Following our outing to Pen Y Fan we headed off to Leeds for the final few days of December where, as hoped for, there were still significant amounts of snow. Much of it however was patchy with one hillside completely barren only for its neighbour to be under a good Read more…
A new year calls for new goals as once again I shall be eschewing the traditional resolutions in favour of an undoubtedly more achievable set of plans and ambitions. I did the same thing last year, though in a far less formal way, and ended up having one of my Read more…
It’s hard to believe but yesterday was my last opportunity of 2014 to get out onto the patch in an attempt to push my current Patchwork Challenge score a little higher. Despite a less than attentive year I had still somehow managed to draw level with my previous comparative species Read more…
Presents unwrapped, enough food eaten to keep me going until March and far too many hours of television watched. Yes Christmas is over for another year and I hope it’s been a good one for you all and that Santa was as generous as he was for me (I must Read more…
Cardiff may not immediately strike you as a prime birding location but recent years have seen numerous highlights including a regular wintering Lesser Scaup and my first Waxwings for over a decade. Much of this interest has been focused on Cardiff Bay, a huge 500 hectare freshwater lake formed in Read more…
Sunday 7th saw us making a long overdue return visit to Hatton Locks, a flight of twenty one locks (not lochs as I originally spelt the title of this entry and which would have made for something entirely different) on the Grand Union Canal. Opened in 1799 they have a Read more…
We’ve been treated to something of a spectacle this morning with at least eighteen Ravens circling over our back garden and neighbouring countryside. I’ve never seen so many here before with our resident pair usually only being accompanied on rare occasions. This therefore was highly unusual and they stayed around Read more…
Last weekend we popped backed to the Midlands to visit my parents and collect those all important Christmas presents, payment for which was taken in full by having to endure hours upon hours of reality television. Thankfully the full impact of such an assault was lessened somewhat having spent Saturday Read more…
Earlier this week the long running saga concerning a breach in the seawall at Cwm Ivy Marsh finally reached its conclusion (read my original post on the subject here). For those locals who were lobbying the National Trust to make immediate repairs the announcement that the area is to be Read more…
As promised I’ve put together this follow up entry for those who enjoyed our visit to Penwyllt quarry a couple of weeks ago and wanted to see a little more of what remains today. The site is, not unsurprisingly, rather large and we only managed a brief look around some Read more…