Tuesday 2 June 2015

Two countries in two weeks, Wales and Italy

I realise I haven't written anything for a while, it takes quite a bit of time to locate and resize the photos and then to write the blog. So to catch up a bit I'll condense my two recent trips into two blogs. We were flying to Italy from Bristol airport with our daughter and her boyfriend who both live in Cardiff, so we spent a few days in South Wales before our flight. This first blog covers our time in S Wales, the second. our time in Italy.
13/05/2015. A recommendation from one of my Flickr contacts was an RSPB reserve at Gwenffrwd-dinas 
which was reputedly good for Pied flycatcher, high on my list of 'must see' species, amongst other desirable's. It was a lovely spot, and Pied flycatchers were indeed present. But, before even reaching the reserve, we passed through Llandovery, a small town, north and just outside the Brecon Beacons National Park. As we approached the town, the sky was awash with Red kite. A field had been cut for hay or silage and was being collected. Up to 20 Red kite and a few Buzzard were circling the field to pick up anything that may have been disturbed or revealed during the harvest.
 

I took lots of shots but as always with the little Canon SX50, it was quite difficult to get a focus on moving targets and also I failed to set the exposure compensation correctly for the bright sky, so most of my shots are silhouetted to a certain extent. A shame as it was the greatest concentration of of Red kite I'd ever seen (apart from over the M40 when I am driving). Apparently there is a feeding station nearby which offers photo opportunities on a daily basis, so the birds are clearly regularly in the area - maybe next time!
At the Gwenffrwd-Dians reserve, a board walk leads you through a damp wooded area, lots of nest boxes had been fitted to the trees and sure enough, stand patiently for a few minutes and Pied flycatchers appear.

 They never came particularly close during my time there but I guess if you dedicated an hour or two to the cause the opportunity  to get some closer shots may well occur. My wife was with me and although she is interested in birds, she's not that interested! The board walk ends and the path continues around the side of a hill, it involves a little bit of scrambling up rock steps in places but generally it was easy walking. It was a beautiful spot and apart from the occasional RAF fighter plane screaming over head, was very peaceful. 
The path around Gwenffrwd-Dinas.
At one point we stopped to watch a Treecreeper on a nearby trunk, it had a beak full of insects and after a couple of minutes it dived into a split in a dead tree. 

It was feeding young, and from our vantage point beside a larger tree it  pretty much ignored us. We stood and watched the pair come and go a few times when I became aware of something flying about overhead - it was a Great spotted woodpecker, but rather than fly off, it hid around the back of a tree and then flew a few yards to another tree. I saw it several times - and then I saw the hole in the tree we were stood next to. It obviously had a nest in the tree and we were preventing it from returning. We moved off leaving both Treecreeper and GSW to feed their young in peace. The other bird of note for me was a Tree pipit. It was singing from the lower branches of a tree and then parachuted down to the ground in a very graceful descent. After a few moments on the woodland floor it would fly back up and start singing again. We stood and watched it for several minutes. 
Because of the low light levels in the wood I wasn't able to get a photo of the flight display but I did get a few of it when in the tree. I'd seen one in Germany last year but this was the first UK one to my knowledge (I may have seen them years ago in Blean Woods but not sure if we saw them or just went to look for them, it was so long ago).
Other notable species seen at the reserve were Nuthatch, Grey wagtail, Willow warbler, Spotted flycatcher and Marsh tit. One I was hoping to see but didn't, a Redstart.
Back at the entrance was a feeding station for finches etc and a pair of very nice Yellowhammers came in to feed giving me my best shots of them to date.
Another excursion, on the 15th May, was to the Gower Peninsula, and again we were blessed with fabulous weather. The peninsula was the first place in Britain to be designated as 'Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty', a designation it lives up to very well. Our first stop was at Oxwich for a coffee and a brief look at the Nature Reserve. There wasn't a lot about from the hide while we were there, a lone female Gadwall floated about, a Willow warbler called from outside somewhere and a distant Heron drifted on thermals into a field.
Obviously used to getting scraps from visitors a Robin sang lustily from a fence where we'd stopped for the coffee and piece of cake and earned a reward, other than that it was pretty quiet.
We took our time but ended up at Rhossili Bay and Worm's Head, the bay is about 3 miles of sand and when we were there only a handful of people were walking on it. I spotted a muddy puddle near the village which the House martins had also discovered, collecting mud to make their nests. I was able to sit down by a wall a couple of metres from them and take lots of photos without them paying me much attention.
After a walk along the beach we headed towards Worm's Head which you can reach at low tide, we'd left it too late to attempt, but if you do cross the causeway you have to leave plenty of time to get back otherwise you can be stranded until the following low tide. 
Overcrowded Rhossili Bay and the now flooded causeway to Worm's Head.
A compliant Meadow pipit sat on the wall for me and also a Pied wagtail was nesting somewhere in the stone wall near the car park and was quite used to the people walking past - although they definitely spot when you pay any attention and pretend there is no nest  to be seen by wandering aimlessly about with a grub (and some dried grass) in their beak!


I got a new photo tick (not a very good photo mind you) on the headland, a very agitated Kestrel was chasing off a pair of Raven, I looked around and was just in time to grab a couple of shots. I'd seen the occasional Raven on the cliffs in Kent but hadn't managed to get a photo.
On a separate walk, on the road between Marcross and Monknash, a Brown hare bounded along the road towards us - it suddenly saw us and hesitated before turning around and setting off the way it had come, only to turn again as the tractor which had disturbed it in the first place rumbled up the the road. It finally weighed it's options and darted through a gap in the hedge to find freedom in a large field. Luckily I was able to get a couple of shots off before it went.
This just about concludes the few days in South Wales, although we did spend another day on our return from Italy, where we had a short walk along the remnants of the Glamorganshire Canal at Forest Farm in Cardiff. The few shots of this can be seen on my Flickr site either side of here.
Next stop, Italy.







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