Western Reef Egret, Foryd Bay (Mike Watson)
NORTH WALES, not somewhere I was expecting to end up at breakfast time but I don’t usually ignore firsts for Britain a couple of hours away! After some dreadful hazy views west of the bay, where it was feeding with Little Egrets at high tide, it flew back east onto the newly exposed mudflats of Foryd Bay, near Caernarfon, where it had been seen in the morning. Views here were much nicer! A smart dark-billed bird of the ssp gularis from West Africa with a neat white throat and long head and breast plumes. There were lots of old friends at Foryd Bay by early evening - Trevor Ellery, Alan Lewis and Barry Reed. Also here were Osprey, House Martin and Common Shelduck and a loud skylark soundtrack.