Foryd Bay, or , is a tidal

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

, Wales. It is located at the south-western end of the

Menai Strait The Menai Strait () is a strait which separates the island of Anglesey from Gwynedd, on the mainland of Wales. It is situated between Caernarfon Bay in the south-west and Conwy Bay in the north-east, which are both inlets of the Irish Sea. The s ...

, about two miles south-west of

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a List of place names with royal patronage in the United Kingdom, royal town, Community (Wales), community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the easter ...

. Several rivers flow into the bay and there are large areas of

mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal ...

s and

salt marsh A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. I ...

. A shingle spit partly blocks the mouth of the bay. At the north-western end is

Fort Belan Fort Belan (alternative: Belan Fort; pronounced: ''Bell-ann'') is a coastal fortress in North Wales. It is located opposite Abermenai Point, at the south-western end of the Menai Strait, on the coast of Gwynedd, in the parish of Llanwnda. Situa ...

, built during the 18th century. Aerial photography in the drought of 2018 identified rectangular structures possibly of Roman age, at Glan y Mor, on slightly raised ground adjacent to the shoreline. This layout is very unusual in Roman Wales; it is rectilinear but has no defences and is otherwise unlike the military Roman sites in Wales, nor does it resemble the native defended settlements with their roundhouses and irregular outlines, nor the occasional villas. It is similar to the buildings and ditched enclosures excavated on the other side of the Menai Strait at Tai Cochion. To the south is a rectangular ditched structure or possible building, with an internal subdivision, measuring 25 by 13 m. To the north is a pair of almost identical structures; both groups are linked by a linear ditch or boundary. Close by, an early field system runs north-west to south-east between Plas Farm and the shores of the Menai Strait; the fields are rectangular, with at least one visible ditched

hollow way A sunken lane (also hollow way or holloway) is a road or track that is significantly lower than the land on either side, not formed by the (recent) engineering of a road cutting but possibly of much greater age. Holloways may have been formed i ...

. The bay has been designated a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

and in 1994 it became a Local Nature Reserve because of its importance for wildlife. Many

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s visit in winter and during migration, including large numbers of

wildfowl The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating o ...

and

waders Waders may refer to: * Wader, a name for various birds in the order Charadriiformes * Waders (footwear) Waders denotes a waterproof boot or overalls extending from the foot to the thigh, the chest or even the neck. They are traditionally made f ...

such as

wigeon The wigeons or widgeons are a group of birds, dabbling ducks currently classified in the genus ''Mareca'' along with two other species. There are three extant species of wigeon, in addition to one recently extinct species. Biology There are ...

which peak at over 3000 birds. Notable species include

brent goose The brant or brent goose (''Branta bernicla'') is a small goose of the genus ''Branta''. There are three subspecies, all of which winter along temperate-zone sea-coasts and breed on the high-Arctic tundra. The Brent oilfield was named after ...

jack snipe The jack snipe or jacksnipe (''Lymnocryptes minimus'') is a small stocky wader. It is the smallest snipe, and the only member of the genus ''Lymnocryptes''. Features such as its sternum and its continuous 'bobbing up and down' make it quite dis ...

spotted redshank The spotted redshank (''Tringa erythropus'') is a wader (shorebird) in the large bird family Scolopacidae. The genus name ''Tringa'' is the Neo-Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek ''trungas'', a ...

and

greenshank The common greenshank (''Tringa nebularia'') is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. The genus name ''Tringa'' is the Neo-Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek ''trungas'' ...

Tern Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae, subfamily Sterninae, that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated in eleven genera in a subgroup of the family Laridae, which also ...

s roost at the mouth of the bay.McFarland, Valerie (1990) ''RSPB Guide to Birdwatching on Anglesey & Lleyn'', The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Sandy.

References

{{coord, 53.1129, -4.3201, type:waterbody_region:GB, display=title Bontnewydd, Gwynedd Llandwrog Llanwnda, Gwynedd Menai Strait Bays of Gwynedd Nature reserves in Gwynedd Sites of Special Scientific Interest in West Gwynedd