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.

Red Kite feeding frenzy at Gigrin's Farm

Whilst I was in the area, and having abandoned more walks for the present, I had a browse around the Hay bookshops in the morning and then drove up the valley to Gigrins Farm in good time to watch the spectacle of the Red Kites feeding. It was certainly fast and furious!!

Here's my video:

Red Kite Feed
Uploaded by agracarter2

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: Boat trip out to Grassholm

My last island "target" in Pembrokeshire was rocky, relatively remote,
Grassholm- so named for the seasonal grassy pastureage it once offered
for sheep from the mainland. The soil long has since blown away, and now it is home to the British Isle's third largest gannet colony. The RSPB say "Grassholm is of both national and international importance. It is an outstanding seabird spectacle, unrivalled anywhere in Wales for this species." So, definately worth the effort to go out and see for myself!


This is Grassholm as seen from Skomer.

The top of the island is whitened with the mass of nesting gannets, and their guano!
The RSPB gives an estimate of 32,000 pairs of birds nesting here

Gannets were visible almost throughout the hour long boat journey, either singley out hunting for fish or seaweed to add to their nest,

Ramsey Island is on the horizon here...

(An arty enhanced version of a less dramatic original shot!)

or in greater masses as we neared the island.

The noise of the nesting birds added to the total experience. I was spared the odourous effects...as indeed are you!

So ended my holday in lovely Pembrokeshire!

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: To Ramsey Island and beyond

Today I went to Ramsey Island, an RSPB reserve. It was bought (not that long ago)
through public donations with the aim of managing the island for choughs, approximately jackdaw sized crow family members with thin red beaks and red legs (a smart little bird!)

take a look at someone else's video of a chough here

They need grassland that is near the coast but very cropped very short, so that they can find their food items. This is why sheep are grazed here, and it was whilst awaiting a chough to photograph (I failed with this) that I snapped these relaxed looking lambs .... via my telescope!

Progressing on my way around the island, weighed down with an exess of baggage
and under a hot sun (there was NO SHADE!!!) I enjoyed views of sea birds on the cliffs, seals
in the water and wild flowers such as spring squill and blue bells around about me
....as well as scenic cliffs and rocky outcrops.From the top of the highest of the two island hills I had a grand view over the whole island, spotting the herd of red deer that also grace the island as they enjoyed a paddle in a distant (freshwater) pool. I also had a fine view across Ramsey Sound to the St. David's Pensinsula, with a further sweep around St. Bride's Bay towards the Marloes peninular and Skomer. Thus the following video, made at this point, gave an (almost complete) overview for the locations of my Pembrokeshire holiday!!

I was also able to see and photograph St. David's cathedral from an unaccustomed angle...

After returning to the mainland and a quick visit to my holiday accomodation I returned to St. Justinians for an evening boat expedition. This took us out across Ramsey Sound once again, spotting a pod of porpoises fishing in the strong tidal stream:

..then around the southern end of Ramsey, enjoying even better views of the guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes on the cliffs, of 100 or so grey seals relaxing on a beach, and some interesting sea caves and other geological features

before heading further out to sea towards the Bishop Islands, where we hoped to see some puffins. We saw two, at a distance....

The final objective of this excursion, however, was to watch out for manx shearwaters (latin name, ironically being "puffinus puffinus"!!) returning to their nests on Skomer and Skokholm after a day out feeding in the Irish sea. Later in the season we could hope to see thousands passing the boat in the course of an hour. Today we saw only a couple of dozen. But we DID see them, flying gracefully and low over the sea like little black and white albatrosses, and that was quite a treat!!

This most enjoyable boat trip ended with beautiful backward views to the Bishop Islands

and an interestingly abrupt increase in air temperature as we neared the mainland!

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.