A record 140 species of bird seen along the Wales Coast Path!

Wales Coast Path Bird Race 2012

Birdwatchers who took part in our Wales Coast Path Bird Race 2012 set a record of 140 different species of bird seen along the Wales Coast Path, on the day of its launch, 5 May.

Birders all around the coast reported their sightings via blogs and Twitter to collectively record the total, the first time this kind of activity has been organised on a national scale anywhere in the world.

Find out how the day unfolded by viewing our live blog featuring the story of the day as told by those who took part.

Highlights of the day included:

• A rare Dotterel making the first record of the day, reported at 5.57am from Great Orme, Llandudno
• A Red-rumped Swallow (normally found in the Mediterranean) at Newport Wetlands NNR, Gwent, as well as a Smew there (normally a winter visitor, and scarce in Wales)
• Sightings of our iconic Welsh birds such as Chough, Puffin and Arctic Tern.
• One birder reported walking 16 miles of the coast path and listing 71 different species – more than half the collective total for the day.

Julian Hughes, vice chairman of the Welsh Ornithological Society, said:

It was a great initiative to be involved with. Walkers and birders in Wales had a lot of fun creating a one-day bird list. Everyone enjoyed the immediate nature of the event, thanks to social media, as well as the fact it was a low-carbon activity, with people walking not driving. And we got to see some of the finest habitats and landscapes that Wales has to offer.

If you want to see how many birds you can spot when out walking in Wales, download our checklist of birds of the Wales Coast Path.

Wales is full of all different kinds of wildlife, see our seasonal ideas for watching wildlife in Wales.

 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 9th, 2012 at 3:21 pm and is filed under Wales, Wildlife. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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