23rd April 2010 My dear and sadly long gone, little brother, Chris' birthday.
And now for a summary of the last week of April, 2010 . . .
26 and 27th
April
Have been to Ynys-Hir and Lake Vyrnwy RSPB reserves
At
last found a library open in Wales and at £1 an hour I'll pay it!
People met and thanks to them include: - best mate Gez, his wife Jude and Leia
[how do you spell it?]; friends who have a caravan at Ynys Hir luckily for me.
Thanks for the meal and donuts.
Also Dave Anning the warden at Ynys Hir, luck again to meet him as I had arrived a day before schedule and he was away the next day. thanks for the info' Dave! Met the manager at Ynys Hir but under sad circumstances. On the early morning walk around the reserve on Saturday the 24th saw what I thought was a dead otter on the railway track. Suddenly it moved! So I collected it and took it to the centre. I am awaiting a phone call from Dick, the manager to say whether it survived. Honestly though, things did not look good for her, an adult female. Let us be honest if an otter allows one to pick it up, it is in a bad way. Met the warden of the Machynlleth Osprey Project, unfortunately briefly as I was rushing to see the Villa beat the sad blue noses. What a fabulous set up at the reserve just west of the town and let's hope the female seen gets a male soon.
Speaking of the Villa beating Blues [thought I'd say it again - another six
points from them for us] . . .
. . . thanks to the Machynlleth Bowling Club for shandy and tele. Great place with great people, as most people on meets are.
A big thanks to Mike Walker, warden of Lake Vyrnwy and his team including Gary
[what a character!], Graham, Mike Morris [Up the Vale!] and Roger [thanks for
the coffee]. I do hope that Graham saw the ring ouzel at the barns - like I did
today, together with a whinchat. Smashing. I also hope for Gary’s sake that the
peregrine returns to the peregrine watchpoint - soon to be renamed to 'let us
have a look at anything watchpoint. Mind you folks it is worth going to this
viewpoint even if the peregrines are on vacation elsewhere because the human
company is so brilliant.
Gary, the personal meeting people manager is a fabulous bloke from the smoke and together with Graham, a volunteer and 'another great bloke but I didn't write down his name - blast old age memory, and just going to the hide set up is a worthwhile experience. You will have an informative good time with lots of laughs to boot.
Right, four mornings of up for the dawn chorus at 5.00am each morning and lots of walking around 2 crown jewel reserves. I have always loved the Ynys Hir reserve; great birds and beautiful views including one of my top five reserve hides in the wood there that looks out over the canopy and estuary. Now though Lake Vyrnwy is joining Ynys as a favourite. Indeed Gwenffrwd-Dinas, Ynys and Vyrnwy are three fantastic reserves and ones that the RSPB should be enormously proud of.
Speaking of hides, have a look in the hide closest to the shop at Vyrnwy. You will never get closer to Siskins than in there, where large glass windows and comfy plastic chairs look out at feeders only a foot from the glass. The birds do not mind people at all and the Siskins are joined by three titmice sp. Nuthatch and Great Spotted Woodpeckers. Brilliant!
Other highlights, other than the year ticks and views [have a look along the lake at Vrnwy] were Goshawk and Grasshopper Warblers; the former at Vyrnwy. Also some butterflies at last; Brimstone, Orange Tip, Speckled Woods and Green-veined Whites and also Odonata represented by Large Red Damselflies at Ynys.
So now for the woods around Dolgellau. Youth hostel tonight with the famous Youth hostel breakfast to start the day off tomorrow. Then over the estuary to Barmouth and off to Harlech Castle. Up onto the Migneint as well, before paying my respects to The Prisoner [Be seeing you, number 6] at Portmerion.
I must mention Matthew and Pippa from the University of York. Met them today up on the moor above Vyrnwy laying down Crane Fly traps [Tipula sp]. Two passionately enthusiastic young biologists out there doing the hard work. Fascinating information that I must look up on the internet when I have got time.
30th April Midnight Hour Billy Idol
Let
us say it straight away - the otter at Ynys Hir died on Sunday night. Dick, the
site manager did everything he could for her but a collision with a train
didn't leave the poor animal with much chance.
