Waders, not just for the coast you know

A spring like Saturday was just enough to get me motivated for an early Sunday morning start. At 7am I was parking at Garn Lakes Local Nature Reserve ready for a trek around the greater Blaenavon landscape. First up was a singing reed bunting easily audible from a stand of juncus beside the Blaenavon to Brynmawr road due to a general  lack of traffic at this unearthly hour. Next was a male wheatear. My stealthy approach with camera in hand failed miserably as it dropped down from its lofty perch and out of sight.

A snipe flushed from a track side ditch signalled the first of up to ten other birds during my walk, it seemed that each patch of juncus was hiding a bird only to be revealed when a middle aged naturalist chose to walk through the damn stuff. Lapwings were conspicuous and to my surprise a loudly calling redshank echoed around the landscape as it made its way northwards.

At the top of Canada Tips with impressive views of the Sugar Loaf and beyond and where skylark were in fine voice I put up four red grouse only to disappear over the horizon in typical vocal manner.

Same shape as an apostrope

Ponthir Reservoir was bathed in spring sunshine this afternoon and to top it all there were no Welsh Water busy bodies in sight to spoil the walk. It was a measure of the improvement in temperature that this comma butterfly was on the wing. On the water was a pair of teal and three goosander.

Culturally - modified trees (CMTs)

An item in the February edition of British Archaeology struck a chord with me. The article centred on the on-going study of carvings on beech trees around the Salisbury Plain area apparently chiseled in bark by war time soldiers. Many of these culturally-modified trees or arbroglyphs were more than just attempts at rural graffiti some were detailed images of semi-naked Land Girls in erotic poses. Wow!

This got me thinking of local examples of tree trunk scribblings around my local patch in the woodlands and field margins of the Eastern Valley where the smooth and easily modified bark of the beech tree is commonplace. I've seen these tree carvings off the beaten track in various woodlands. The above photo was taken this weekend on trees at the extremity of the Cwmsychan valley near The British. The most interesting aspect of these markings is that they're often in locations were nowadays people are rarely seen. Clearly these were carved in a time when walking in the countryside was far more popular as a past time than it is today and when pen knifes sat cheek by jowl with conkers, chewing gum and the Observers Book of Birds Eggs in the trouser pocket of any self respecting teenager. Almost all of the modified trees I've found to date carry initials, some with a date attached as in the photo, where 1970 and 1978 can clearly be seen. Unfortunately due to the ephemeral nature of trees these arbroglyphs will have a shelf life. Someone needs to record these now or a part of our modern cultural heritage will be lost for ever.

A symbol of Welshness

The wild daffodil is a celebrated symbol of Wales and was once commonplace in rural Gwent. Sadly they now take a bit of tracking down. The woods and hedgerows around Llandegfedd Reservoir have always been one of the better spots to find them. These plants brightened up a rather dull and unremarkable birding visit to this fallen beast of a birding hotspot. The two singing chiffchaff completed the long awaited springtime ambiance.

Lesser Scaup

Although just a handful of active birders in Gwent they same to do well in the rare bird finding stakes. The lesser scaup at Bryn Bach Park yesterday evening was showing well in failing light.





Great Scott!

The gulls are back with a vengeance on the roof tops around ASDA in Brynmwar. A quick peep Sunday afternoon turned in a count busting total of c150 herring and lesser black-backed gulls. To my surprise in amongst the noisy throng was a couple of great black backs. Although I wasn't able to give the group a good going over for colour rings, one lesser black-backed was detected, but alas I was unable to read the ring. However it could well be the return of blue CHL from its wintering quarters in Spain.

By the way the ASDA killjoys have introduced anti-bird wires to the tops of the car park lamp posts - we wouldn't want bird poo on shoppers cars now would we!

Through a haze of marijuana smoke

A skater boy complete with board had secured himself a vantage point on top on the hide at Magor Marsh. Unperturbed  by my arrival he continued to smoke a heady mix of 'weed' for the duration of my stay. A nearby Cetti's warbler gave an energy laden burst of loud intoxicated song and a distant reed bunting was also in 'this is my territory mode'. On the lake a male shoveler starred, ably supported by a couple of gadwall, a single teal and the ubiquitous Canada goose.

