The Gann – Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos

We have spent three nights visiting friends in Pembrokeshire in Wales. As I am building up my strength and confidence, 3 nights has been perfect as we had leisurely trips there and back (about 300 miles in total), two full days exploring parts of Pembrokeshire and plenty of time to enjoy our friends’ company.

Monday 27th April

On our outward journey we stopped off at Dyffryn Gardens, an Edwardian garden being restored by the National Trust, on the far side of Cardiff in the beautiful Vale of Glamorgan. This is only the second time we have visited these gardens and there have been huge improvements since our last visit in 2018. As the Dyffryn website says: “Dyffryn has something new to discover on every visit, from intricate themed garden rooms to sweeping formal lawns and productive kitchen gardens to a large arboretum”. We particularly enjoyed the show of wisteria which are at their best at this time of the year.

There always seems to be a robin to greet you in formal gardens – Dyffryn was no exception

A view of the front of the house at Dyffryn from the edge of the arboretum – lots of orange tip and holly blue butterflies to see.

Splendid beech tree and very old wisteria

Wisteria in one of the themed garden rooms

Close up of wisteria at the rear of the house

Our second stop was at the delightful town of Laugharne, on the estuary where the River Taf flows into Carmarthen Bay, and which is synonymous with the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas who lived in Laugharne from 1949 until his death in 1953. The National Trust maintains the Dylan Thomas boathouse which has magnificent views across the estuary.

We had a brief moment for birdwatching but mainly enjoyed the company of a local resident who engaged with us in conversation in the beautiful mid-afternoon sunshine.

Tuesday 28th April

Our main focus was a a spot of birdwatching at Pickleridge Lagoon and the Gann on the coast near Dale.

The weather was rather dull but we saw some good birds including oystercatchers, whimbrel, a grey plover, common ringed and dunlin.

Not the Straights of Hormuz but the refineries around Milford Have

Wednesday 29th April

Back to sunshine even if the breeze was rather stiff and fresh. We spent the day close to our friends house near to Cresswell Quay. This area is particularly beautiful and there was plenty to see and photograph.

It would be strange to see puffins (unless you had drunk too much of their local brew) at Cresswell Quay but Skomer Island, famous for its puffins, is not far from here.

Whereas, London is 237 and a quarter (!) of a mile from here.

Later we visited Carew Castle which is also close to our friends’ house

Lots of house martin here but no sand martin which have been reported recently

After a leisurely lunch at Stackpole we visited the nearby Lily Ponds at Bosherston but not many birds in evidence.

… but the ransoms in the woods were spectacular

30th April

On our journey home we stopped at the wonderful Aberglasnay Gardens near to Carmarthen. Besides the gardens we enjoyed close up views of robins, wrens, blackbirds, a song thrush and a red kite which came close overhead and which I managed to photograph with my compact camera.