Five days and three new species nicely sums up the latest developments on patch. The first came on Monday evening with two Bullfinches along the wooded section of Birch Rock tramway, a nice find and the final ‘common’ bird that I considered lacking from this years list. From here on Read more…
You find me in a rather confused state this evening. The calendars all say it’s Spring, the Daffodils are out and we even have the first Spring migrants landing on our shores, so why on earth did I have my face almost frozen off during a short walk on Saturday? Read more…
At just under two weeks since my last patch outing I was determined to give the area a thorough going over on Sunday afternoon. The sun was shining but with a cold wind blowing across the valley I knew most of the birds would be kept well hidden, and indeed Read more…
These last couple of days have been fantastic as for the first time in two years we’ve finally had decent snowfall. The result was an inevitable day off work but more importantly it gave me the perfect opportunity to get my Patchwork Challenge under way. You may remember me blogging Read more…
For the last couple of months I’ve been keeping an eye out for any sign of our local Dippers, but up until Sunday afternoon I hadn’t had much luck. That all changed though as we approached a small bridge over the Dulais from where a loud and persistent call suggested Read more…
Why is it that you can go the whole winter without catching a cold but as soon as the nice weather arrives so does the man-flu? This week hasn’t been all bad though as I’ve caught up with several jobs around the garden and just generally enjoyed the feeling of Read more…
As you can see I have finally succeeded at getting those elusive Yellowhammers on camera after many failed attempts over the last few weeks. The bird shown here is not one of the usual pair that I watch up on Bryn-bach-Common (they were there but were keeping well into the Read more…
The pair of Yellowhammers that I first saw this time last week on Bryn-bach-Common were once again singing from the Rhododendron bushes on Tuesday evening. Interestingly the birds were on near identical perches as before with the female uttering the “little bit of bread and no cheeeeese” song whilst the Read more…
This evening was absolutely glorious with the sun shining and the birds singing. I headed up Gopa Hill with the sound of Chiffchaffs and Jays in my ears while Long Tailed Tits and Chaffinches flitted through the newly budding trees. The Yellowhammers were nowhere to be seen but three Buzzards Read more…
Last weekends freezing conditions had a rather impressive impact on the Cwm Dulais valley behind my house. Huge rafts of icicles were to be found dangling from overhanging ledges, whilst rocks in the river were covered in a layer of ice formed where splashing water had instantly frozen. The structures Read more…