{"id":19567,"date":"2022-09-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=19567"},"modified":"2022-09-22T10:28:10","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T08:28:10","slug":"headland-bird-haven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/2022\/09\/20\/headland-bird-haven\/","title":{"rendered":"Headland bird haven"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
WALK: <\/strong>Penmon Point, Anglesey <\/h5>\n\n

Headland bird haven<\/h2>\n\n

Discover a picturesque, tranquil peninsula on the Anglesey coast where migrants land to feed and resident birds forage and fish, says Dorothy <\/strong>Hamilton <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Look for overwintering fieldfares hopping among the ruined quarry buildings, limekilns and crushing mill of Flagstaff Quarry <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Located on the eastern tip of Anglesey overlooking Conwy Bay, Penmon Point offers glorious views of Snowdonia\u2019s mountains and is also a great place for watching seabirds and those on migration. <\/p>\n\n

Half a mile across the sound is Puffin Island, a breeding and roosting site for many seabirds \u2013 although few puffins breed there nowadays. Trwyn Du lighthouse on the rocky shore of Penmon Point was built in 1838 after the paddlesteamer Rothsay <\/em>Castle, <\/em>on a trip from Liverpool to Beaumaris, wrecked on Dutchman Bank. The former coastguard cottages date from this time, while the Pilot House Caf\u00e9 occupies three former lighthouse pilots\u2019 cottages. <\/p>\n\n

Red-legged resident black guillemots breed along this rocky coast and, throughout the year, are often seen shallow diving around Penmon Point. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Star species! FIELDFARE<\/strong>Migrating from Scandinavia, this large thrush has a grey head and rump. Its \u2018chack <\/em>chack\u2019 call can be heard as it feeds on slugs, insects, berries and fallen apples in open woodland and fields.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Here, cormorants and shags pose on large rocks with their wings open to dry. On the shore, migrant turnstones from Scandinavia turn over pebbles and seaweed with their beaks in search of food. Resident oystercatchers open molluscs on stones, while solitary rock pipits search for flies and periwinkles in the seaweed. <\/p>\n\n

Fieldfares and redwings on migration from Scandinavia take shelter in the copse and feast on the berry bushes. Resident finches forage in the fields and stonechats perch on heathland bushes as ravens croak overhead. <\/p>\n\n

\n\n

THE ROUTE<\/h4>\n\n

1.7 miles\/2.8 km | 2 HOURS | EASY<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
1 MONASTIC REMAINS <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Start your walk at the ruins of Penmon Priory. Head towards the 17th-century dovecote built to hold about 1,000 pigeons. On the opposite side of the road, a path leads to a monastic fish pond and St Seiriol\u2019s holy well. Sparrows, finches and tits take shelter in the bushes. Return to the road, turn left, pass a cottage on the right and climb a stile on the left. Head towards a wall and turn right to emerge on a lane.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

2 TO THE SEA <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Bear right but soon turn left on the coast path through a field, past trees and scrub where goldfinches feed on thistles. Pass through a more open area with hawthorn, blackthorn and rowan bushes \u2013 agood area for fieldfare spotting \u2013 and go left at a fork in the path to the shore. <\/p>\n\n

3 EIDERS AND DIVERS <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Grey seals, harbour porpoises and dolphins can be seen in the sound. Walk above the low cliffs towards the coastguard cottages while watching the water for seabirds, including eiders and red-throated divers. Near the edge of the sea, plump purple sandpipers hunt for periwinkles and whelks. The lane at the cottages will take you back to the priory. <\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n
Anglesey odyssey <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Find out more about island life on Iolo\u2019s Anglesey, <\/em>available on BBC iPlayer.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

Dorothy Hamilton<\/strong> enjoys watching wildlife and taking long walks in the countryside. <\/p>\n\n

Photos: Alamy, RSPB Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Discover a picturesque, tranquil peninsula on the Anglesey coast where migrants land to feed and resident birds forage and fish, says Dorothy Hamilton <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":19970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"92","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"92","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_92-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_92-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"October-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"October-2022","purple_external_id":"October-2022-92-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"October-2022-92-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000084061||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000084061||","purple_android_product":"com.im.countryfile.195","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.countryfile.195","purple_ios_product":"com.im.countryfile.195","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.countryfile.195","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"91da22fd-9e7f-40d1-a93f-fc46e9516d91","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[30],"tags":[14],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/09\/2H7G3GE-scaled.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/09\/2H7G3GE-scaled.jpg",2560,1721,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/09\/2H7G3GE-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/09\/2H7G3GE-300x202.jpg",300,202,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/09\/2H7G3GE-768x516.jpg",768,516,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/09\/2H7G3GE-1024x688.jpg",800,538,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/09\/2H7G3GE-1536x1033.jpg",1536,1033,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/09\/2H7G3GE-2048x1377.jpg",2048,1377,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Discover a picturesque, tranquil peninsula on the Anglesey coast where migrants land to feed and resident birds forage and fish, says Dorothy Hamilton","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19567"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19567"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20107,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19567\/revisions\/20107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}