Category: Blog

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I think it would be appropriate to refer to this blog as accidental bird watching in Pembrokeshire. We have spent the last week on holiday on the coast of West Wales where our main focus has been to entertain two youngsters.

Whilst walking coastal paths, spending a lot of time on beaches and exploring estuaries I couldn’t resist taking a few nature photos. I was especially pleased to see a family of choughs which, in the UK, are best seen in Cornwall and Pembrokeshire.

On the estuary by our holiday cottage we saw redshank, a common sandpiper,  little egrets and a buzzard.

Redshank

Common sandpiper

Little egret

Buzzard

Along the coastal path, with good views of the nearby islands including the island of Skomer, famous for its puffins but currently closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we saw the choughs and two kestrels with chicks.

Chough

Kestrel

In the car park at Carew Castle a thrush and a robin posed nicely for me.

Carew Castle

Thrush

Robin

At Martin Haven a seal seemed as curious about us as we were about it.

Everywhere there were barn swallows.

Barn swallows

… and house sparrows.

House sparrow

My last photo I’m not too sure about but think it could be a sedge warbler.

 

 

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It was very hot at Duchess Pond this afternoon. There were lots of dragonflies and damselflies on the small pond and a few swallows and lots of swifts swooping down for a drink on the main pond.

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Not Frampton on Severn again? I’m afraid so. It’s easy access for us, being north of Bristol, and gives us a great opportunity to see rural Britain in all it’s glory with an easy walk and very few people around. It poured with rain on our arrival and so we had our coffee before our walk and then luckily dodged the showers.

Swallows on the village green

Great crested grebe on the lake

Blue-tailed Damselfly 

A variety of dragonflies and damselflies – I’m working on their identifications!

Greylag goose

Barnacle geese

Black-headed gull

And Ted on someone’s lawn

Marsh orchid

Lots of lovely rural scenes:

And some amazing properties and gardens:

 

 

Welcome to our garden Robin.

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After a weekend at home we felt the need to venture further afield. But after days of inactivity we couldn’t decide where; so we settled on one of our current favourites, Frampton on Severn.

Although it is 10 miles south of Gloucester it is easy for us, living on the north side of Bristol, to get to.

It’s a really quaint village with a variety of easy walks.

The village web site has this to say about it:

“Frampton on Severn lies about 10 miles south of Gloucester on the eastern side of the River Severn.
According to an entry in the Domesday Book dated 1086 the Manor of Frampton was held by Drew son of Pons, granted to him by William the Conqueror as a reward for his services. The Manor is reputed to be the birth place of “ Fair Rosamund” who was the mistress of Henry II.
The Green is said to be the longest village green in England, and is about 22 acres in size. Cricket is played on The Green outside the Bell Inn, one of the two Pubs on The Green, the other being The Three Horseshoes at the opposite end of The Green.
The area around The Green has been designated a Conservation Area, the range of Architecture spanning several centuries ranges from “ Cruck Cottages” to impressive Tudor and Georgian houses.
The present population of the village is about 1200, this compares with the population record in the Domesday Book of 27. Most of the working population commute to Gloucester, Cheltenham and further afield to Bristol, Swindon and London. However there is a small Industrial Estate within the Village.
The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin is situated about half a mile from the Southern end of the Green, and can be approached along “ The Narles “ a long avenue of Horse chestnut trees. The Building was first consecrated in 1315 A.D. although some of the Church dates back to the 12th century. The Congregational Church built in 1776 is located just off the centre of The Green and is a very active church.
For Nature and Wildlife lovers Frampton is magnificent, much of the area east of The Green is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and there is an abundance of Flora and Fauna. Due to a policy by the Landowner of farming this area without the use of fertilisers and herbicides the natural habitats have flourished to the benefit of all. The Gloucester – Sharpness Canal with views over the River Severn and the old Gravel workings are linked by a series if public footpaths.
As you will see Frampton on Severn has a very active Community with a Community Centre open 7 days per week as well as many clubs and societies operating within the village.”

We parked on the village green and found the lane which leads to the lake behind Frampton Court. It was a flat and easy walk with occasional good views of the lake.

The entrance to Frampton Court from the village green

The view of Frampton Court from the lake

The lake tucked behind Frampton Court

On the lake we could see Canada Geese, Greylag Geese and a fair number of Barnacle Geese. There were also Great Crested Grebe (very distant) and even a Common Tern (although my photo was well out of focus).

Greylag Geese

Barnacle Geese

Great Crested Grebe

Common Tern (I think)

There were damselflies (and other interesting insects) on our walk.

The walk through the woods circuiting the lake

Green-veined White

Meadow Brown

A sample of the insects on our walk

At the end of the walk we also spent some time watching the dragonflies on one of the very attractive ponds along the village green.

