Snow Bunting #1

Well, the birding year has begun again and with directions from a fellow birder I know, I took advantage of the probably only nice day this week and went to Rhyl to see if I could find the Snow Bunting and the Black Redstart. Both birds are apparently long staying and "easy to find"....

Hubby is playing games today, so I was on my own which was just as well as it took a while to locate the little darlings. On arrival, nobody I spoke to had seen either of the birds, so I set off along the coastal path. Eventually I came across a lady who had seen the snow bunting on the beach much further down and managed to get a few shots before she said it flew inland which wasn't too helpful. So I set off again in the direction of her sighting and walked a lot further with no luck. It was mostly sunny but quite cold and my fingers were beginning to freeze, so I started on my way back, in need of a drink and a warm. As I slowly walked along the beach, I saw a group of 6 birders in the distance coming towards me. All seemingly had their bins focussed on some point between us. So I slowed down and started scanning where they were looking but couldn't locate anything. Confused, I headed to the sea wall and met one of the group who had been designated to come and ask me where the bird was! They thought I'd found it and I thought they'd found it!  So, we crossed and continued on our way again. 
I got back to the carpark and then walked over the bridge to check the marine lake for some more birds for this years list and then went on to the retail park to get a sandwich. When I got back to the picnic area where the Redstart had been seen on previous days, I saw the group of birders from the beach, who asked if I'd seen the two birds we'd been searching for....of course I hadn't, but they had managed to see BOTH of them within the last 30 minutes. Of course the Redstart had disappeared again about 10 minutes ago, but they'd had great views - typical! The snow bunting had also been seen by the "first ramp" a while back so I thought I'd take another look as it wasn't too far. I waited a bit longer in case the Redstart came back - it didn't - and then walked back to the ramp. 
Within 15 minutes, I'd managed to spot the snow bunting as it made the mistake of moving. Had it stayed still, I'd never have seen it, even though it was quite close. I sat on a rock and took a few shots in quite nice light and then, very annoyingly, a couple with a dog came along and scared it off. The tide by this time was way out, with acres of sand to walk on, so why they chose to walk along the stones between me and a snow bunting, I don't know. Anyway, at least I managed a few shots, even if they weren't that good. On my way back to the car, I walked with another couple who were also looking for the Redstart and it seems that 3 pairs of eyes are better than one. Only distant views were had, but at least I saw it and it made my day.  I had a lovely day, did 5 miles of walking and had success at finding both birds(with a little help) - a very good start to the birding year.