By the time my son and I had got our act together it was late morning and the heat of the day was beginning to bite. What motivates some people, when making our way to cross the road to enter into the wide expanse of the Garn yr erw landscape a passing motorist blew his horn in a joker way. This nonsense is becoming increasingly frequent and must only be stimulated by the fact I publicly carry binoculars and camera equipment. I can only assume these idiots are newly converted right wing voters looking to ridicule anyone perceived to be slightly different and that carrying this type of (woke) gear somehow makes you fair game. I wonder what this person made of the group of camera carrying Japanese tourists we passed only minutes before in Blaenavon Town Centre? We'll keep a welcome in the hillside no doubt.
The objective of this excursion was to check for passage birds, as the ramshakled fenceline that delineates the end of agricultural enclosure and the beginning of upland common land can be ideal for bird spotting. In the great wide open as Tom Petty sang we were greeted by two very focal buzzard who were hanging about the freshly cut meadows hoping for foolhardy exposed rabbit. A stonechat sat in the middle of metal field gate and willow warblers moved stealthily through willow and hawthorn scrub. Moving along the fenceline a large party of 30 or so mainly immature swallow had gathered on the barb wire intermittently heading off across the rough grassland to feed before returning. Another stonechat arrived on a nearby lichen encrusted fencepost.
Meadow pipit were frequent as we moved on to the Garn yr erw ponds. A female wheatear shifted from remnant stone wall to boulder disturbed by the coughing of a solo mountain biker. We settled at the waters edge of one pond to watch as a number of birds were using the willow trees to safety feed.. A sedge warbler and reed bunting were noted along with several willow warbler. The previously encountered swallow arrived en-bloc to drink and cool off and black darter dragonflies were plentiful.
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