There’s another world out there!
Photos from a slightly different morning walk on the Stafford Barton Estate in Devon before it got too hot for us with temperatures reaching 30C in the afternoon.
Author: martintayler
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12th August 2025 – Stafford Barton Estate, Dolton, Devon
The peacock joined us for our breakfast coffee Goldfinches waiting for their opportunity Speckled wood butterfly in the woods Scandinavian style log cabin under construction on the estate with its lovely sedum roof Emperor dragonfly Mid-air collision averted just in time Emperor dragonfly heading straight for me Must be great seeing the seasons change here Emperor dragonfly Don’t know much about these – water boatmen I presume Damselflies Fortunately plenty of shade on the way home Common buzzard showing us the way -
11th August 2025 – Dolton, Devon
For 47 years of my working life as a teacher I had to take my holidays with the majority of the population in July and August. So now, in my retirement, we rarely go away at this time of the year. However, it’s such an exceptionally wonderful summer that we could’t resist another trip when we saw a cottage advertised on a private estate in north Devon. It’s a beautiful part of the country and only just over a 100 miles from home. The fact that there is a major RHS garden just down the road was an added attraction. So far we haven’t visited RHS Garden Rosemoor as we are so enjoying the peace and quiet of the gardens, the heaths and the woodland of the estate and visiting a couple of local nature reserves.
Stafford Barton in north Devon 
Stafford Barton’s peacock 
Our accommodation – the Old Stables 
A very warm Devon welcome with cream sponge and a selection of local ciders 
Very comfortable and cosy inside The estate took on a different tone on our second full day here when the owners opened the gardens to the local villages and we were treated to live music, local ales and ciders and cream teas on the lawns. What is there not to like about all this?
Getting ready for the garden party 
The gardens were looking spectacular for the garden party 
The mad hatter’s tea party before the garden party started 
English country life at its very best This is such a special place that I wanted to keep a memory of the estate and so have prepared a separate page which you can share by following this link to Stafford Barton Estate August 2025
Stafford Barton between Dolton and Iddesleigh (where we had lunch in the Duke of York pub on our first day and where I last stayed 55 years ago- now immortalised in Michael Morpurgo’s “War Horse”) As for the nature opportunities: so far I have been able to practice my camera skills on the house martins and swallows but have had some difficulty capturing the large flocks (a charm indeed!) of goldfinches which swoop down to gorge on the seed heads in the lovely meadows which are left for the wildlife. There has been plenty of wildlife to photograph and keep me busy on our walks too.
House martin 
House martin 
Swallow 
Swallow 
House martin 
House martin 
Swallow 
Goldfinch gorging on seed heads 
Goldfinch beating a hasty retreat 
A very small section of a charm of goldfinches 
Buzzard on our walk through the estate 
Buzzard calling loudly 
Holly blue butterfly on our visit to Halsdon Nature Reserve 
Painted lady butterfly at Stafford Barton 
Common darter dragonfly at Stafford Barton 
Speckled wood butterfly at Stafford Barton 
Gate keeper butterfly at Stafford Barton 
No deer to be seen yet but plenty of signs of wildlife on our walk at Stafford Barton 
A bucolic scene at Stafford Barton 
Clear paths through the woodlands 
… and across the heath 
Underwing of painted lady butterfly at Stafford Barton 
Scarlet pimpernel at Stafford Barton 
So many insects attracted by the wild flowers on the Stafford Barton estate 
The view from our porch 
Our walk on the third day 
A section of the quarry at Meeth Quarry nature reserve 
Small white Butterly at Meeth Quarry nature reserve 
Common blue damselfly at Meeth Quarry nature reserve 
Speckled wood butterfly at Meeth Quarry nature reserve 
Beautiful heather in full colour everywhere at Meeth Quarry nature reserve 
Little grebe at Meeth Quarry nature reserve 
Great crested grebe with chicks on its back at Meeth Quarry nature reserve 
Time for a swim 
Canada geese at Meeth Quarry nature reserve 
Cormorants at Meeth Quarry nature reserve 
Centaury at Meeth Quarry nature reserve 
Devil’s bit scabious at Meeth Quarry nature reserve 
Beautiful demoiselle at Meeth Quarry nature reserve That’s three day’s done with three more to go. I thought I wouldn’t get a chance to do a blog during the holiday as the only fault I could find with our accommodation was that the broad band was slow and yet three days in and the owner has got BT Open Reach to upgrade it! What service!
