The island of Anglesey, particularly the cliffs at South Stack RSPB reserve, is always worth a visit and the Birdwatching Group has frequently made a coach trip here. During the spring and summer months the cliffs are home to large colonies of breeding auks and seabirds while local specialities such as chough and peregrine also breed. So when I heard that the peregrines had nested right in front of the public viewing area I just had to go along to see for myself.
[click on a photo for a larger view]
It was mid May and a bright sunny morning when I set off. However as I drove up the approach road towards the reserve I could see a thick mist rolling over the top of the hill. Difficult to see in the photo, the eyrie is on a small grassy ledge in the bottom right.
Peregrine chick. It is not in the nest, that is off the photo to the right.
It is quite well developed and its adult feathers are coming through.
Some wing stretching.
A pair of chough were foraging on the cliff edge above the eyrie.
Probing in the soil.
Note the leg rings.
One of the adults, further along the cliff. Having a nibble at some food.
The chick is frequently calling for the parents.
More wing stretching.
A good view of the emerging feathers.
The adult is content to sit in the sun.
The chick is now in the full glare of the sun and pants a lot to keep cool.
Eventually one of the adults flew in to the nest.
The chick is begging for food.
However, the adult doesn't appear to have brought any food.
The adult poses at the nest. Click! and the job is done.
Back to wing stretching for the chick.
At least one adult was always present to keep an eye on the chick.
The chick is now sitting beside the nest. If you look carefully you can see an unhatched egg.
The view of South Stack cliffs now that the mist has gone.
Some of the crowd at the viewpoint.
The viewpoint from another angle. The cafe is in the background.
The auk colony.
Guillemots on the ledges.
Grey seals could be seen swimming past the cliffs.
Lesser black-backed gull. The adult peregrines occasionally had to chase them and herring gulls away from the eyrie.
The South Stack hillside.
Barn swallow sitting on the wire.
This badger was lying on the hillside. I don't think it was sunbathing, I think it was dead!
Magpies forage round the cafe area. They are not just black and white, look at the blue on the wings.
A more typical black and white view.
Cemlyn Bay, on way to the tern colony.
This pair of oystercatchers was in the field by the car park.
The feathers are being blown by the wind.
Red-breasted merganser. This is a male coming in to drab eclipse plummage. He has mostly lost his green head and red breast.
Time for a spot of bathing.
The sandwich terns also enjoy bathing.
Part of the sandwich tern colony. They seemed to prefer nesting in the long grass.
A sandwich tern. Note the shaggy crest, black bill with yellow tip, and black legs. It is the largest tern breeding here.
A common tern. Smaller, it has a red bill with black tip and red legs.
Common tern
A pair of common terns share a fish. Courtship and pair-bonding behaviour.
Looks like the male is getting some earache from the female! You can see the nest and eggs behind the right hand bird.
Arctic tern. Only a small number present. The bill is darker and lacks the black tip.
As well as the terns there is a large black-headed gull colony here as well. There were many large gull chicks present. I couldn't see any tern chicks. The terns were still on eggs or at the courtship stage. This is reasonable since the gulls are resident while the terns are summer visitors.