Myself and good friend and 'togger' Dave Gilbert had been talking about a trip to Worlds End between Wrexham and Llangollen for a few years and finally this past weekend it all came to fruition.
A trip to North Wales also coincided with my recent decision to switch my camera system from Canon to Olympus, (now OM Systems) micro 4/3s for the benefit of lightness and portability.
I had been searching for several months for a good used Olympus Zuiko 150-400mm f4.5 IS PRO zoom lens with built-in 1.25 extender, to purchase a new one is subject to a 12 month 'back order' waiting period.
The beauty of the system is that it has a 2x 'crop factor' so the above lens is 300-800mm in 35mm full frame terms and 375-1000mm when using the built-in 1.25x extender.
Low and behold I came across one on FaceBook marketplace last week and agreed to meet the seller in Nantwich, Cheshire before 12.00 on Saturday 18th March, as Nantwich is only approx 25 miles east of Wrexham it all worked out quite nicely, I also purchased an 'as new' OM-1 camera body from the seller and both body and lens are in absolute mint condition and barely used.
Myself and Dave decided to travel separately and I asked Teresa to accompany me having booked a room at the Premier Inn on the western outskirts of Wrexham.
Having 'done the deal' for camera and lens we travelled the 50 mins or so from Nantwich to Wrexham and as our room was not available before 15.00 we headed up to Worlds End which was only 4.5 miles from the hotel to carry out a 'reccie' of the area. We bumped into another visiting birder who although not local provided some good information about the best lek site.
Dave travelled up Saturday afternoon with his grandson Jenson and they also did a 'reccie' and we exchanged information over our mobiles and agreed to meet up very early on Sunday morning before first light.
My alarm went off at 04.00 Sunday morning and leaving Teresa in bed I was soon on the moorland single track road trying to avoid the numerous potholes. I met up with Dave and Jenson where they had parked and slept in the van overnight and we made our way to the lek site.
We immediately knew that we were in the right spot as upon winding down the car window we could hear the 'bubbling and hissing' of several male Black Grouse in the darkness.
The weather was far from pleasant with constant heavy drizzle and a stiff breeze but this did not dampen our spirits as we 'filled our boots' with shots of the iconic birds using our vehicles as mobile hides.
Our maximum count of male birds seen at any one time was 12 but we did count approx 24 when they all took flight at once when disturbed by possibly a fox. To our relief the majority returned some 5 mins later to finish their lekking.
The birds performed superbly sparring with each other but by 08.10 it was all over when the sole remaining bird took flight.
After a good chat we said our goodbyes and whereas Dave and Jenson spent some more time photographing Red Grouse I returned to the hotel for a hearty 'Full English' breakfast with Teresa before we headed for home, what a fantastic weekend.
