Snow again.

During our latest "snow event" I was able to get out and about to take some photographic evidence. As before I link here to my "Facebook" album for the sake of brevity in blog creation
Please leave a comment below if you find this approach unsatisfactory in any way

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=1454649011#/photo.php?pid=30833680&id=1454649011

Fields of Gold

A walk through fields of Gold.....

Day trip to Martin Down

The weather focast for today was awful....rain, rain, rain....maybe sun if we're lucky.
But, undaunted, a group of us from the Dursley Birdwatching club set off on a LONG minibus trip to visit Martin Down, ten miles southwest of Salisbury. The Down is one of the largest areas of chalk grassland in the country. We hoped to see some interesting butterflys as well as birds Our trip leader, Vic, has a particular interest in butterflys....so we were off to a good start....if the rain stopped!!

And it did! Pretty much just as we arrived at the site the rain eased up, then stopped. After organising ourselves we set off....... greeted with a sighting of a cuckoo flying nearby.

And butterflies appeared, basking in the warming sunshine

A common Blue...

An Adonis Blue (one we had been hoping to see as its quite uncommon, and has a lovely blue colouring! And another uncommon butterfly.....a heath fritillary (seen in the more wooded area)


Florally we were pleased to see a Burnt Tip Orchid.....


....A Butterfly Orchid (Lesser or Greater......probabley the latter, apparently!)

And this is Eyebright....
Bird-wise, we found corn buntings, gloried in the skylarks singing, saw yellowhammers, Whitethroats (common and lesser) and stonechats.......and failed to see stone curlew


But we did stumble across a fairly well fed looking viper!!

Whilst we kept our distance and looked unthreatening, it did the same.....and we were pleasedto take time enjoying its lovely coppery colouring

...then we parted, on friendly terms.

So, it was a nice trip, with some good company and interesting sights and sounds to enjoy, not least of which was a purring turtle dove we heard just as we settled down for our picnic lunch

Here's a turtle dove as recorded by someone in Morrocco

It was also a good ending to my early summer holiday.

Wye Valley walking: upriver from Hay

Before finally returning to England I stopped for a few days near Glasbury to continue
on my way up the Wye Valley walk. Very lovely it was too.
The Black mountains, and my memories of the walk along the Offa's Dyke section upon the ridge
fromed a backdrop to this view....

On the following days section the river valley turned northwards, leaving the Black Mountains behind, and the river seemed to gain mysterious rocky depths.
The suspension bridge at Llanstephan forms the entry point to a roadside nature reserve (Llandeilo Graban ) rich in wildflowers. I was treated to a view of a kingfisher flying below me as I crossed over!
Once back on the western side of the river the path climbs out away from the river (and road)

and over high open commonland (home for sheep, bracken and solitude)

before dropping down to Builth Wells, where I ended my walking for this holiday....
enforced by a creaking, sore knee.

Holiday in Pembrokeshire: Visit to Skomer Island

I'm glad I visited Skomer, a wonderful place for communing with the wilds. It is Wales' second largest island, but still small enough to take in on a days visit.

That is, if have time once you can tear yourself away from the close up views of Puffins!

Because they are so photogenic, unphased by human proximity, and so close at hand, the Puffin
colony becomes the most humanly crowded place on the island....

Skomer Moments
Uploaded by agracarter

Holiday in Pembrokeshire: Coastal walks 13th- 19th May

After a beautiful holiday in Pembrokeshire, herewith some images from
my walks around St. Bride's Bay:

St. Bride's Bay
Video sent by agracarter2

And here are a few I particularly like again:

Windrush: Naunton to Bourton

After a long gap I resumed my walk down the course of the Windrush, from the quiet village of Naunton. From here the Windrush winds a gentle course, through gentle countryside..
passing gentle Cotswold "Lions"

and into the midst of genteel Bourton on the Water...

This "Venice of the Costwolds" is a real tourist honeypot, today buzzing with visitors enjoying the sunshine

and smiling at the cute ducklings, fighting the "mighty torrent" of the Windrush

Since the Windrush flows through the grounds of Birdland (http://www.birdland.co.uk/) AND i'm a birdlover it would have been crazy not to have called in and taken a wander around before leaving Bourton.

Here's looking at ya!

The Military Macaw family on parade

When I had thus enjoyed my tour of the park I made my walking return to Naunton,

following the Warden's Way path, once again, as it passed up the course of the Eye stream
through Lower and Upper Slaughter, two pretty little villages that seem modelled on the bigger busier neighbour somewhat, and then over the ridge and back to my starting point.

This was not one of my walking epics as such....but a gentle afternoon strole, and very pleasant too!

Have bike, will cycle.

Last autumn I got around to getting my old bicycle refurbished. Today I spent the morning
out enjoying the bright blue dayness and reminding myself how tricky cycling up hills can be when you are out of practice!!

Anyway, the practical result was that I had a great morning out, stopping off at Coaley Peak
to enjoy the view and catch my breath.


Following this break I proceeded on to visit "Thistledown" (website: http://www.thistledown.org.uk/ ) a project in development outside
Nympsfield with big ideas for an innovative eco-friendly visitor centre and a family friendly
Cotswold edge "green space" on a farm, with pleasant woodland trails, quirky sculture, bits of Roman stonework at a spring.....all sorts. I even had a coffee sitting by a tipi whilst children painted eggs nearby. :-D

I shall visit again and watch it develop.

To Stodmarsh

Whilst in Kent for my February break I took a trip northwards to Stodmarsh,
a little spot of wildness that I first visited many moons ago with Charlie Benson,
Jonathan Wright and others in my youth. It made a definate contribution to my
love for occasional birdwatching expeditions.


When I first visited it was alive with wintering ducks, and had recently become
a place for Cetti's warblers to inhabit in their colonisation of the UK from northern France.
Here I heard and saw snipe "drumming" for the first time, there were reed buntings,
and bearded tits, sedge and reed warblers......and marsh harriers!!!
All very exciting.



Today it was very much quieter than times I recalled, but no less wonderful as a Kentish wild place.





There were a few ducks....teal, widgeon, tufted duck, mallard, shoveler.
There was a big flurrying flock of lapwing that flew up from a field and swirled about
for a time......I wondered were the predator was but saw nothing obvious.
On the lake, as the sun set, I watched great crested grebe and a cormorant fishing.



And did I espie the lesser spotted Nature Writer of Note Simon Barnes,
he of recently read and much enjoyed "How to be Wild"??

As the daylight faded, mist began to spread up the Stour valley from seawards....and drifting

across the reed beds, in search of a roost for the night came two marsh harriers, as of yore!

But time for me to leave Stodmarsh again to the mists of time and memory....

all very refreshing!!

A Wild time I had of it.