So, now on the road adjacent to Snowdon and hoping that the rainy weather
improves so that I can get up there tomorrow without getting too wet.
Have just come away from the fabulous Osprey viewing hide and display run by the RSPB at Glaswyn, nr Porthmadog. The male was on the nest when I left. Please if you can visit the centre just north of Porthmadog and have a look for yourself. The staff there, Geraint, Stuart, Kate and many other very lovely and dedicated people will make you very welcome and TV screens show what's happening on the nest.
Right since leaving Dolgellau I've seen Hawfinch, Lesser Whitethroat
and Ospreys [185] for the year list.
I've also visited Harlech Castle and Portmerion [I am not a number. I am a FREE MAN] and seen a beautiful burial chamber at Dyffryn, halfway between Barmouth and Harlech. The lucky school children of the Primary school there that have this fabulous prehistoric site in their playground.
Two large cromlechs and stones surrounding them.
The weather has changed from sunny and warm to rainy and warm but at least
there's little or no wind.
Now for the RSPB reserves visited:
Coed Garth Gell, reached after meeting Irmeli from Finland and her friend Suzanna from Hungary. Two lovely girls who insisted I finished off their cheese baps - thanks girls, lovely to meet you. All the best. I went and hid the bike in the wood and circled it on the green path. Very few birds but the evening walk was pleasant because I had the company of an Australian girl, over here working with her boyfriend but now out walking the dog. Sarah was from Sydney and I thanked her for the chat. Three lovely girls in an hour - things are looking up.
Birds - Willow Warbler, Blackcap, House Martins and a Raven were most noteworthy but more spectacular were the views over the Cader Idris, or Cadair Idris if you prefer, range across the estuary. It was well worth visiting the reserve for the views alone.
Other Mawdacch Valley reserves - The viewpoint by the old wooden toll bridge,
which I was kindly allowed to cross for free, had four Red-breasted Mergansers
by it, three were males. There was also a Common Sandpiper here skittering
along the water’s edge. By the nearby Youth Hostel there were two small
woodland reserves and an early morning, 5.00 am, walk gave me Dipper, Pied Flycatcher,
Wood Warbler, Redstart, Ravens and drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker but still
no Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, which is turning into the bogey bird of the tour.
Cors Arthog Bog - Blackcap, Willow Warbler and a good number of mostly male Orange
tipped Butterflies and Green-veined Whites here.
Camped in a field near Maentwrog, where a shepherd on a quad bike came to check me out and share some chocolate.
The Migneint - not seen because of very thick cloud cover. I attempted to do a
YouTube video here to show everyone what it looked like but not sure the
download worked. Here I heard Wheatear, Stonechat, Meadow Pipits, Skylark and Corvids
but I saw none of them. Thought up the words to a new song to the tune of 'In
the Midnight Hour' by Billy Idol :
In the Migneint mist
I cried More, More, More.
Just to see some
birds I cried More, More, More.
Glaswyn
Osprey viewpoint - Osprey pair seen through telescopes there and on the TV
screens. Also saw Red-breasted Mergansers, Goldeneye, an injured Whooper Swan,
Whitethroat, Hirundines and a fabulous close Peregrine. Also an Otter went in
front of the hide at 8.00pm. Great to watch her hunt for fifteen minutes or so
in the pool like area beneath
the weir.
After leaving the Osprey site at Glaswyn near Porthmadog,
I cycled to the Snowdon Ranger Youth Hostel, a traditional hostel almost full
for the night. It had a superb dormitory and wonderful company in the shape of
Stuart, a Zander fisherman from Hebden Bridge and his brother. We chatted about
the spread of Zander, also called Pike-Perch, from their 1970s haunts of
Eastern England, where they were introduced, to their range nowadays and the
fishing methods required to catch them. I was amazed when the lads told me how
big some of these voracious predator fish that they had caught actually were.
Maybe they employed the traditional fisherman's tales with exaggeration and
expanding hand gestures but any fish approaching ten kilograms in weight is a
fish worthy of discussion. Mind you the Lads admitted they had had to go abroad
to find fish of this calibre.
Tickle My Feathers
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