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30th July 2025 – St George Park, Bristol
Local parks are a great place to see wildlife up close.
On a visit to a suburban park a little outside my local area I was very encouraged to see how much local volunteers were doing to provide information about the wildlife in the park and just as pleased to see that the information boards were being respected and not covered in graffiti.
It was also very encouraging to see how many people were showing a genuine interested in the birds.
Lesser black-backed gull 
Mallards at this time of the year are quite dull but their plumage is still very attractive 
Hands on with feeding the pigeons 
Cormorant drying its wings after a fishing trip 
Nothing like a good flap 
A big surge to get out of the water 
More colour than you think 
A good place to have a scratch 
Demonstration od agility and balance 
Plenty of swans and cygnets in the park 
Black-headed gull 
Pigeons doing a circuit of the lake to find a new source of people feeding them seeds – there were plenty of options. Everyone now seems to know not to feed them bread. -
28th July 2025 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire
The WWT (Wildlife and Wetlands Trust) is a growing, global community of nature lovers who do brilliant things for nature, especially encouraging young people to engage with nature. However, we visit WWT Slimbridge in the school holidays with some trepidation as we know it is going to be packed with very noisy, excitable children. Yet today (as most times) we were able to visit certain parts of the reserve in relative peace and quiet. The only children we came across were well-behaved and already enthusiastic nature lovers, generally accompanied by knowledgeable and encouraging grandparents.
This is the time of the year when many “birders” turn to butterflies but today there was plenty to keep us engaged and the only butterflies of note were red admirals. We had a good walk down to the Severn Estuary and , although the tide was really too high to see much on the water, we saw plenty en route.
Red admirals are ubiquitous at the moment in this part of the country 
Slimbridge is famous for its Bewick and Whooper swans in winter but today there was a black swan. 
The juxtaposition of this little egret to the black swan was quite splendid 
A young lapwing 
Who says we only have LBJs in the UK? Goldfinch having a drink. 
We are lucky to see so many egrets in this part of the world these days. 
Little egret in flight 
Lapwing in flight 
A proud mum tufted duck 
… and one of her ducklings 
… and another (only because they are so cute) 
Clever planting attracts many bees 
I wish the achillea in my garden was as bright as this cousin 
One of five green sandpipers 
Green sandpiper 
Green sandpiper 
Sand Martin down on the estuary 
The light was poor down by the estuary but I could just capture these barn swallows 
Common sandpiper on the Severn Estuary 
Goldfinch in flight Kingfisher with a small appetiser 
Kingfisher 
Kingfisher 
Kingfisher 
Kingfisher 
Kingfisher 
Pied/white wagtail 
Pied/white wagtails 
Black-headed gull 
Black-headed gull 
Goldfinch A spoonbill, common cranes and curlews (heard but not seen) all too far for my lens.
There was even a lovely exhibition of very accomplished textile wall hangings -
16th July 2025 – Brecknockshire, Wales
We have had a few days away in and around Brecknockshire in Wales. We started at Talybont-on-Usk which is only 55 miles away from where we live in Bristol and easily reached in well under 2 hours, driving through some stunningly beautiful countryside.
We wanted to see if we could see a pair of ospreys who have produced a chick for the first time. We walked along the Montgomeryshire and Brecon Canal where we knew there was a vantage point where we could see (at some distance) the nest.
The Montgomeryshire and Brecon Canal at Talybont-on-Usk 
The female osprey (right) joining the male who was busy devouring a fish about 300 metres away from the nest After all the hot weather we have had it was much nicer for us walking in the much cooler conditions. However, we hadn’t really counted on rain and , although we had views of both male and female and the chick, it was not ideal conditions for photography.
The female osprey with chick in the nest. There’s a great website with webcams of the ospreys at https://www.uskvalleyospreys.org where you can really see what’s going on.
The weather brightened later on and we had a walk around a section of a nearby lake at Llangors.
There were lots of Canada geese and cormorants on this section of the lake at the start of our walk at Llangasty Talyllyn on the south side of the lake 
The church at Llangasty Talyllyn 
Looking north across the lake 
The thatched bird hide with a stained glass window – they take their birding seriously here in Wales The stained glass window in the hide From the hide we had distant views of large numbers of great crested grebe and coots and a much closer view of a passover buzzard.