Pond life on the village green

All it really needed to make this a perfect visit was for the pub to be open!

Nonetheless a dose of nature and some gentle exercise did us the power of good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Having a break from dodging people and baking bread – a lazy weekend in the garden watching the birds and the bees when it’s not raining (in fact, even when it is raining!).

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A robin and a tiger moth visited me in my garden whilst I was tidying the garden (I could hardly call it gardening!)

We took a walk in the rain to Stoke Park. We stretched our legs, the grey heron stretched its wings and caught a fish or two.

 

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It was tempting to hang around Duchess Pond looking for dragonflies but a walk was needed and we made our way to the top of Purdown to extend ourselves.

It was well worthwhile; the wildflowers were spectacular, particularly the oxeye daisies and we saw a few more birds and butterflies.

Meadow Brown

Small Tortoiseshell

Marbled White

Chaffinch

And just before the end of our walk a family of whitethroats:

 

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We missed the best of the weather by going for a walk to Stoke Park in the afternoon. When we arrived the “dragons” did not seem to be awake but then the sun came out and there was life.

The Canada Goose goslings are still surviving and are so much bigger; certainly much bigger than the wren we saw. Three magpies squabbled

I took on the challenge of trying to photograph the dragonflies and ignored other birds. Wendy was surprisingly  patient with me.

Emperor dragonfly

We also had a pleasant chat with some other birders and saw some butterflies and moths. IDs will have to wait for another day.

Burnet companion moth ?

Tyria tiger moth

Meadow brown butterfly

 

 

 

 

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Rodborough Common on the edge of The Cotwolds is famous for its wildlife. The National Trust website page has this to say about it:

“More than a hundred species of grasses and wildflowers have been recorded, including rare orchids and over 30 species of butterfly, including one of the largest populations of the rare Duke of Burgundy butterfly in the country.”

We weren’t so lucky with butterflies on our morning walk but we enjoyed the spectacular views down towards the Severn Estuary (where we had been a few days before) and loved hearing and seeing an abundance of skylarks.

Skylark trying to distract a magpie (and probably us) away from its nesting area

Skylark

A welcome coffee before heading home

On our way home we stopped off at Frampton on Severn, wandered around the village green and found a few insects in the village pond.

Wishful thinking

The Wool Barn

Damselfly

Tiger moths

 

 

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Following the advice of a friend we ventured a little further north of Bristol (further north than our last few excursions to Oldbury Power Station on the Severn Estuary) to Framilode. Framilode is a vllage on the River Severn and we walked a section of the Severn Way towards Arlingham Warth.

The River Severn at Framilode

As promised we saw very few people and the terrain was very flat. The only handicap was the blustery weather which at least blew the cobwebs away.

You might get a sense of the wind from the meadow

A very bucolic scene maybe but perhaps the sheep could have benefited from its coat a few days more?

The ancient Forest of Dean on the far bank of the River Severn

We didn’t see much in the way of bird life – just some house martins, a wren with some fledglings, a few shelduck on the River Severn and a couple of black-headed gulls. I also saw my first Small Tortoiseshell butterfly of the year.

This poor Small Tortoiseshell could hardly open its wings in the wind

After our walk we drove to Arlingham. We passed the Red Lion on the way to look at the church. There seemed to be a barrel of beer on tap on the forecourt – was this a pilgrim’s way? No, it was simply a barrel of water for dogs.

The Red Lion at Arlingham

We can’t wait to go back to do the walk near the Old Passage at Arlingham and visit The  Seafood Restaurant, set at the end of the pennisula on a great ox-bow bend, with some other friends which we have been promising ourselves for some time.

On returning home our friendly robin came to greet us in the garden. He normally stays close to the ground but today the fat balls were too much of a temptation.

 

Post script

I wonder if The Seafood Restaurant will be reopening after the lockdown (see photo below with “For Sale” sign)?

Such wonderful views from Old Passage.

 

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I nearly didn’t bother to write a blog about our walk across to Stoke Park on Thursday as, after the eruption of dragonflies on our last visit, what we saw seemed fairly mundane. However, looking at my photos again (and following some encouraging comments from visitors to my blog) I thought that there was merit in sharing the photos, especially of the greenfinch and the chiffchaff.

Of course after the abundance of dragonflies on the previous visit I was disappointed not to see any today. It wasn’t really surprising though as it was dull, windy and cold. It wasn’t surprising either that we didn’t see many other birds because we didn’t hang about.

Moorhen

Coot (I was surprised how grey the coots have become)

Greenfinch

A different greenfinch

Canada geese goslings hunkered down

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

All the water lilies need now is a bit of sunshine