Patching

Didn't commit to anything particular today. Just wanted to explore my local patch for whatever I found. I just so happened to find some really promising signs of species that I'm yet to even see although photograph. I won't give away the species just yet but it's all very exciting finding something new locally. Just when you think you've seen it all, my patch has delivered yet again. 

Llandegfedd was so busy today! All levels of the car park were full including the north car park. The water level is almost back to full level now which has brought our special Great Crested Grebes back into their breeding grounds. They haven't really had much chance to breed on Llandegfedd yet this year because of this factor. There simply hasn't been any sights for them to build a nest as the tree line has been set back far from the water line. I'm predicting that will change in the next week or so and we'll start to see typical behaviour from them. 

Save Our Moorland!!

Forgive me for expressing a bit of anger, but what gives anyone the right to destroy our moorland for selfish pleasures? It infuriates me to see 4x4 vehicles tear this specialist habitat apart like its nothing. If only people were educated in the right way, maybe then they'd realise just how much damage they were causing. It's destruction will be felt for 100's of years down the line as once the peat is exposed on the moorland it can take generations and generations for it to re-heal itself and may not heal at all! It will take hundreds of years to fix the damage that took these idiots 5 minutes to cause. Measures have been implemented to try and stop them, some of which you can see in the photo below. The middle access point has been blocked but as you can see, you block 1 access point and they create another 2. How can we stop this activity from destroying our Moorland? Well, I think I know just the thing and I'll be focusing heavily on that this year and for however long it takes to secure our moorland. If there is one hope in all this, it's that I'm aware of it and I won't rest until my local moorland and many others are secured. 

Many of our ground nesting birds have already been effected by habitat loss and persecution and if it continues, the iconic sound of our uplands will forever be lost. Today only a few Skylarks were present when the skies used to be full of them. I honestly don't think that these people realise just how delicate our landscape is. We hold the power to both destroy and maintain and if we don't take action now, we will let a small handful of people decide the fate of our moorland for generations to come. Listen to the short recording below, now imagine the sound of 12 motorbikes, gunshots and 4x4's doing donuts in the background. Between that and plane noise, we've lost what once was a place of peace, tranquility and solitude and replaced it with the sound of neglect and sadness as the wheels churn up everything special about Wales.

Between that and fly-tipping, our uplands are really paying a heavy price. Take this picture below. I'm sure the frogs don't mind the extra cover but in reality, rubbish like this can cause a list of problems and especially in high quantity like this. The frogspawn in the top left is in the only art of the pond that was clear; the rest being a pile of rubbish. 

I'm beginning to think that people just don't care for our land anymore. Perspectives need to change and that really has to come from the Government. Higher and more frequent fines need to be dished out and vehicles need to be seized. It's time we stand up for our forgotten landscape and start paying attention to the details in life that actually matter.  

Cwmbran Boating Lake

Starting to make the most of the extra light in the evenings. It's surprising what you can do in that short period where the light is fading. Even when it was completely dark, I was still able to focus on some slow shutter photography on the Avon Llwyd. Upon arrival I spotted a lone bat out in broad daylight. Not quite sure what species yet but don't think it's anything too uncommon. On the water was a single male Tufted Duck amongst the usual and after the light had gone, 5 Goosander came in to roost. 

Dormouse Course with GWT

What a fantastic way to have a presentation! Got to be the best setting I've had for this type of thing! I would have come to this no matter what was on the screen but it just to happen to be really informative too. 

We conducted our survey on the face of the Blorenge Mountain and naturally had incredible views of the Skirrid Mountain and surrounding mountains with Breacon Beacons to the left and Black Mountains to the right.  

The picture below shows a single Hazel nut which is being pushed up in the air by a growing Bluebell on the woodland bed... This was pretty much the theme of todays survey work. There were literally thousands of Hazels to check and despite being educated in finding the right type of evidence, we didn't actually find any signs of Dormouse in this particular woodland. That's not to say they aren't there though, we just didn't find the evidence. 

This goes to show how hard it is sometimes to find species and quick half hearted surveys are not always going to produce an accurate reading of what ecology is living on the land. 

Safe to say though, I had an amazing time on a dry sunny day on the Blorenge and I'm looking forward to any future opportunities to do this type of work. Dormice are a declining and protected species and if found at the nest, cannot be disturbed in any way without a Schedule 1 License. I've never seen one before so have no photographs of my own to show you so here is a link to a fabulous photograph pulled up from Google search. 
 

Afon Llwyd

Short trip to Pontypool Park to see how the Dippers are doing. Most are already well on their way and so are the Grey Wagtails by the looks of the full breeding plumage. Walking this river brings back a lot of memories as a child fishing. The smell of the river is very unique, not unpleasant but not exactly pleasant either: I can imagine it smells a hell of a lot better than it used to though! 

As you can see in the photographs, I experimented a little with slow shutter speeds as I intend on getting a close up, full frame slow shutter shot this year of a Dipper. It's not easy as you need to time it right when the bird is completely still, otherwise you'll get movement in the bird that creates motion blur. 

Good Company

I won't speak too much of the 'Falcon Experience' I had this morning but I will talk about the great company I had on todays outings. Good friend Paul Joy and I share in the odd wildlife trip to random places on what always ends up being an adventure. Here are a few head shots of my favourite owls from the captive owl experience we had today. 

Personally though, as beautiful as the birds were, the latter half of our day was the best and the most 'romantic' haha. Paul and I ended up watching the Sun set at Goldcliff point on the sea wall while experimenting... with slow... shutter photography haha. (Yes I realise how bad that was sounding but it's all good). Here are some of the results from that session. I personally love a good slow shutter photo and for those who aren't educated in photography terms, it simply means: a photograph that has been taken over a long period of time, in this case around 20 seconds. This gives you motion in the water as the sea retreated. 

Blizzard on Mynydd Maen

If only it were a Ring Ouzel you say? Well, I was happy to get anything in this weather! Lens and Camera was soaked, including myself. Luckily had a snow proof coat on today as it really did hammer down up on the top of Mynydd Maen Pontypool. Not much happening up there yet, think it's a little too cold still but on the lower parts of the common, the usual was present, including Green Woodpecker, Starlings, Redwing, Blackbird, Wren, Robin, Dunnock and a single Kesrel. 

Was nice to meet some of the locals that took an interest in my recording gear. As if the large lens on the camera wasn't enough to capture peoples attention, the recording parabolic dish certainly did it. 

Local Spring Arrivals

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. 

Short-eared Owl / Long-eared Owl

With this wild weather, snow, rain, sun, wind ect, I can't imagine how our Owls are evening managing to hunt. If we get another break in the weather, I may just have another session on these beautiful birds before they start heading off to their breeding territories. 

Slimbridge

Always so much to talk about and so much to show from a Slimbridge visit. I highly recommend the place if you're yet to visit. Plenty of spring activity here too which fighting Coots, Displaying Great Crested Grebes, Wigeon on the move and our Bewick Swans readying for their flight back to Siberia. Male and Female Sparrowhawks were regulars at the Kingfisher hide, though don't expect to get the picture easy! That wasn't the birds playing hard to get, it was the fight you had to put up in order to get thru the crowd of people once you shout Sparrowhawk! I had this really rude Man practically knocking me out of my square hole in the hide just so he could get in on the action. I took that shot below on my tip toes between 7 people who had taken over the seat I was just sat on. How rude! Some people are clearly just in it for the shot. Next time I won't do them any favours and keep my sightings to myself.