The buzzard passing in front of of the hide above the lily pads 
Buzzard 
Loads of great crested grebes On our way back we suddenly came across a patch of ground with all sorts of wildlife:
Large skipper butterfly 
A rather weather-beaten meadow brown butterfly 
Bee and ladybird 
Peacock butterfly and common wasp 
Common blue damselfly 
Green-veined white 
Soldier beetle 
Hoverfly 
The views of the environs of the lake were quite stunning 
…as were the views of the Brecon Beacons on our way to our pub accommodation at the Griffin at Felin Fach near Brecon 
Felinfach Griffin 
Brecon Beacons We were very unlucky with the weather on the second day and were forced to dash between showers visiting bookshops in Hay-on-Wye which is famous as a book town and for its literary festivals.
One of the many bookshops in Hay-on-Wye After a snack lunch (the meals were so good at the Griffin we restricted ourselves to one Welsh Cake with our coffee at lunchtime) we set off for Llanthony Priory but we failed to reach our destination as the road was inexplicably closed for several hours just short of our destination. So, we made do with the stunning scenery in the Black Mountains and made our way back to our accommodation.
Fortunately there are plenty of passing places 
The weather did not spoil our enjoyment of the views 
We got as far as this sweet little chapel 
… and enjoyed seeing the wild ponies 
… and sheep The next day there were more stunning views of the Brecon Beacons.
The Brecon Beacons 
View back down through the valley towards Brecon 
It’s quite some years since we have climbed Pen-y-fan. You can just make out some of the early starters at the top 
We were going to climb a 1000 feet or so but by a much easier route on the Brecon Mountain Railway 
… starting from Pant station near Merthyr Tydfil 
All-weather carriages 
Not quite Darjeeling or Shimla but a lot of fun all the same For the real train buffs a few more shots of the locomotive which was made in Philadelphia but spent all its working life between mines in South Africa from where it was rescued and restored by amazing volunteers from this part of Wales.
All restored by enthusiastic volunteers 
The Brecon Mountain Railway fuelled by coal from Columbia! 
There’s generally a robin to save the day when I haven’t taken many bird photos -
12th July 2025 – Bristol
We are enjoying (or is it enduring?) our second heatwave of the summer and with temperatures reaching 32 ° C today its certainly too hot to go birding; so, I have gone on safari in the garden to amuse myself.
But now I’m finding it a bit too hot to write a blog. Back to the tennis and the cricket then …
But before I go, just a few photos of what I discovered:
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13th June 2025 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire
We made our second trip to Slimbridge to try to see the white-spotted bluethroat which has returned to the Severn Estuary for the fifth year running. Normally, the white-spotted subspecies typically breeds on the near continent but this is perhaps a sign that with climate change it is extending its range further north. Sadly, however, this male has so far failed to find a mate. Our luck was in and, after not too long a wait, it made an appearance. Ironically it appeared on a notice board warning not to linger and, showing its discipline, soon moved off. It continued to show well in the reeds.
You would think that singing like this its song would carry both the Bristol and English Channel 
White spotted bluethroat 
White spotted bluethroat 
White spotted bluethroat 
White spotted bluethroat There was plenty else to see on the walk out to the Severn Estuary.
Bee orchids 
Meadow brown 
Large skipper butterfly 
Painted lady butterfly The marbled white escaped my camera
I imagine a hybrid goose 
A snow goose or a Ross’s goose 
Pied avocet (or simply avocet as we call them in the UK) 
Black-headed gulls 
Great egret 
Great egret 
Great egret 
A shelduck duckling 
More shelduck ducklings 
Scarce chase 
Scarce chaser 
A rather shy robin 
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6th June 2025 – Carry-le-Rouet, France
Following our week’s nature trip to The Camargue we have spent the last week near to Carry-le-Rouet, a seaside resort 30 kilometres west of Marseille, on the Côte Bleue.
View from the garden of our holiday let of the beach at Rouet plage which is set in a limestone calanque famous along this part of the Mediterranean coast. 
Rouet plage Mainly we have been relaxing in the local area but we have had a couple of trips out: one of a nature interest to Le Bassin de Réaltor near to Cabriès on the road to Aix-en-Provence and another to the nearby town of Martigues, nicknamed the “Provençale Venice” and which is a point of passage between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Martigues (now Etang de Berre), close to the Côte d’Azur.