At Tredegar House Lake gulls once again featured with the Boathouse roof rapidly becoming a Mecca for ring reading enthusiasts. This herring gull sported a colour ring combination I had yet to encounter. On the lake 11 tufted duck were punucated by at least 15 coot.

Summer plumage Mediterranean gull

A nice summer plumage Mediterranean gull was the star of a short walk up stream of the River Usk from the M4 crossing at Newport. Also four snipe, two redshank and a great black backed gull.

Island records

The introduction of a number of floating islands and the softening up with vegetation of the margins of Cwmbran Boating Lake has certainly increased the variety of birds using the site. Today this very confiding water rail was openly feeding on an island that had drifted free of its centre lake position coming to rest on the shoreline. The bird was comfortably feeding in the open as joggers and young mums pushing their off spring passed close by. 

Faux pas

After a rather sobering identification malfunction - more of which I intend to talk about in a future posting - I got back in the saddle with Mars bar break to Cwmbran Boating Lake. The spring like weather had provoked some birds to sing namely goldcrest and this dipper that was giving it some on the adjacent Afon Lwyd.

The boating lake itself was very well populated with waterbirds. 28 Canada goose with one carrying a Llangorse Lake ring, 50+ mallard, 4 coot, 4 moorhen, 2 herring gull, a single common gull and 75+ black headed gull many of which were loafing about on the floating islands However there was no sign of the water rail that was present late last week. One of the black headed gulls was showing the tell tale signs of being processed by a human(s) with a nice white colour ring. Unfortunately my camera delivers a rather pixelated image when extended to its maximum focal length so I was unable to read the number.



Riverfront rock pipit

February has been a limp birding month to date. Lack of time and motivation has restricted my activities to just a few snatched visits. Yesterday brightened a touch though as our general Saturday shopping duties turned in four waxwing whilst filling up at Sainburys Petrol Station and a hurried roadside stop just outside Caldicot was required after noting 30+ lapwing and 20+ fieldfare in an adjacent field.

Today followed the same domestic chore pattern as yesterday with more shop visits in Newport but this time was punctuated by 15 minutes beside the River Usk near to the Riverfront Theatre. This turned in the usual mix of gulls, a single redshank and a rock pipit picking its way around the stones at the waters edge.

Just off the Blorenge

Scrambled around the slopes of Carn y gorfydd just of the Blorenge this afternoon fantisizing about the possibility of a great grey shrike on top of the many scattered rowan trees in the area. Alas it wasn't to be, in fact bird wise the walk was quieter than a church mouse with only a raven and buzzard breaking the silence.

There are some impressive culturally important boundary features across the wider landscape here. From drystone walls to decaying lines of wooden fence posts, many the size of railway sleepers, festooned and caked in various bryophytes and lichens.  The remants of a large dead sessile oak tree was riddled with the exit holes of saproxylic beetles.

Bottoms up

Another Gwent Goosander Survey visit to Dunlop Semtex Pond produced exactly the same scenario as previous visits, namely no goosander, the long staying colour ringed Montgomeryshire mute swan and a characteristic detergent pollution incident.

Yesterdays Gwent Recorders Forum was once again top notch with some very interesting presentations. Elsa Wood's and Stephanie Tyler's botanical presentation illustrated just how important it is to the record the common and not just the rare. A vice county distribution map for common daisy was sparser than that for early purple orchid. This theme was also taken up by Adam Rowe in his south east Wales map for mole.

The forum is always a good chance to touch base with familiar faces and fellow recorders. There were a few comments about my appearance, including 'you are looking well' which we all know is a euphemism for 'fat'. Another suggested I'm looking more and more like Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall and one long standing and well respected county recorder hinted at my pending retirement based on my whitening locks 

Footloose



Its been a lean few weeks for me as my birding has consisted of only snatched lunchtime visits to Cwmbran Boating Lake where the ornithological interest is limited to a few common wildfowl and maybe an odd unusual gull. So anything with a hint of 'different' about it grabs my attention. This common gull on the surface was bog standard, but once it took flight it revealed it had lost both its feet.





