WORK has had me deskbound recently but the arrival of warmer weather meant I could resist the siren song of the great outdoors no longer.
Clear blue skies beckoned so I abandoned the computer and went for a walk on the Great Orme.
No clouds in the sky and I felt real warmth in the sun as I walked alongside the stone wall towards the limestone pavement.
There's a particular spot that's a real bird magnet, a fold in the hill just before the Hamburger Rock, (or Free Trade Loaf, whichever name you prefer) where the slight dip provides some shelter from the constant winds on the Orme.
This hollow has been the temporary home of a Snow Bunting, a Black Redstart and, last spring, a family of fox cubs, as well as the regular haunt of Meadow Pipits and Linnets, so it's always worth slowing down to check the stone wall, grass and bushes just here.
This time was no exception. As I approached, I saw not one, not two, but five birds hopping around Hamburger Rock.
Something about their upright stance made me want to take a closer look, but just as I drew nearer, a loose dog came tearing round the corner, its owner far behind.
An unruly dog has been the frustration of many a birder as their cautious pursuit of a rare bird is undone by bounding canine enthusiasm for everything that moves.
But not even the sudden appearance of this dog could ruffle any feathers, as the birds simply hopped up onto the rock safely out of paws' reach.
I checked the birds more closely: the dark eye mask, the telltale flash of white over the black tail as they flew all confirmed my first hope: Northern Wheatear.
These are such great birds, slightly larger than a robin, the males with a slate-grey back, the females brown-backed, both with a buff-coloured throat and white rump.
Their helpful habit of standing in an upright pose on the ground or on any available look-out such as a bush, rock or stone wall, makes them easy birds to see and enjoy.
They spend the winter in Africa and move up to the UK for the summer, where they like to breed on grassy coastal headlands.
Northern Wheatear
The Orme is one of their frequent summer haunts but these birds were the first I'd seen this year, and when I rang the news into BirdLine Wales (the place to ring for the latest news of bird arrivals), I learned they were the first reported anywhere in Wales or the North West.
And I found them!
By the end of the day, Northern Wheatears had also been reported at South Stack and Cemlyn on Anglesey, and Conwy RSPB.
Migration is like that: no new birds for ages, then suddenly the weather conditions are just right and new migrant birds are dropping in all over the place.
Bit like buses I suppose.
The signs were good; spring was here and the migrants were coming. But a week isn't just a long time in politics.
Only seven days later, and bitter northerly winds had returned us to winter almost overnight, with snow on the ground and weathermen talking gleefully of wind chill factors.
These northerlies were blasting so strongly across the North Sea onto our shores that they stopped spring migration in its tracks.
Birds that had started to move north probably regretted the decision and dropped back south again to escape the worst weather.
Moreover, we were suddenly seeing birds along the coast who should by rights have been further out to sea.
On Tuesday evening, from the warmth of my car, I watched nine Little Gulls feeding off the beach at Llandudno, just below the Little Orme.
These diminutive birds - pocket-sized gulls less than half the size of a Herring Gull - aren't normally seen in the bay here but they had been no match for the gusting winds which had driven them so close inland, where they skittered over the waves in the comparative shelter, picking up tiny morsels of food from the water's surface.
An unexpected bonus bird in this bitter weather.
The clocks went forward at the weekend, officially bringing British Summer Time. Well, it may be summertime in name but it doesn’t fool me.
I'm keeping my hat and gloves handy for a while longer.
BirdLine Wales: Call 09068 700249 for the latest bird news in the area or 01492 544588 to report any interesting sightings.