Our trip to the Bassin de Réaltor wasn’t a total success as, relying on a local source, we ended up high above the reservoir but, as it was extremely hot, we settled for a walk in the wood and an early return to Cabriès for lunch.
We saw and heard very few birds (perhaps it was too hot for them too) but we did see a few different butterflies and enjoyed the flora in the wood.
The beginning of our walk 
We caught glimpses of the Bassin de Réaltor down below 
Southern red admiral butterfly 
Southern red admiral butterfly 
Blue spot hairstreak butterfly 
Spanish gatekeeper butterfly And some beautiful flora:
Grey-leaved cystus (Rockrose) 
Asteriscus aquaticus 
Royal knight’s spur 
Common viper’s bugloss Martigues was beautiful but didn’t give us much opportunity for nature watching (other than a wonderful display of swifts as we ate our lunch in the area know as “le mirror aux oiseaux”) and a yellow-legged gull attempting to steal a fish which looked very much like the merlan (whiting) I had had for lunch.
The view from our table at the restaurant in “le mirror aux oiseaux – the swifts up above were too much for my phone camera! 
Yellow-legged gull and fish 
Le miroir aux oiseaux Apart from those two trips we have stayed locally and spent a lot of time sitting on the terrace with the wonderful view of the Mediterranean below. That didn’t stop me snapping a few pics of anything that came my way.
Small-white butterfly 
Green-veined white butterfly 
Mylabris quadripunctata 
Meadow brown butterfly 
Longhorn beetle 
Terrible picture of black redstart 
Common brimstone 
Common brimstone 
Common brimstone 
Collared doves 
European paper wasp 
Red-legged cannibalfly (apparently) Red-legged cannibalfly (apparently) – certainly frightened me and so I put my camera away -
2nd June 2025 – Reflections on our trip to the Camargue
We really enjoyed our recent nature trip to the Camargue. We knew the region a little before this trip as we have visited here a number of times as tourists in the days when we had a motorhome; but this was our first trip here since we have become particularly interested in bird watching.
White stork The week was organised by the speciality nature trip company “Naturetrek” and we have been very pleased with the “Go slow in the Camargue” programme. The administration before the tour was good, the accommodation and food at the hotel was more than adequate for such a trip and the two guides, Marcus John and Neil Murphy, were excellent: they were very knowledgeable, drove the minibuses with care and consideration, produced amazingly good picnic lunches with locally resourced food and drink , had a very good rapport with all the group and made sure everyone saw a fantastic number of birds. Above all they are clearly good chaps and were a pleasure to be with. As well as providing a suitable programme to achieve the programme title of “Go slow in the Camargue” they also offered regular optional early morning walks and late evening sorties. They were the main reasons for the success of the tour.
We visited various local nature reserves, stopped often by the roadside in the marshes of the Camargue, had a trip to the coast to see different types of birds and see the salt works (le Salin de Giroud), did a number of other “touristy” visits to Arles, the Roman aqueduct of Barbegal near Fontvielle, Les Baux de Provence and Le Musée de Camargue – all whilst incorporating opportunities for more bird watching.
Ruins of the Roman aqueduct of Barbegal 
Le salin de Giroud 
Le salin de Giroud 
Pelagic birding (?) at la plage de Piémanson. 
Gull-billed terns certainly rate high on any of my lists (if I had any) 
Probably my bird of the week – night heron 
One of my favourite reserves in the Camargue 
At the Maraiis du Vigueirat reserve we saw grey, purple and, here, squacco heron 
Another of the nature reserves we visited which I shall remember for a good sighting of a cuckoo 
Cuckoo – great to see as well as hear 
One of our picnic venues – beneath a mulberry bush 
One swallow doesn’t make a summer – but this one convinced me that we really were in summer 
Hôtel des Granges just outside Arles 
We often saw black kites close over our hotel and enjoyed the song of nightingales throughout the week 
View from our bedroom window of l’Abbaye de Montmajour 
Hobby on one of the optional early morning walks 
My favourite shot from beside the road – six spoonbills seen from le Chemin de Mas d”Agon 
Purple herons at the same place on the Chemin de Mas d’Agon 
Let’s hope that one day these beauties are regulars in our skies (but we will probably be in a lot of trouble in other ways!) 
