A family day out got me a tick

Hi readers, I know the posts a little late but I actually got a surprise tick. We decided to go over to a welsh seaside town called Barmouth for the day. We had never been there before so I didn't no what to expect not just in terms of the birding but more in terms of what the place was like. I have to say on arrival the place seemed very scenic and beautiful what made the journey there better was the amazing views if the Welsh mountains on the way there. 

From Internet research in Barmouth there was virtually no real info on the birds seen around there, I found something brief on Coughs being seen on the mountains but to be honest we weren't really going there for mountain climbing. 

Although the day wasn't really meant for bird watching as a birder I still decided to bring my bins because you never know what may turn up I always say. We decided to take a short walk to the bottom of the beach where we we presented with a RNLI lifeboat going back to base (photos Sunday). So we decided to stick around for a while and watched the boat get dragged back to base. While watching I took the opportunity to do a little bit of birding. 

Almost instantly something I hadn't seen before popped up in front of my eyes. And some of you may know the word used in the birding world which is a Tart. No I'm not being rude but for those of you who don't know a birding tart is a bird that a birder has wanted to see for a long while and this bird is something I have seen in TV and in books many, many times and I have wanted to see one, so therefore it is one of my personal birding tarts. 

The species in question is the Gannet a very well known sea bird I have never see before. I was beginning to think the only chance I would get to see one was by going to a colony somewhere. But obviously not because I got great views of the bird darting into the water hopefully catching some fish.  

For me this bird was a great tick I'm sure some if you reading this will have seen p,entry of the birds but you have to say they are beautiful birds to look at, I really enjoyed looking at the bird. Although just before we left I had a last glance over the sea with my bins and had a few more Gannet flying over so I was quite pleased with that overall. 

Well another surprise spot for me and a tick I was not expecting this year I was quite happy a great day out in Wales and a tick came out of it as well. There should be another post on Sunday with a likely visit to Sandwell Valley as usual. 

Thanks for reading- WMBB