Baby Lila is now 6 months old (almost) and it’s her first holiday! It’s obviously still in COVID times so we opt to stay in the UK and not attempt multiple tests and quarantining. North Wales, here we come!
We book a little cottage not far from Caenarfon for easy access to Snowdonia and Anglesey.
It’s late July, is it too late to find puffins? Surely there is only one place to look, Puffin Island!
In spite of it’s name the island is actually more known for its kittiwakes, guillemots, razor bills and seals. However, they do also have puffins, just not as many as, say, Skomer. We booked a spot on a boar with Seacoast Safaris and luckily, although it is late in the season, we do see the odd puffin. We enjoyed the trip so much, we booked a second trip for later in the week and that time spot a harbor porpoise as well.
During the week, we do the usual beachy stuff and of course the Ffestiniog Railway, but we’re really there for the wildlife, which is how we found ourselves at Cemlyn Nature Reserve. This narrow shingle ridge, with the sea on one side and a lagoon on the other is a amazing place to see all sorts of coastal birds, however it most spectacularly a nesting site for a huge colony of artic, common and roseate terns during the months of May through to July. We walked along the ridge (just moments from the car park) and sat down on the pebbles to watch hundreds of terns swooping down into the sea and returning to the beach to feed themselves and their grateful young. It truly was one of the most amazing wildlife experiences I’ve had in the UK!
See Wildlife 