 2020

Rhuddlan, Glan Morfa, and Brickfield Pond NR.

The sky at breakfast time this morning.

Rhuddlan Castle from the footbridge over the Afon Clwyd.

A Rook  - a first time appearance on my blog.

Teal on the Afon Clwyd.

A Goosander and Common Coot on Brickfield Pool.

A Great crested grebe on Brickfield Pool.

Common coot on Brickfield Pool.

Mute swans on Brickfield Pool.

Blue tit and Long tailed tit near Ysgol Rhos Helyg, Rhyl.

A Common kestrel - it is there somewhere!

Distance: 7.0 miles. Climb: 273' (seems a litle high, but it was windy at times).
Time: 3 hours 1 minute. On the move walking average: 2.8 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 2.3 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn.

I usually go bird watching on Mondays and walk on Wednesdays, but the forecast for today was better, so I decided to walk today on a route where I had a good chance of seeing a good number of birds as well.
Birds seen ot heard today included: Great spotted woodpecker, Common buzzard, Common kestrel, Black headed gull, Herring gull. Eurasian curlew, Back billed magpie, Lesser black back gull, Great black back gull, Grey heron, Little egret, Shelduck, Teal, Mallard, Wigeon, Great cormorant, Common redshank, Meadow pipit, Rook, Carrion crow, Common starling, Common coot, Mute swan, Moorhen, Tufted duck, Goosander, Tufted duck, Great crested grebe, Lapwing, European robin, Goldfinch, Blue tit, Great tit, Long tailed tit, Dunnock. Greylag goose, Canada goose and Feral pigeon.

In the main, the weather was dry, but with a cool wind, I had no chance of overheating, even with a lightweight fleece on. The rain forecast for the evening, actually arrived early and the last half an hour of my walk was in very light rain.

By the time I set off, it was nearly the time when the tide was at its highest and the Afon Clwyd was so high it had swamped its usual banks and had spread right up to the flood embankments on both sides od the river.

This high 10 m / 30' tide had forced most of the birds to move off the river to surrounding higher ground. Greylag geese were present in huge numbers and Eurasian curlew were in good numbers as well.  Brickfield Pool NR at this time of the year never disappoints with Great crested grebes, Goosanders and Mute swans being the stars,

By the time I was on the riverside path on my return journey, the tide had withdraw sufficiently for lots of the birds to return to the river and start feeding on the exposed river mud and the leave the banks littered with all sots of debris

Overall an enjoyable walk along the river and capped off later with an excellent pint of Lees bitter at the Brit at Halkyn.