Unless you wish to hear tales of my exploits with a pressure washer then the weekend just gone was pretty much a bust. Two days of at times torrential, occasionally biblical, rainfall meant plenty of time spent indoors with any brief break in the weather being used to tackle garden jobs. Needless to say this proved immensely annoying with even the enticing news of a Booted Warbler on Gower not sufficient to drag me further afield. A decent wader or raptor perhaps but skulking warblers just don’t really do it for me I’m afraid. In hindsight that makes my decision to venture out for a long walk on Thursday evening all the more valuable as without it I fear my mood would have been at an even lower ebb than it is currently. It’s not even as if I travelled particularly far. Just along our valley beneath Cefn Drum where the autumn colours are already in full flow.

P1120436 - Autumn Colours
P1120444 - Autumn Colours
P1120440 - Autumn Colours

If there’s anything good to be said about Bracken, and there usually isn’t, it has to be that when the sun is low at this time of year those dying fronds really do help the hills take on a lovely bronze hue. Add in a trio of calling Buzzards over the hills, battling Pheasants and a couple of Jays and you pretty much had the perfect evening. If there was one tiny negative however it was only at the sight of twenty or more Swallows streaming south, almost certainly starting their migration away from these lands and a precursor to our skies falling silent for another year.

Not wishing to dwell on what we were losing however I chose to focus on what we still have which around here is some pretty impressive scenery and, when the weather allows at least, a seemingly endless parade of dramatic sunsets. This night’s would be no different and I made my up to the fallen trig point atop Mynydd Pysgodlyn to take it all in.

P1120445 - Fallen Trig Point

Up here I was completely alone, the distant sight of Swansea obscured and in its place more calling Skylarks than I’ve seen since early summer. I suspect that they too will soon start their move to lower altitudes so for now I took the time to take in every detail, every sound, conscious that there won’t be many more opportunities to enjoy these birds this year.


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