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Sand Martin

Llandegfedd & Local News

News

Firstly some good news! After much hard work from local supporters and our local ecologist Steve Williams, Torfaen Council Refused the proposal for the development at Tirpentwys Quarry. I'm so happy about this decision and I hope that it doesn't get appealed in the future. I'm not sure on what basis the plans were refused yet, but I assume it was based around the proposed access route which would have required a corridor of between 25 and 30 metres of vegetation to be removed and resulted in a loss of approximately three hectares of ancient woodland. Personally, the sites biodiversity alone should have held its own. Read more about it

Birds

Local patches have really been producing the goods this week with the cold northernly winds holding migration up. We've had thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of Swallows and Sand / House Martins feeding at Llandegfedd, along with 2 Wheatear,  2 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Firecrest and a lingering Egyptian Goose. Short trip to the Wetlands resulting in similar activities with Common Whitethroat & Lesser Whitethroat aplenty. Bearded Reedlings were whizzing around with Sedge & Reed Warbler filling the reeds with their scratchy songs.   

Insects

The first Hairy Dragonflies of the year are emerging, picked up on the board walk alongside the visitors centre in the tops of the hedgerows. Apologies for the terrible record shot. Green-veined and Orange-tip Butterflies were also feeding / hiding away from the cold along the tall hedgerows. I hope you like my Green Tiger Beetle shot, I was particularly happy with it but still wish I had a macro lens. 

What you really come here for ;) The Photos

Migration

Today was a pretty incredible day for Birding in Gwent. This morning started pretty early, arriving at Blaenserchan before sunrise to get an early look at the reported Great Grey Shrike. I bumped into local ecologist Steve Williams and as we searched together for the Shrike, we were greeted instead with a pretty large flock of 150+ Brambling! This year has been terrible for Brambling with winter numbers quite below average so it was nice to see such a large flock of them, especially this late in winter. So late in-fact that our first Spring/Summer migrants are arriving on the same day! With Chiffchaff, Wheatear, White Wagtail and Sand Martin being my first spring visitors of the year. Other birds for the day, Reed Bunting, Stonechat, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Yellowhammer, Greenfinch, Green Woodpecker, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and many more. 

Second evening visit, finally caught up with the Great Grey Shrike, observed for a good hour mimicking the sounds of Siskin and Redpoll, I suspect to lure them in closer for the kill. Pretty incredible birds. My favourite pic was the sun going down, just about lined it up at the top of a beach tree between the mountain in the distance. 

Easter Migration

Despite the bad weather this easter weekend, spring migrants have still been turning up. Chiffchaff being my first this year followed by a Swallow and Sand Martin. Llandegfedd is yet to pull up an Osprey though and with some already arriving in their breeding grounds up North, we may not get one at all this spring. I hardly took any photographs today as I spent most of my time at Llandegfedd helping general public navigate their way around the Res. Till this day, I really don't condone the actions of Welsh Water to open the site to Public. I feel that a lot has been rushed and therefor neglected since the opening of the new visitors centre. Our wildlife conservation has since been forgotten. The only comfort I have at the moment about securing the future of Llandegfedds Wildlife is the fact that I'm well connected with staff onsite. I hope that my contacts and influence will have an effect on decisions made for this SSSI site. My patience is wearing thin however so alternative solutions are being considered.