I had such grand plans heading into this weekend but a combination of atrocious weather and a change of heart led me in a completely different direction. I had intended to pay a visit to the Mumbles Pier kittiwakes on Saturday and then head up to the Elan valley on Read more…
By seven o’clock on Monday morning I was sat in the car on Tywyn seafront, gently rocking from side to side as it was buffeted by winds approaching gale force six. An hour earlier we had been forced to get up and take the tent we had been staying in Read more…
Before I disappear off the grid for the second four day weekend in a row (surely this is what all weekends should be like!) I thought I’d share a couple more of my favourite photos from our recent trip to Dorset. The first is of a Common Lizard which we Read more…
In a perfectly timed piece of choreography a Purple Heron turned up at Kenfig NNR on Friday, almost as if it knew that the local birding fraternity would need something to keep themselves occupied with over the long weekend. I would have been there in a flash if not for Read more…
The Chough population in Wales has been gaining strength in recent years and now represents about 75% of the total number in the UK. Their main stronghold is along the coast of Pembrokeshire but they have been steadily spreading, returning to the Gower Peninsula in 1990 for the first time Read more…
Yesterday was one of those perfect evenings where everything comes together. It started off on Gopa Hill where I found a cracking male Blackcap singing from the trees around the old ruined farmhouse, my first for that area. Sitting nearby were a pair of Bullfinches while the air was filled Read more…
Or so the saying goes. But do two? Probably not if the plummeting temperatures this evening are anything to go by. I spotted the above pair of Swallows sitting on telegraph cables on the drive back from having my hair cut this morning. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with Read more…
The big breaking news late on Saturday evening was that a Woodchat Shrike had turned up on Gower and was to be found feeding around Llangennith Moor. An early morning text off Barry Stewart on Sunday confirmed that the bird was indeed present and also served as a handy prompt Read more…
At Rhossili Spring was in full flow on Saturday with more newly arrived migrants present. We had barely stepped out of the car when our first two Swallows of the year shot overhead travelling west. Out on the headland a flock of at least fifteen Sand Martins arrived right before Read more…
I made a passing comment a couple of posts ago that the Kittiwakes would soon be back on Mumbles Pier and Jeremy kindly let me know that they already are! The breeding colony on the pier is now well over twenty years old and is one of only a couple Read more…