Not the best day for Photography with fairly thick fog covering most of Pontypool. Was hoping that going further up the mountain I may get above the fog but it was ten times worse. Didn't seem to put the birds off though and luckily for me, I brought my recording gear.

My recording gear is perfect for days like today where visibility is poor and sound becomes a much more reliable way of picking out birds in the fog. Lucky for me I can ID them by sound alone and I picked out some notable birds today as a result of this. I heard Crossbill, Redwing, Fieldfare and a single Curlew flying in the thick fog.. which I would have missed if it wasn't for my parabolic dish.

On the way up the mountain I checked on my local gorse patches to see if the Yellowhammers were back in song and despite being back on their breeding grounds, I only picked out a few calls, no full songs just yet. Not that recording them was even possible today with over 20 off-road vehicles ripping up the coal spoils and creating a racket. Still not sure what I think about the off-road activity there, though for the time being, it doesn't seem to effect the Yellowhammers.

Something that was quite sad and certainly does effect the Yellowhammers was the burnt Gorse patches. This particular patch did home a Yellowhammer nest last season and its now completely ruined.

Signs of spring are growing every day and today was no exception with Yellowhammer in full song back on territory and Curlew returning to some of their upland breeding grounds. Today marks the first day of the year for Upland Curlews (for me) and I've not heard of any other recordings in Gwent of such activity yet so think this may be the first record. I visited several favourite spots locally today and all of which were upland / moorland. Each day I grow to love our uplands more and more as I realise just how important the habitat is for the majority of our wildlife. I went out with an open mind today prepared to take whatever was presented to me and I was pleasantly surprised to find Yellowhammer back on territory singing their hearts out. Spring has already started for some birds. My local Long-tailed Tits are already starting to build their nest from spiders webs, lichens and feathers.

I've spoken about the Yellowhammer Dialects project before so I won't go into too much detail but if you're interested in sound recording and have any records, even phone recordings, of a Yellowhammer, please contribute to this incredible project - http://www.yellowhammers.net/

I'm the only one that has submitted recordings in South Wales so records here a looking thin despite our abundance of Yellowhammers. It is important to record birdsong for this very reason so please have a look at their website as Pavel is doing a great Job.

It was my brother that spotted this Curlew flying in from Llandegfedd direction and immediately after he saw it the bird gave off that iconic call giving its identity away. It later on landed in a cultivated field and later flew further north.

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