Ambling up to Bryn-bach-Common last Friday evening I couldn’t help but notice a distinctive bird song filling the air. At first the sound was familiar yet hard to place, delightfully varied with a volume to match. Then it slowly dawned on me that what I was listening to was in fact my first singing Skylark of the year, not only another affirming step towards spring but also the first that I’d encountered on patch in 2015. For the Patchwork Challenge an audio id is good enough for a tick but on such an auspicious occasion I had to see the culprit for myself. Scanning the sky it didn’t take long to spot the bird way up high before it dived down to ground only to re-emerge twenty meters or so further along the valley. This second display allowed the moment to be captured on camera for prosperity. Certainly not an image that’s going to win any prizes but one that holds good memories for me. I was certainly grinning from ear to ear when it was taken.

P1110236 - First Skylark of 2015

The sun dipping below the horizon heralded the end of my personal avian concert so I moved onto the common proper to see what else was about. The previously mentioned corvid movement was once more in operation whilst a Green Woodpecker was yaffling away somewhere out of sight. It was looking down towards the Loughor however that I found success for the second time as a flock of six Canada Geese flew past. If you follow my twitter feed you may have seen that I spotted presumably the same birds a couple of days previous but just outside of my patch boundaries. This time though there was no doubting their credentials and I got to correct a notable absence from last years tally. The view wasn’t bad either.

P1110240 - Sunset over the Loughor

Returning home I kept an eye out for Owls and Foxes but drew a blank on both scores. There was however a calling Peacock (sadly not tickable) and that sense of peace that can only be found in the great outdoors. 

2015: 46 / 2014: 64


4 Comments

ADRIAN · March 11, 2015 at 6:42 am

That is a grand sight. I have never managed a photo of one flying.

    Adam Tilt · April 2, 2015 at 10:54 pm

    They're far from easy to photograph.

Sondra · March 11, 2015 at 1:10 pm

Its a perfect silhouette of the skylark and an awesome landscape shot…spring is beginning to make an appearance here too.

    Adam Tilt · April 2, 2015 at 10:54 pm

    I hope it gets here soon as I want some warmth again.

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