Author: martintayler

I had seen reports of whinchat in Stoke Park this morning and popped across to see if I could see them. I had no luck but was very pleased to see a common sandpiper fly across Duchess Pond but wasn’t quick enough to get a photo. Fortunately, when we moved to the other side of the pond it flew back again and gave me a second chance. It stayed around for a while even though it was harassed by a moorhen.

Just as exciting was the joy of two young girls with binoculars who clearly appreciated having the sandpiper pointed out to them.

Our visit to the Welsh Wildlife Centre at the Teifi Marshes Reserve was not the happy experience we had enjoyed last year when we saw an otter. The first hide (Kingfisher hide) had been raised to the ground by arsonists and the only bird in sight was a mallard.

At the Creek hide all we saw was a crow.

At the Mallard hide the three occupants clearly decided that extreme social distancing was necessary and made no attempt to move cameras and/or camera bags to allow us to sit down. However, I did manage a photo of a little grebe from the back of the hide but that was all we could see.

Appropriately at the Curlew hide looking out on to the River Teifi we did see a solitary curlew. (I am sure the canoeists on the river had frightened anything else away.)

There was then a moment of joy when we saw a kingfisher fly across a pool on the marshes side of the path.

At the Heron hide there were just two wood pigeons and at the last hide on the Wetland Trail, the Otter Hide, there was absolutely nothing. I would be surprised to see an otter here as there was no water in sight.

Disappointing yes, but a pleasant walk and thankfully the rain had stopped by the time we had arrived at the reserve.

On returning to our holiday cottage we had a walk along the road to the Ty Glyn Davis walled garden which is set in a beautiful woodland alongside the River Aeron. This sensory walled garden has been developed specifically for people with special needs – there is a holiday centre for people with special needs nearby.

Despite the unseasonably cold weather (14 degrees C) there was one Red Admiral butterfly. Along the river we saw a grey wagtail.

Yesterday the weather was so poor that I only managed a handful of photos, taken at our holiday cottage, of a buzzard and a small tortoiseshell butterfly.

We explored a bit of the Ceredigion coast paths near Cymtydu (south of Newquay) and a nature reserve NNR Rhos Llawr Cwrt, where it was so wet and boggy that we didn’t even get out of the car.

Today we headed north to Ynyslas (north of Borth) and had a good walk around the salt marshes and sand dunes on the Dyfi estuary. However, the light was so poor that all I managed to photograph was a pair of sanderlings on the shore line.

After our walk we headed to Cors Dyfi (still on the Dyfi estuary) to the osprey project where we were lucky enough to see ospreys before they head south to Africa. In the visitor centre we could see on camera two very mature chicks on the nest. When we went out to the observation tower we could see a female osprey near the nest. A male then returned with a fish. Again the light was so dismal that I only achieved very poor photos which I publish just for the record.

A combination of poor weather, very good weather, other activity holidays and golf has restricted my opportunity for nature photography but we have returned to Wales on holiday full of optimism for the week ahead. However, the first two days have presented little opportunity as the weather has been poor.

Yesterday we took a deviation on our journey to our holiday cottage in Ciliau Aeron (south of Aberaeron) to visit the Llyn Brianne reservoir. We saw red kites, buzzards, ravens, kestrels and a meadow pipit but all quite distant and in very poor light. However, the scenery (even on a dull day) was well worth the detour.

Today it has rained for most of the day and so we visited Jane Beck Welsh Blanket shop at Ty Zinc, Llwyn-y-Groes near Tregaron and enjoyed the blankets and, as a keen birder and entomologist, her advice on where to visit locally. Luckily on the way home we stopped at a lay-by and I had the opportunity to photograph a red kite being mobbed by a corvid.

Maybe the sun will shine tomorrow.

We spent the morning visiting a few of the hides on the north of the reserve, walking as far as the Estuary hide. We didn’t, in fact, see many birds from any of the hides other than the first one. Here we had a very fruitful time with good views of avocets and chicks, tufted ducks and ducklings, green sandpipers, black-tailed godwit and (one of my all time favourites) little ringed plovers.

We then drove up to Rodborough Common but I put my camera away and we succumbed to lunch al fresco at The Bear Hotel. No complaints about that.

Despite the disappointing weather we had a fabulous trip to this wild and remote shingle spit, the largest in Europe – Orford Ness is an internationally important coastal nature reserve, with a fascinating 20th century military history.

You take a short boat trip from Orford Quay and, as the National Trust website says ,”follow trails through a stunning landscape and a history that will both delight and intrigue. Discover an internationally important nature reserve littered with debris and unusual, often forbidding, buildings from a sometimes disturbing past.’

Unusual structures scattered across the salt marshes and shingle beaches of Orford Ness are remnants of the island’s unique history as a test site for communications and weapons systems.

