Osprey Activity

Our annual Osprey visit at Llandegfedd seems to be giving everyone a run for their money, showing only to the select lucky few as it catches a fish and disappears for days on end. Lucky for me, part of my Job as a Ranger at Llandegfedd requires regular boat patrols / rescues and on one occasion it flew as close as I think I'll ever get to a wild Osprey before returning to its roosting tree. This individual has been present for a couple weeks now and has become quiet at home for the time being. I'm not sure how long it will hang around but if you're yet to see it, I'm working lates for the next 9 days so pop by the visitors centre and if I'm available, I can give you up-to-date info on it's activities.

In other news, another victim to fishing line as a Carrion Crow manages to tangle itself on the highest branch it could find on a completely dead tree, leaving Craig Constance and myself completely helpless as it struggled. We tried literally everything and even rang our local Fire department in the end in desperation. They did everything they could to try and get it down and not even they could reach it. The bird unfortunately didn't survive the trauma. Sorry to share the images with you, I know it's not nice seeing anything suffering but we really did do everything we could. A hungry Stoat watched intently at the bird but not even a Stoat would have got that high. 

Wader Week

The last two weeks we've started to get our first southern movement of Waders, along with other early spring / summer breeders that have either failed to breed or have already fledged their first brood of chicks. It's a good time of year as you really could get anything turning up at the Reservoir. Lucky for me I get to scan the banks while on Boat patrols at work and the last two days have pulled up quite a few waders that I would have missed if walking on the bank. Today I found a single Oystercatcher, 6 Common Sandpiper and 2 Redshank. Also this week we've had a pair of Little Ring Plover, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper and a single Juvi Lapwing. 
Hard to believe that we used to have Lapwing breeding onsite in decent numbers and now we're lucky if we get a single summer visit from one. 

Back on track

Back to work and back on track! I think it goes to show I lucky I am when the place I spend my days off at, is also the place I work. Llandegfedd will always be a special place for me and this weekend it revealed some more of its secrets, this time in the form of a lovely Butterfly called a Purple Hairstreak. I've heard they were present but never seen them for myself till today. I didn't get anything great photography wise to show you, as they remain high up in Oak tree canopies, not to mention they are pretty darn small so even a bigger lens than my own wouldn't quite cut it. Other notable species this weekend - Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Kingfisher, Reed Warbler, Reed Bunting, Little Egret, Spotted Flycatcher, Common Scoter and the today ended with a Juvi Cuckoo. 

Garden Pond

Earlier this year, Jodie and I decided to put a pond in the front Garden and committing ourselves to having a 'wildlife friendly' garden. It was so easy to put in, just bought a plastic pre-moulded pond, dug the hole and popped it in. Adding a water source to your Garden can increase the bio-diversity so much, inviting not only water dwelling creatures like Frogs, Toads and Newts but also giving the insect life a source of water to drink on those hot days. We already have lots of life in the pond, with most of our Tadpoles fully formed and hopping around the Garden in Frog form. I haven't really managed to venture that far from the house the last two weeks so today I concentrated on the pond and in doing so, found two Toads enjoying the new features.  

Garden Pond

Garden Pond

Garden Toad

Garden Toad

Fake Toad? 

Fake Toad? 

#Health

The last two weeks I've been back and forth the hospital with abdominal pains and to cut the story short, my Scan results show Gallstones and a problem with my small intestine. Could have been a worse result so staying positive, as either of the conditions suspected are treatable. It has knocked me back a bit though and I've even managed to lose a stone in weight in just over a week. Moving forward I'm due for another Scan and will be referred to a specialist to decide what to do from here. Either way, this shouldn't effect me in the long term and I hope to be back in action soon. My only gripe is for this to have happened at peak season, usually my busiest and most productive time of the year - something that may take me more time to get over than the illness itself. Thanks for all who've supported me through this difficult time. 

Ian's Tawny Owls

Last week I was lucky to have been invited to an official feeding station for Tawny Owls run by Ian Howells. His setup was very professional, done so in a way that ensured minimal impact to the birds welfare, using constant low red light to minimise use of flash. I've personally never done anything like this in the night time and am usually not a big fan of using flash on birds but seeing an Owl in it's natural habitat during the hours in which they're most active, was a truly memorable experience. I took one single image and it came out like this... So called it a day! haha.

Llandegfedd

Apparently I have been neglecting my Blog! So here is a quick update for May. As many of you already know, I started my new Job at Llandegfedd at the start of May and have been pretty busy as a result. The Job is going great! and it's so good to be close to home and recording wildlife sightings on my patch again. Today was a perfect example of how great it is working on your birding patch as I came across my first Hummingbird Hawkmoth! Not the best photograph as it disappeared just as quick as it appeared alongside a stream feeding on Red Campions. While we're on the flower subject, I've been keeping an eye on the wild flower meadows at Llandegfedd this year as I have some Orchid tours todo in work in June. So far we have a decent show of both Common Spotted Orchid and Southern Marsh Orchid with the meadows being covered in Yellow Rattle and Bird's foot Trefoil. Hopefully this year we'll get a good show of Butterflies but so far the Dragonflies are really showing well, especially the Beautiful Demoiselles at Sor Brook. 

Not all about Birds!.. today at-least

Despite having a fantastic day for Birds today with great company from local Bird ringer Steve Carter, I have to admit, the insect and plant life stole the show for me. Especially after finding two firsts, in the form of a Green Hairstreak Butterfly and a Fairy Longhorn Moth, both of which are extremely small but make up for their size in sheer beauty! Both were also found on 'The British', one of the many lost and forgotten sites in the valleys that continues to surprise me. How lucky we are to have such places on our doorstep. I only wished more people could appreciate it as this site also so happens to be heavily abused and vandalised by locals.

 

Yellow Archangel 

Green Hairstreak Butterfly

Fairy Longhorn Moth

Beautiful Demoiselle 

Beautiful Demoiselle 

The British

What a place! Can't believe they want to build houses here.. Had some great birds on the british, with Red Grouse, Reed Bunting, Redstart, Wheatear, Cuckoo, Wood Warbler and a Ringed Whinchat that appears to be one of Steven Smiths birds from Blaenavon. Whinchats are fresh in from Africa at the moment so it will be interesting to see if this particular Bird will carry on moving back to its breeding grounds from which it was born, or whether it will hold a new territory nearby. Either way, what a great success story. If we can possible catch the  bird or get a better photo of the ring, we will be able to find out exactly how old this bird is. 

Towards the evening I stopped off at Llandegfedd, just before we were hit by a hail storm, only to find lots of Orange-tips pairing up. <3 Love is in the air. 

Tawny Owls

Started new Job at Llandegfedd today but still managed to find some time with the camera after work to photograph a friends local Tawny Owl. What a fantastic Bird to have nesting in your chimney pot! This is the adult female and I've been told that sometimes both parents perch out to keep watch. It probably gets quite hot and cramped in there, even more so when the chicks get bigger i bet! I suspect they'll be getting some fluffy white chicks out on the ledge pretty soon. When that happens the Parents may have to find a new perch for themselves.