Despite a valiant effort this month I have so far failed to add to my Patchwork Challenge tally. Inclement weather has undoubtedly played its part with patch observations limited to the garden alone. One upside to this has been an increase in sightings for our sporadic flock of Long Tailed Read more…
The long staying Ross’s Gull at Aberavon finally proved an irresistible pull yesterday afternoon resulting in our appearance at the Afan just after three. In blustery conditions the bulk of activity seemed to be concentrated around the river mouth itself with a selection of thirty or forty gulls in flight Read more…
The astonishing and unprecedented series of Atlantic storms which have been battering Britain since January show no sign of abating with Wednesday seeing the most damaging weather system to date. Wind speeds were recorded at over ninety miles per hour at nearby Mumbles Head causing structural damage and yet more Read more…
Life has a funny way of balancing itself out. For instance, who’d have imagined that the purchase of a particularly revolting sandwich on Friday would lead to excellent views of Mediterranean Gulls come Saturday. I probably don’t need to mention that events occurred at Bracelet Bay, perhaps one of the Read more…
It’s easy to forget the tidal surge of three weeks ago when you see the sea looking as it was on Sunday, but signs of our changed landscape are never far away. The view above was taken at Port Eynon during one of the days sunnier spells and you’d find Read more…
In the two weeks since my first patch outing of 2014 I’ve only managed to add Lesser Black-backed Gull to my tally. It was a fly over bird while getting ready for work and up to that point was the only gull to have ventured our way. That’s surprising given Read more…
Little did I realise when signing off my last entry here that an idle threat to get to grips with immature gulls would prove to be quite so prophetic. Perhaps I should explain. This morning was, as the Scottish like to put it, rather dreich. It’s a word I love Read more…
The wet West and cold East continue to do battle on the meteorological stage which, unfortunately for those of us who were hoping for a decent winter, means that the mild yet stormy conditions that have prevailed since new year are set to stay for at least the next few Read more…
Following our successful patch raid on Saturday we spent a couple of hours during the afternoon exploring Llanelli’s foreshore. In the past this has been a regular haunt of ours but an increase in anti-social behaviour during last summer meant that we have tended to stay away of late. Given Read more…
We set the alarms ready for a pre-dawn start on Saturday as a show of just how seriously I will be taking the Patchwork Challenge this year. Never before have I been out on the patch at such an early hour and I was hoping that this novel (for me Read more…