Le Musée de Camargue 
I don’t like to see birds in cages but it is worth remembering what amazing things people do in rescuing such birds 
Les Arènes d’Arles 
Photographic exhibition in the streets of Arles 
European roller seen on one of our optional evening trips 
Our visit to Les Baux de Provence 
My favourite memory of les Baux de Provence – a swallowtail butterfly 
Our guide Marcus was relieved that I was able to get a shot of a bee eater, certainly after all the banter I gave him. 
Glossy ibis were regularly seen in the rice fields 
The rice fields brought us loads of beautiful birds and many interesting beers too 
Purple heron at the Marais de Mas d”Agon 
How can such big birds, such as this white stork, be so agile? 
It wasn’t all about the birds – Orange-tipped orange dropwing 
Flora and fauna 
White-tailed skimmer 
Terrapin at the Marais de Vigueirat 
Coypu 
It wouldn’t be the Camargue without greater flamingos 
Common tern was the most common of the terns we saw 
Black-winged stilts were seen at all the reserves 
Black-winged stilt 
So many of the glossy ibis, herons and storks with juveniles 
Grey herons 
White storks 
Spanish gatekeepers seemed much brighter than the gatekeepers we see in the UK 
Painted lady butterfly 
Large skipper butterfly 
False ilex hairstreak butterfly at Les Baux de Provence 
Did I mention the swallowtail? Oh and I nearly forgot … those wonderful wild horses of the Camargue:
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31st May 2025 – The Camargue, France
More amazing photo opportunities today at the Parc Ornithogique de Pont de Gau.
Greater flamingo 
Greater flamingo Greater flamingo 
Greater flamingos Black-winged stilt 
Greater flamingos 
Grey heron 
Glossy ibis and hungry youngsters A rescue Eagle owl 
A rescue eagle owl 
Glossy ibis 
Greater flamingo 
Cattle egret 
Grey heron with juveniles 
Grey heron 
Grey heron 
Common tern 
Small white butterfly 
Great willow herb 
Not our transport for the day 
Bee eater on our way back to the hotel Now I’m wondering what to do with the remaining 1500 photos from today!
Post script:and now for a week to recover on the coast near Marseille.
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30th May 2025 – Les Baux de Provence, France
This morning we visited Les Beaux de Provence, a rocky outcrop that is crowned with a ruined castle overlooking the plains to the south located in the foothills of the Alpilles mountains, northeast of Arles. We spent less than an hour and a half birding below the castle as it was very hot; then a similar period of time visiting the beautiful village and, along with many tourists, tasting its ice creams!
There was one very special moment when I managed to track a swallowtail butterfly for just over a minute and took a huge number of shots of it, mainly in flight. I am happy to share just a few of them with you in this blog.
At the foot of the historic village of Les Baux-de-Provence, le Chemin des Trémaïé 
The chapel and the Trémaïé Bas-relief 
The Trémaïé Bas-relief, carvings in the rock above the chapel 
Alpine swifts 
Blue rock thrush 
Blue rock thrush 
Female blue rock thrush Spanish gatekeeper butterfly 
Blue rock thrush 
Beautiful views at every turn 
Swallowtail 
Swallowtail 
Swallowtail Swallowtail Swallowtail 
Swallowtail 
Swallowtail 
Swallowtail 
Swallowtail 
Swallowtail 
Swallowtail 
Looking down from the terraces of the village 
Les Alpilles de Provence 
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29th May 2025 – The Camargue, France
I am having such wonderful photographic opportunities on our trip to The Camargue that I am having limited time to edit photographs and record the narrative of our trip. So, just a few photos to give a taste of what a wonderful time we have been having in the last few days.
European roller near to our hotel outside Arles 
Hobby Glossy ibis over rice field 
Little egret 
Spoonbill 
Six spoonbills in formation over le Chemin du Mas d’Argon in the Camargue Purple heron 
The same purple heron on its way back 
Western demoiselle Barn swallow 
Greater flamingo Black-winged stilt 
Les Arènes d”Arles – I just missed the opportunity of a shot of swifts as they screeched past as I (clearly) had the wrong lens attached. 
Les Arènes d”Arles 
Les Arènes d”Arles 
La Camargue 
Rice fields in the Camargue 
Les Alpilles de Provence where we saw Bonelli’s Eagle and Short-toed Snake Eagles 
Musée de la Camargue 
A visit to the Musée de la Camargue 
A visit to the Musée de la Camargue
Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos 