When I was young my mum and dad, bless them, took me to Slimbridge a couple of times: I can’t say I was very impressed; I was more into team games and I would rather get muddy by diving around on the sports field than sloshing about in wellies. My parents obviously thought it a worthy thing to do but clearly I don’t think it was really in their DNA either and so, as it was fairly expensive, we didn’t go too often.
I can’t believe how much we love going there now. I know we dodge the hordes of children (and their parents/grandparents) by heading for the hides (rather than the pens with lots of exotic birds) but I do recognise that Slimbridge is a fabulous place and does amazing work to get youngsters interested in wildlife.
Sadly we see lots of bad parenting there but today we met a young boy (and his dad) as we were heading out to the Severn Estuary who stopped us and told us that if we continued on this pathway we could follow a walkway which took us down to the estuary where we might see, if we looked carefully, curlew and ringed plovers. We were both impressed that his dad didn’t interrupt him but allowed him to be our advisor. This young boy was thoroughly enjoying his day and clearly his dad had encouraged him enough to reach this point. It was a very refreshing encounter.
Down on the estuary we clearly didn’t look carefully enough as we only heard a curlew and the ringed plovers were too far away for our “old” eyes.
On the estuary we saw lots of egrets and grey herons.
However, we did see loads whilst we were at Slimbridge. I hope you enjoy some of my photos from today.
Probably my photo of the day, a Cetti’s warbler, if I am correctReed warblerReed warblerSand Martin chasing fly (top right)Sand Martin about to gorge its preySwallowSwallowGrey heronHoney beeWaspMigrant hawkerCommon snipeRock dovesCommon snipeTufted duckling practising its divingThe beauty of the Severn Estuary
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-UskThe 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 lakeThe church at Llangasty TalyllynLooking north across the lakeThe thatched bird hide with a stained glass window – they take their birding seriously here in WalesThe 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 padsBuzzardLoads of great crested grebes
On our way back we suddenly came across a patch of ground with all sorts of wildlife:
Large skipper butterflyA rather weather-beaten meadow brown butterflyBee and ladybirdPeacock butterfly and common waspCommon blue damselfly Green-veined whiteSoldier beetleHoverflyThe 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 BreconFelinfach GriffinBrecon 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 placesThe weather did not spoil our enjoyment of the viewsWe 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 BeaconsView back down through the valley towards BreconIt’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 TydfilAll-weather carriagesNot 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 volunteersThe 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
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:
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 walkWe caught glimpses of the Bassin de Réaltor down belowSouthern red admiral butterflySouthern red admiral butterflyBlue spot hairstreak butterflySpanish gatekeeper butterfly
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 fishLe 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 butterflyGreen-veined white butterflyMylabris quadripunctataMeadow brown butterflyLonghorn beetleTerrible picture of black redstart Common brimstoneCommon brimstoneCommon brimstoneCollared dovesEuropean paper waspRed-legged cannibalfly (apparently)Red-legged cannibalfly (apparently) – certainly frightened me and so I put my camera away
Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos 