Much of today was spent indoors glued to my laptop trying to work out why collecting tax couldn’t just be a whole lot simpler. I did manage a walk up the nearby valley during the early afternoon and was very pleased to hear the Green Woodpeckers again. Although I didn’t get to see them this time it is very good to know that they have taken up residence in the area. There were a good number of Chiffchaffs singing in the woodland but highlight of the day goes to the Red Kite that casually drifted past my garage whilst I was topping up the bird feeders. It couldn’t have been more than twenty meters away but of course the camera was in the house. By the time I had fetched it the Kite had drifted on down the road but I did catch one of our usually quite flighty Jackdaws lingering in the garden, no doubt waiting to try and carry off one of the fresh fat balls that I had just put out.

12239 - Jackdaw in back garden

This evening once things had died down we headed up to Cefn Bryn on Gower to watch the sun go down. Due to the ash cloud currently covering much of the UK there have been reports of an increase in the colour intensity of sunsets. Tonight I couldn’t see any noticeable effect, but then again the sunsets around here are so nice that it would be frankly hard to better them. One of the semi-wild Gower ponies was beautifully back-lit, whilst the neolithic burial tomb know as King Arthur’s Stone provided a more unusual foreground with the sun disappearing behind Rhossili Downs in the background.

12241 - Sunset from Cefn Bryn, Gower
12242 - Sunset from Cefn Bryn, Gower

On the walk back to the car we passed a small pool that was giving off some simply stunning mist. I tried my best to capture it on camera but with only limited success. Nevertheless the reflections in the water provided another nice angle from which to capture the sunset.

12245 - Sunset from Cefn Bryn, Gower
12247 - Sunset from Cefn Bryn, Gower

The evening was rounded off very nicely by a male Wheatear which we saw hopping around further down the hill. There were also a lot of Meadow Pipits in the vicinity, many of which erupted from the ground as we walked along. Needless to say we trod very carefully just in case they were sitting on nests!


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