Snowbuntings and Snowdonia

Gary and I are off work on a Friday and today we headed to Snowdonia as Gary was due to give a presentation of his photographs and my artwork to the Snowdonia Society this evening.  We first drove to Kinmel Bay as there are sometimes Snow Buntings seen here in winter months and we had been told that one has been spotted there over the past few days.... so, as we were passing on the way to Snowdonia, we decided to have a walk along the beach in the hope of spotting it. There was another photographer there when we arrived who said it had been seen further along the beach so he and Gary headed that way while I headed in the opposite direction to take Holly for a walk and a swim in the sea.  Within a few minutes I spotted the Snow Bunting within a few feet of me - it was completely unperturbed by Holly and I and just carried on foraging for seeds amongst the pebbles on the beach, then hopped onto an old tree that was lying on the beach and sat there posing beautifully.  I tried to ring Gary to let him know I'd found it but it went straight to answer phone, so I tried to signal to them by waving my arms, hoping they would see me, which they did.  The bird was still sitting on the tree trunk when Gary got to me and he got some lovely photographs over the next 45 minutes or so as it continued to forage amongst the pebbles and it was still there when we left.  I popped back to the car during this time to get my camera in the hope of getting a few photographs myself.

A really stunning little bird

The talk that Gary gave this evening ended up being held in the Memorial Hall in Betws y Coed rather than the Ugly House as there had been some flood damage there after the heavy rain over the last few weeks which was a shame as we love this little place.  We will be back though as we have been invited to an event there later this month when the damage will hopefully have been repaired.  The talk went really well and we both had some lovely comments made to us about what we do -  one gentleman in particular came to tell me he was inspired by my wildlife journal, had been thinking about picking up a brush again after doing art up to A level and that I'd inspired him to paint again ... and to paint birds and wildlife - I really hope he does!