GO BIRDING
FLINTSHIRE
A sandy headland at the very north-east of Wales
MAX MILES ON FOOT: 3 MIN TIME: 3 HOURS
Here, the mighty Dee Estuary, an estuary of sandbanks and channels up to six miles wide, meets Liverpool Bay. Look one way and watch estuary birds, or turn your back to search for passing seabirds, most numerous after sustained north-westerly winds. Some 450 acres is an RSPB reserve by agreement with Dwr Cymru (Welsh Water) and the Dee Wildfowlers’ Club. Little Terns have nested here since 2015, the only colony in Wales save for that at Gronant a short distance west, where 212 pairs nested this year (raising 155 fledglings), about 10% of the British population protected from ground predators by nearly three miles of electric fencing.
WHERE TO WATCH
1 This year, 30 pairs of Little Terns were present, with 16 young fledged from 12 nests being joined in August by those from Gronant, followed by a 3,400-mile migration to winter on the coasts of Mauritania, Senegal and The Gambia. A nestling ringed in 1993 was re-sighted here in 2019: at 26 years, the oldest known Little Tern. Up to 500 Little Terns may be present until mid-September, now joined by up to 3,000 Arctic and Common Terns and several hundred Sandwich Terns, some remaining until early October
2 Having checked the tide tables and weather forecast, especially the wind direction, ideally a strong westerly or north-west wind, arrive at dawn throughout late summer and into autumn, with the reward spectacular movements of seabirds recently pushed into Liverpool Bay. Fulmars, Manx Shearwaters, Gannets and Kittiwakes are most numerous, but sightings of Leach’s Petrel, Grey Phalarope, Sabine’s Gull and all four skuas may bring that extra bit of excitement.
3 The Dee Estuary, renowned as one of the most important areas in Western Europe for wetland birds, holds up to 30,000 ducks and 100,000 waders in winter, at key locations along both English and Welsh shores, including Point of Ayr, where up to 20,000 gather. Oystercatchers, Dunlins and Redshanks are most numerous with smaller numbers of Sanderling, Knot, Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits, Curlew and Turnstone. Wintering ducks include Shelduc
