Thursday night saw yet another huge Atlantic storm move in across Wales bringing with it gale force winds and more rain. Fortunately the latter didn’t persist into the next day but those winds most certainly did. Following an aborted attempt to walk down Bishopston valley (footpath extinguished apparently) we found Read more…
A brief sea-watch in extremely blustery conditions from the Bracelet Bay car park yesterday afternoon revealed little passage so it was left to the ever reliable Mediterranean Gulls to keep us occupied. Initially numbers were only just creeping into double figures until the arrival of a blue car caused another Read more…
The forecast this morning didn’t look too promising so it was up to an old stalwart to step in and provide a destination. Those of you who read this blog religiously (doesn’t everyone?) will probably have guessed that I am referring to Bracelet Bay and Mumbles Head, two locations that Read more…
I’ve got a bit of a record going when it comes to producing decent birds whenever my parents come to visit. Glossy Ibis, Woodchat Shrike and parading Bitterns have all helped add to the mystique that in reality comes down to nothing more than damn good timing on their part. Read more…
I mentioned yesterday that we’d been blown away by the sheer quantity and variety of life in the rockpools out towards Mumbles Head. Our first find was this Shore Crab, easily the largest crustacean we’ve seen on Gower at around six centimetres in diameter. In the same small pool a Read more…
We had to keep things local on Saturday due to the necessary evil that is my week on call from work. It did give us the perfect excuse to go and visit Crymlyn Bog though, a reserve we’ve been meaning to try out ever since seeing it on a recent Read more…
After a couple of hours in conference calls on Sunday it wasn’t until late afternoon that I finally escaped back outside with my new camera. Clouds and heavy showers were the name of the game but with incoming sun forecast we headed down to Bracelet Bay. My original intention had Read more…
We were up in Leeds this past weekend visiting family on what, despite a brief snow shower, turned out to be a very sunny couple of days. The presence of our favourite glowing orb was rather timely as Emma’s parents house has just been fitted with solar panels, the readout Read more…
A look around Bracelet Bay on Sunday turned up at least twenty Mediterranean Gulls split between their usual piece of roadside grass and the beach below. As always I studied each one to see if any were ringed and found three that were. The first was a juvenile bird (Green Read more…
Regular readers of this blog may recall the excellent run of rarities that Eglwys Nunydd reservoir threw up around September time last year, including a Bobolink, Grey Phalarope and Whiskered Tern, all of which I managed to see. This weekend the industrial water body was back on form in a Read more…