The path through the dunes South of Barkby Beach.
Continuation of the path through th dunes.
Birds song in the dunes.
There still seems a long way to go before escaping from the dunes.
Sea holly in the dunes.
A rather shy dune resident.
New developments at the Gronant Dunes viewpoint.
The Little tern colony, but no-one is at home!
The sounds of Little terns around the Gronant Little tern Colony.
More Skylarks singing in the area behind the Little tern visitor centre.
An orchid behinf Presthaven Sands.
A singing Reed bunting - Presthaven Sands.
Excalibur sails the Irish Sea.
Pount of Ayr lighthouse at high tide.
Three of the nineteen Little egrets on the marsh at Talacre.
A Mallard duckling going round in circles in the Prestayn Gutter.
And now there are three Mallard ducklings.
Walk stats: Distance 9. miles. Climb: 279'.
Time; 5 hours 34 minutes. on the move wealking average; 2.5 m.p.h. overall walk average; 1.7 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn.
Being on my own, I was able to make and earlier than usual start and had set off from Barkby Beach just before 09-00 a.m. It was rather overcast, but pleasantly warm with hardly any breeze. It was only as I approached the Point of Ayr lighthouse that I felt that I needed to put on my sunhat, but too lazy to stop and take it out of my rucksack.
Although it was a fairly high tide, I was still able to walk along the coast from Presthaven past the lighthouse to the Talacre.
One or two jellyfish were stranded on the shore.
Skylarks and Meadow pipits seemed to be everywhere and the Skylarks singing accompanied me all the way from Prestatyn to Presthaven Sands.
I spent about twenty minutes at the visitor hut at the Gronant Little tern colony, chatting to the volunteers on duty. The Little terns seemed to be everywhere (>300 counted so far this year so far), but none close enough to be photographed with my limited camera. Ringed plover were also seen in the protected area (protected by battery powered electric fences that are are also being charged by solar panels.
The surprise of the day was to find that the access to the Gronant Dunes Viewpoint was now accessible by wheelchair and a new shelter had been added at the end of the boardwalk across the marsh between the sand dunes.
I didn't quite make it to the Point of Ayr hide by lunch time, but stopped to have lunch on the first available picnic table by the path that heads towards the hide from Talacre.
As I was having my lunch i heard the characterisic bubbling noise made by Little egrets at their nesting sites coming from the trees nearby, then looked out towards the sea to see nineteen more Little egrets on the marsh.
The return route through the Warren proved many more chance to see flowers now in bloom, including : Orchids, Bird's foot trefoil, Sea campion, Red campion, Red clover, Common vetch, Rapeseed, Flag iris and Red Valerian, Buttercup and Daisy
Birds seen or heard today included: Little tern, Ringed plover, Great cormorant, Starling, Herring gull (including one nesting on the top of a caravan in Presthaven Sands), Lesser black-back gull, House sparrow, Skylark, Meadow pipit, Mallard, Blackbird, Stonehat, Sedge warbler, Reed bunting, Shelduck, Mute swan, Linnet, Black-billed magpie, Mallard, tufted duck, Common pheasant (m), Wheateae, Carrion crow, Jackdaw, Chiffchaff, Willow warbler, Rook, Barn swallow and Common whitethroat.
Some butterflies and moths were seen too, including: Peacock, Common blue, Small whites and a couple of moths.
Overall a very enjoyable walk, even if I couldn't identify all the flowers that I photographed.
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