Pronounced petals

I'm midway through a spare time (what spare time!) Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector course, acronym PTLLS but pronounced petals. It quickly became apparent to me that my stock approach to talks by Powerpoint with pretty pictures wouldn't cut the mustard if I was going to succeed at this particular challenge. Formal post 16 teaching needs to incorporate so much these days from inclusion, equality and diversity to Health and Safety, numeracy, literacy and ICT, with a touch of healthy living and Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship sprinkled on the top for good measure. 

There's only a couple of sessions left, one of which is a 30 minute Micro Teaching session that will be, gulp, filmed!! We've been advised to pick a subject to talk about that we are interested in. Whilst some former attendees as an example have delivered a session around the History of the Musket or the finer points of Yoga I'm toying with the lofty concepts of Citizen Science or Nature Deficit Disorder. Am I being too ambitious?

I couldn't wait any longer



With the list of 'no reply' colour ringed birds reported through the BTO website growing with every new sighting, my patience has finally run out. The colour ringed black headed gull noted from Cwmbran Boating Lake last week had a very similar number combination to another BHG from Tredegar House Lake on 25 August 2012 so after a touch of research I decided that bypassing the BTO was in order. Consequently an email to John Wells of the Cotswold Water Park Ringing Group was greeted with a positive response within six hours! So here it goes.

1. White colour ring on right leg 29A1. 25 August 2012 Tredegar House Lake.

    Ringed on 16 June 2011 at Cokes Pit, Somerford Keyes, Gloucestershire.

2. White colour ring on left leg 2P14. 21 January 2013 Cwmbran Boating Lake.

    Ringed on 24 June 2009 at Farmoor Reservoir, Oxfordshire.

Ice maidens



Another 40 minute lunchtime sandwich break at the Boating Lake today turned in 100+ assorted gulls all standing proud on ice. No sign of the med gull today but a half dozen or so common gull were still present along with a single herring gull and 3 or 4 lesser black backs. However the vast majority of those birds were black headed gull with this one carrying white colour ring 2P14. Answers as to its origin on a postcard please!



Also kicking about was a single rather threatening mute swan, 12 Canada goose, 5 coot, 6 moorhen and many mallard.

Gulls a go-go again



With the snow and sub zero temperatures now is the best time for gull watching. All those frozen lakes and ponds are just the ticket for brushing up on your gull field craft and tracking down the odd colour ring or two. This selection of gulls was taken mid week on the part frozen Cwmbran Boating Lake, note black headed gull with ring.









Another Mediterranean Gull delivers disappointment



A 2nd winter Mediterranean Gull at Cwmbran Boating Lake this lunchtime was a pleasing find but was tinged with disappointment as it didn't appear to be carrying that chunky colour band needed to set it off. Did show well down to less than 10 metres though. In compensation there's a Canada goose present with a metal ring but inconveniently took to water when I got within striking distance. Better luck next time.



Trig point Charlie



On the southern most boundary of the Brecon Beacons National Park is Mynydd Garn Wen and at its highest point theres a triangulation point. Trig points, as they're commonly known, are a legacy of Ordnance Survey work from the days when field mapping was conducted by theodolite and ranging pole. Today aerial photography and GPS has rendered these as redundant as a Jessops sales adviser.

The trig point here is set on a bed of exposed and weathering quartz conglomerate. Large angular blocks of pebblely stone support bryophytes and lichens while fragments of eroded quartz scatter the upland landscape.



Blue 784

A colour ringed adult herring gull frequenting roadside lighting columns this week in Llanyrafon, Cwmbran originates from Gloucester landfill site. Blue 784 was first ringed at a site near Hempsted, Gloucester in 2006 then noted from Newport in 2007, this was followed by further sightings back at the landfill site between 2007-10. Thanks once again to Peter Stewart for the super fast turnaround of ringing information.

Pitch inspection required

Monmouth School cricket pitch along side the River Wye was completed flooded today. It caught my attention due to the sheer number of gulls using the field. Of the 300-400 birds present 75% were common gull.

Five a day

Got around five of north west Gwent's water bodies yesterday starting with Pen y fan Pond. More people and dogs than you could shake a stick at resulted in a depressing count of just two cormorant and half a dozen or so mallard. Next stop was Cwmtillery Lakes where 12 goosander, 4 coot and singles of little grebe and moorhen mingled with upwards of 100 mallard.



