I experienced a few unexpected thrills during the many hours I spent sitting on what remains of my favourite Anglesey rock, gazing out to sea last month.
I had a couple of encounters with my first ever Anglesey black guillemots. I first saw these wonderful birds in Lerwick harbour, Shetland in April 1985, and next/last saw them from a Holyhead ferry leaving Dublin in May 2022. But to see them from my favourite Anglesey rock was very special.
Then, on my final session on the rocks, I added a brand new species to my ‘life list’ of birds: a red-throated diver!
By a strange coincidence, I also added a new species to my life list on my final session on the rocks the last time I visited Anglesey, in September 2025. That time, it was an Arctic skua. Although I’d never seen one before, I recognised it immediately from its ‘jizz’, as it harassed a Sandwich tern into dropping the fish it had been carrying.
Both the red-throated diver and the Arctic skua were a long way off, so I only managed to take poor pictures. But they still count!
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