COVID-19 lockdowns over the past 15 months have been restrictive for everyone in many different ways. For me the restrictions on travel have been difficult, preventing me from getting out and about and visiting the places I would usual travel to for birding but fortunately there has been the Internet to keep me informed and updated as to what has been going on in the natural world. Twitter, blogs, bird news sites, etc, have all helped to let me know that wildlife has been getting on with it as usual and the images, stories and sighting reports have kept me (almost) sane.
There were 3 reports though that really sparked my curiosity and that I yearned to go and see, the first being the Northern Mockingbird found in Exmouth in January 2021. I finally managed to travel to Exmouth on April 8th to go and see it but unfortunately it did an overnight flit to Sussex the night before.
The second report was of an American Herring Gull in Newlyn Harbour in March this year which piqued my love/hate relationship with Gulls and which did stay around until May when I managed to get to Newlyn to see it. This bird was ridiculously confiding and almost came to sit on my lap as I sat on the beach eating my lunch, a throw back from all the visiting toggers with their massive camera lenses throwing food out to the Gulls to attract them closer.
The third report was of a Walrus, first seen in Ireland in March of this year and then relocating and seemingly settling at Tenby in Wales a few days later. This sighting was the one that gave me the most excitement but Tenby seemed such a long way away.
However with my NHS Trust giving all staff an extra day of annual leave as a thank you for working through the COVID pandemic (and quaintly named a Well Being Day) I cashed it in along with a normal day of annual leave and made plans to go and try my hand at Where's Wally?
Originally we had planned to travel by train but it would be a long and expensive journey and with GWR services having a meltdown due to a manufacturing flaw in their carriages resulting in cancellations and rescheduling of services we decided to drive to Tenby instead.
The weather on leaving Plymouth on Thursday 13th May was foul with torrential spells of heavy rain amongst the constant drizzle but by the time we were heading into Wales over the Severn Bridge the heavy rain spells were noticeably easing. The drive in Wales was new and interesting and despite the grey skies and misty mizzle hampering the scenic views I did see 2 Red Kites overhead before we eventually arrived in Tenby at around 1:30pm.
On arriving in Tenby we headed down to the RNLI lifeboat station where Wally is mostly seen hauled out but there was no sign of him and a large crowd of people were milling about looking quite despondent. I scanned around offshore with my binoculars and quickly found Wally logging on the water surface and occasionally showing his head above the water before he disappeared from sight for good but at least we had seen him albeit briefly and distantly.
We returned to the lookout later in the afternoon but there was still no sign of him although a diminutive looking Glaucous Gull flying past and landing on the old lifeboat slipway provided some distraction.
The weather was still foul with continuing mizzle and rain spells and so David headed off to the hotel to dry off and warm up while I decided to take a walk along the coast by the golf course for a look around.
Whitethroat, Chiffchaff and Blackcap were all heard singing away despite the poor weather conditions but all kept themselves hidden away in cover. A Lesser Whitethroat briefly singing was a nice surprise and I managed a few obscured views as it sulked in the bushes before flying off to sing again further away.
Rooks, Jackdaws, Carrion Crows and Magpies were feeding out on the greens of the golf course and I was very pleased to find a Chough amongst them before it was disturbed by golfers and flew off.
Also on the greens were a feeding flock of 17 Whimbrel and in the rough were quite a few short stemmed Green-winged Orchids coming into flower.
Along the beach a summer plumaged Dunlin and 2 Sanderling were feeding along the waters edge while offshore Gannets were diving for fish.
By now I was wet and cold so headed back to the hotel for a COVID secure evening meal and a good nights sleep with plans made for an early start the next day to do some more Wally watching.
I awoke the following morning at around 6am and headed out to the RNLI station despite the continuing heavy rain. There was no sign of Wally on the slipway on the incoming tide but suddenly he appeared close to the rocks just below the footpath and I had some fantastic views of him until he moved further out into the Bay. And I had him all to myself, even hearing his breath sounds as he surfaced in the still and flat calm seas.
I telephoned David to come and join me and shortly after he arrived Wally reappeared at the waters surface out in the Bay but heading towards the slipway at quite a speed and eventually he finally hauled himself out and showed himself off in all his wonderful gloriousness. And what a beast he is, absolutely amazing and utterly beautiful to see, certainly one of the bizzarest things I have seen in the UK in May.
Gannets, a Fulmar, juvenile Kittiwakes, 5 whistling Whimbrel flying over and Cormorants were also seen before I headed back to the hotel for breakfast and at least by now the rain was noticeably easing.
After breakfast the rain finally stopped and we had a final wander around Tenby before taking a last look at Wally who was still on the slipway and giving great views in better light but eventually we had to leave and head back to Plymouth.
The journey home was interesting again and with the sun beginning to shine from behind the clouds we had better views of the scenery. Another 2 Red Kites were seen overhead along the way and we duly arrived back in Plymouth with no incidents, having had a very wet but very enjoyable time away and amazing views of a Walrus.
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