Beaufort Ponds was by far the most interesting, with a site busting count of 48 Canada goose, 13 wigeon, 22 tufted duck, 6 pochard, 25 coot with a small number of mallard and herring gull thrown in for good measure. Machine Pond was uncharacteristically quiet with 22 coot, 3 tufted duck and 2 mute swan. By the time I'd reached Dunlop Semtex Pond I was looking into a setting sun which didn't make for accurate count but there we well over 30 coot, 2 mute swan, 11 Canada goose and smaller numbers of tufted duck, mallard and moorhen.

Thank the Lord for Darwin

I was thrilled to have been able to get my grubby paws on a copy of the First Annual Report (1867-68) of Cardiff Naturalists' Society. Why? Because this, to the best of my knowledge contains the first documented evidence that naturalists were active in the south Wales valleys at the height of the industrial revolution. Contained therein is a report of one of the earliest outdoor events of the society, a joint walk with the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club of Hereford and the newly formed Cardiff Naturalists'. Interestingly both these natural history societies remain in existence today. 

Representatives from both learned societies arrived by train, meeting at Crumlin Station for a walk that would take them through the Crumlin Viaduct over the upland landscape towards Pontypool for an evening meal in the Three Cranes public house. En route the group, that included a high percentage of Reverends, stopped for a lunchtime presentation about local geology delivered by an attendee with a large map, before heading on towards Pontnewynydd about a mile from Pontypool.  Here they noted the presence of red backed shirke and a dead common shrew.

The report is stuffed full of historical insights, not only into the flora and fauna that occurred nearly a 150 years ago in south Wales but also includes some telling reminders as to the social make up and priorities of the time. I've already hinted at how religious preachers we activity involved in Victorian natural societies, an association that today is at best tenuous given current irrefutable evidence that God didn't create the earth and all things on it. It seemed that some of the essential attributes on the job description of Victorian clergy, was obviously to believe in creationism but to join a natural history society and show a healthy interest in the finer points of Cricket.



This deluded link to creationism is further evident on page 20 of the report. Rev Professor Gagliardi in his address about the Natural System to a General Meeting of the society on 3rd February 1867 opens his presentation and sets out his view.

'Each moss, each shrub, each shell, each crawling insect, holds a rank important in the plan of Him who form'd it;......'

The Rules of Cardiff Natuarlists' from this time also makes for interesting reading. The fact the society felt the need to state within it 'That Ladies be eligible as Members'  tells us much about equality and the status of women at the time. However, new aspiring members would need to be proposed and balloted in, but excluded by 'one black ball in three'. 

I am pleased to have been able to obtain this report (all for the princely sum of £2.49) as I'm sure other than those held in libraries in Newport and Cardiff University, few will now have survived into modern times. Moreover the National Museum of Wales project to digitise back issues of the Transactions of Cardiff Naturalists' Society doesn't appear to go back this far.

A late otter

Thanks to a tip off from ace road kill observationalist Chris Hatch I was able to photograph this recent unfortunate otter beside the A472 Pontypool to Crumlin road. Even though I've tramped the countryside for longer than I care to admit I've not had the good pleasure to see a live  beating heart otter. Yes, like any card carrying naturalist I've prodded and sniffed the sweet aroma of their do do's (spraint is the official scatological term), photographed footprints in the mud of the River Usk, recorded characteristic fish kill signs at Cwmbran Boating Lake and even seen several other dead specimens roadside and in the drink of the Monmouthshire-Brecon Canal but never one that is warm.

Dead specimens of all British mammals are always worthy of closer examination so I took the opportunity to take some images of those little dainty feet. Note the diagnostic pads that are the main feature of those prints in the mud we all look for.

The National Trust's seasonal mix

 The National Trust's Tredegar House Lake was rich in avian biomass but middling on the species richness curve. A substantial flock of circa 400 black headed gull contained nothing different save for a single herring gull. A small party of around four cormorant were flighty and seven little grebe hoovered up the minnows before a cull is called. Otherwise there were up to 30 coot a handful of moorhen, two heron and a single tufted duck.

On return my birding attire promoted a comment from two gentleman 'are you here for the French bird?' Somehow Coco Chanel rather than a hoopoe sprang to mind.