Worlds End

The weather over the weekend was glorious, so with that in mind we planned a little bird watching trip over to North Wales to have a look at the booming Black Grouse population at Worlds End.

It was a fabulous day. Worlds End is so easy to get to, only 20 minutes from Wrexham, up the hill and bingo, Black Grouse country.

I remember going up there in the past, 15-20 years ago and seeing low numbers of distant Black Grouse…how times have change, in recent years the species has been doing very well and on Sunday we counted about 70 individuals throughout the morning.

They are superb birds, their bubbling calls echoed across the valleys, it was magical. We came across several ‘Leks’…displaying areas where the males strut their stuff and throw their weight around, they do this to become ‘king Grouse’ and be more attractive to the ladies. One of the Leks we came across was very close to the road and it was marvellous to watch the birds at such close quarters, a real privilege.

We spent a couple of hours watching the Grouse and scanning the area for other species, Red Grouse was present and it was nice to see a Great Grey Shrike…however it was so distant that when viewed through my trusty scope on 60x still it still looked tiny, my friend commented that if it was any further away it would be over the curvature of the Earth!

Black Grouse have become difficult to see over recent years as many of their breeding grounds around the country have slowly dwindled or disappeared altogether, such a shame, it’s fantastic that they are doing so well at Worlds End.

If you fancy taking a look, go between now and late May, get there early as they move away from the lekking areas by 8.00 am or so.

The countryside is lovely, so you can combine a visit with some walking, birding and maybe a picnic. Crossbills and Ravens are regular in the area and look out for raptors…Merlin, Peregrine, Hen Harrier, Buzzard, Red Kite and Short-eared Owl have all been in the vicinity.