With Covid restrictions you are currently allocated approximately four hours for your visit and we spent most of our time exploring the wildlife. We did, however, visit some of the military buildings where there were exhibitions of the secret military past.

The National Trust’s website gives a very good account

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/orford-ness-national-nature-reserve

Currently there is also a physical and online art exhibition – Artangel’s Afterness (see the website https://www.artangel.org.uk/project/afterness/) and headsets are freely available but we preferred to listen to the sound of the birds, particularly skylark and oystercatcher.

Due to the bird breeding season we were only allowed to visit a small section of the marshes (red route on map below) but there was more than enough for us to see.

A telescope would have been useful to see the distant views of waders but many were close enough to see and photograph. There was one spectacular moment when, near the end of our visit as I was photographing a distant marsh harrier, a spoonbill flew directly overhead. I am embarrassed to say how many shots I took of this delightful bird.

Gallery of some of the buildings and landscapes on Orford Ness

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As well as migrating birds the marshland and shingle beaches are also home to hares and rare plants and lichens.

Gallery of some of the photos I took:

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Can’t wait to go back (even though I don’t expect to get such good views of a spoonbill again).

Gallery of just a few of the photos I took of the spoonbill!:

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Photographs taken of dragonflies and damselflies (and a meadow brown butterfly) at a pool near Court Barn at Shelley Priory in Suffolk. I looked at this pool earlier in the week on a dull day and saw very little. The sun came out and voilà …

I look forward to identifying these on my return from holiday. It shouldn’t take long as many are repeats.

No wolves but a close encounter with a badger in this ancient woodland. A few rays of sunshine brought out the butterflies with Speckled Woods, Ringlets, Red and (a first for me) White admirals.

The song of nightingales, a rare sighting of a turtle dove, sand martins, yellowhammers, whitethroats, chiffchaffs , kestrels and a red kite were some of the joys of this reserve on the Stour estuary in Essex.

I had seen reports from a local odonatologist that he had seen a Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly on our local patch amongst the more abundant Blue-tailed Damselfly. This has now been confirmed and apparently this is now the only site in (the former county of) Avon for these damselflies. What is just as exciting is that this is the 23rd species of dragonfly noted in the park, meaning that we now have more than half the country’s species at the site.

I therefore thought that as there is a Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly in the park this would be a good time to go and try my hand at photographing dragonflies and damselflies and then try the even more difficult task of identifying them.

Around Duchess Pond there was indeed an abundance of dragonflies and damselflies and here are some of my photographic attempts. I’m less sure about my ID skills.

I may have photographed others!

Other than moorhens, coots and Canada geese I didn’t see many birds except fora very cheery song thrush which posed very nicely for me.

A week’s holiday in St Ives didn’t lend itself a lot to bird photography (unless I wanted to spend my time photographing gulls making a nuisance of themselves in the town and even I would have felt too much of a Wally doing that). However, despite the mediocre weather and the restrictions caused by the G7 conference in nearby Carbis Bay, we did have a lovely time visiting some of the great gardens of Cornwall and walking some of the magnificent coastal paths. We even spotted a few birds too.

We found three gardens new to us – Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens (https://www.tremenheere.co.uk/), Trengwainton Garden NT (https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/trengwainton-garden) and Trerice NT (https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/trerice).

At Tremenheere we particularly loved the exotic and sub-tropical plants (reminded us of our trips to South Africa) and the wonderful views of St Michael’s Mount and Mounts Bay. All three gardens had decent cafés too.

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After our visit to Tremenheere on the first day we also had a walk around Marazion Nature Reserve run by the RSPB where there were swallows, martins, whitethroats, grey herons and egrets.

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On our second day we visited Trengwainton Garden near Penzance and then headed north to the coast to walk a section of the coastal path with views of Cape Cornwall and Botallack Head and its tin mines famous from the tv series Poldark.

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Later in the week we spent a day in and around Hayle (on the estuary and at Godrevy Point) and saw quite a few birds. The National Trust has been working closely with their tenant farmers to find ways of improving wildlife across the high yielding broccoli fields and everywhere you now see the purple flowers of a crop called Phocelia which acts as a green manure, reduces the need for fertilizers and is a great nectar source for bees and butterflies

The aircraft carrier tucked behind Godrevy lighthouse served as a constant reminder of the G7 conference at Carbis Bay

Phocelia looks spectacular on a sunny day – not so today

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We stopped at Trerice NT (near Newquay) early on our journey home for a well-earned coffee stop after the exertions of packing up and tidying our holiday let.

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Just a few nature photos of my walk today in my local parks of Eastville Park and Snuff Mills along the River Frome in Bristol.

And a few of my favourite flowers: