A whoosh and a bubble

With the jet stream wobbling north to be replaced with a ridge of warmer high pressure over the southern part of the British Isles there was a slim chance of an early wheatear as I arrived in the (natural) heritage landscape. But it was those early Spring atmospheric sounds that took centre stage.

Overlooking the green baize that is rural Abergavenny and set against the mist shrouded flanks of the Sugar Loaf a rush of wind caused me to look skyward just in time to catch a couple of tumbling peregrine in pursuit of a frantic wood pigeon - yes, please note wood pigeon not racing pigeon! Alas and in a frenzy of aerodynamics all birds disappeared quickly out of sight over the county border into the grand duchy of Monmouthshire. There's a possibility that woody found refuse in a copse of trees just in the nick of time, but I fear not, he's almost certainly collected his last nest building stick. I pause for thought.

With heavy heart I plodded off to seek gainful employment as an amateur naturalist deep within the tightly clenched bowels of the now familiar post industrial peri-urban edgeland. In doing so I immersed  myself in stone turning and debris sifting in the hope it would erase the lingering mental images of peregrine-plucking-pigeon action. I searched for a biological gem. This was successful when a partly embedded hardboard kitchen drawer bottom, possibly of MFI vintage, was prised from its carboniferous substrate to expose at least four motionless common lizard to a shower of morning sunlight.

The rest of the excursion took the form of a geological photo essay all to the accompaniment of singing skylark. The hill and hollow features of colliery spoil deposition has produced a landscape of dry and wet habitats. In the many hollows were many frogs and during a momentary pause in background traffic noise the massed ranks of amphibians croaked in random unison. One frog was seen to repeatedly blow bubbles on the surface of the pond. 
          

News from the pit head

A brief visit to one of the best kept landscape secrets of Gwent. The Blaenserchan valley  near Pontypool was left to nature when the National Coal Board pulled out in the 1980's. A patchwork of grassland, mature trees and colliery spoil promotes a rich diversity of wildlife. That said its still a touch too early in the year to see this area at its best. A couple of calling nuthatch, a great spotted woodpecker and around half a dozen meadow pipit summed up the ornithological interest. Otherwise frog spawn has started to put in an appearance and this bloody nosed beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa) demonstrates the invertebrate world is starting to wake. Nonetheless the  most colourful thing in the valley was a collection of ladies knickers. These were not randomly scattered in an impromptu fashion but purposefully wired to trees throughout the valley. I counted eight in total and for those with an interest in the detail, they appeared to be mainly thongs ranging from black lace, to animal print and red with sequins!    

Naturalist - Dr. Mary Gillham

Last weekend saw the South East Wales Biodiversity Records Centre (SEWBReC) celebrate 10 years of collating the records of an army of dedicated volunteer recorders, at a jamboree in Tonypandy. Amongst an inspiring programme of speakers that included talks about the Silurian moth and colliery spoil (yippee!) was a tribute to the celebrated Cardiff naturalist Dr. Mary Gillham.

On arrival I was thrilled to find that some of Mary's extensive library was on sale to attendees for just an appropriate donation. I was therefore pleased to be able to pick up a little slice of the social history of the study of nature in south Wales including the book Swansea Bay's Green Mantle: Wildlife on an Industrial Coast (1982) which was a signed copy.

I was only able to meet Mary on one occasion, when at short notice Juilan Branscombe (former GWT Chief Executive) asked if I could take a party from Cardiff Naturalists' Society around Magor Marsh. My overriding memory of the walk was Mary's ability to identify a couple of stoneworts not just by their English names but Latin as well. The talk on Saturday was a fitting tribute to the life one of Wales' great modern day naturalists. 

Footnote:- whilst browsing the Healthy Planet bookshop in Pontypool during my lunchtime earlier this week it was something of a coincidence to find a copy of one of Mary's early books Sub-Antarctic Sanctuary (1967), thereby adding to my mini collection of Gillham books.

Should you want to know more about the life and times of Dr Mary Gillham visit the Cardiff Naturalists' Society website via the link on this blog.  

Normal service resumed

For me photographing gulls is a bit like taking candy from a baby. These black headed gulls, with a selection of developing summer head plumage's, were happy to line up in single file. There were plenty of gulls along Newport riverfront but none with rings. Earlier at Tredegar House Lake an adult winter Mediterranean gull was picked out amongst the black headed gulls. This site is becoming something of a banker for Meds.

Iceland Gull?

Having succumbed to the odd embarrassing error recently I've now taken to going out on the world wide web to seek confirmation of my latest conundrum and to purge my new found identification insecurities. This bird was photographed yesterday amongst a gathering of over 100 gull on the roof top of an industrial building opposite Asda Brynmawr.

The photographs are not the best quality as they were taken looking into the sunlight and I only managed six shots before all birds took flight scattering to four winds never to return. Unless this is some leucistic jobbie I'm ticking the Iceland box. But you may think otherwise! 

Displacement

Cwmbran Boating Lake was a watery world of rushing river and murky ponds. The lake itself was pepper -potted with bird life, up to 75 black headed gull, 3 herring gull, 17 Canada goose, 6 coot, 8 moorhen and a water rail that was at home on the weather beaten wreckage of a floating island. This kingfisher, displaced from the nearby Afon Llwyd took advantage of the minnows trapped in the kiddies paddling pool, tree hopping to secure the best vantage point from which to exercise its pinpoint attack.

People are engaging

One tends to get some strange looks walking about in public places with binoculars and camera. This weekend a number of people stopped to share their recent experiences of flooding and high spring tides as if my only purpose for peering over the Riverfront railings was to survey the impacts of a rising tide. When I have chance to break from this dialogue of nods and yeahs I explain that my interest is in wildlife and in the case of Newport Riverfront this means gulls - better known as seagulls to most people. This often has the affect of cutting the conversation stone dead or at least introducing an extended pause before they change tack to tell me about the local heron. Nonetheless I enjoy engaging with passers by as it gives me an opportunity return the boredom by enthusing about the wonders of the natural world, but you do meet some genuinely interesting people. Take for example a couple of weeks ago on a wet and windy afternoon off the beaten track in woodland near Talywain. The only person I saw was a local photographer who after exchanging pleasantries revealed he was related to Newport birder Carl Downing. Its a small watery world.

As you may have noticed I've got my eye in with Mediterranean gulls these days. No need to bother with the hit or miss access arrangements to scan the gull roost at Llandegfedd Reservoir as these birds are more frequent in accessible urban locations. Nonetheless the adult winter bird present on the River Usk outside the Riverfront Theater was the first for me at this location. Also kicking around the muddy margins was that multi-ringed redshank - still no BTO response to this bird!





Seven wonders of the valleys: No.1. Acid grassland

Sheep grazed semi-improved acid grassland is the basis of subsistence farming in the south Wales valleys. The upland marginal landscape is littered with agricultural enclosures some with remnant drystone walls topped and gaped with makeshift fencing of wire, gnarled wooden posts, bailing twine and rusty corrugated sheets. Others are slightly more organised with publically funded modern fencing interspersed with lichen and berry clad hawthorn trees. In autumn and winter this is where the fieldfare and redwing ply their trade and where ring ouzel tag along for the sheer hell of it. Meadow pipit are at home in the herbage of the late summer upland meadow and the wheatear flies from fence post to wall and then to fence post again.   

A decent acid grassland often comes complete with the occasional yellow meadow ant mound, and some, such as the one pictured in the above photos at Talywain, are literally crammed with large mounds. For a naturalist these fields are rich pickings, topped with flowering bedstraw in summer the characteristic walking stick dropping of the green woodpecker is a common sight and if lucky the odd adders tongue fern can be found. With grasslands of all denominations under increasing pressure from development and agricultural improvement/neglect I fear that the sight of these quality acid grasslands complete with their 'ant cities' are vanishing as quickly as colony of breeding lapwing. 

Pochard decline musings

It was not too long ago that pochard would be one of the first wildfowl on the team wetland player list. Once a banker for any dedicated Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) counter this diving duck is now becoming as scarce as a Monty Panesar boundary. The Birds of Gwent traces its demise, from a bird that once turned in regular century counts (including one of 400) back in the 1970s to one of indifferent presence or absence and  often in single figures when found. This 'dropping down to the bench'  is borne out by my own time series of wildfowl counts from Dunlop Semtex Pond (DSP) and other 'up north' ponds. Nationally its a similar picture. The recent Waterbirds in the UK 2010/11 publication is more candid about  pochard trends. It states:

'The trends for Pochard in both Britain and Northern Ireland indicate alarming declines have occured since the 1990's. In 2010/11 the annual index for Britain reached an all time low with numbers approximately half of what they were twenty years ago.'

This weekend during a count fest that included such auspicious venues as Bryn Bach Park, Beaufort Ponds, Machine Pond and DSP the contrast between that other wetland mainstay the tufted duck, and pochard couldn't be starker. The aforementioned bird was present at all four sites visited with a collective count of 104 compared to just five (5) pochard from only two sites.  

The Perturbators

Whether we admit to them or not we all have prejudices. These will have been fashioned and influenced overtime by friends, family, workmates, politicians, the media and social order. But there comes a time when a free thinking, enquiring mind challenges those mainstream prejudices. Take for example off road driving. I have always viewed this activity as highly damaging to the ecology of our open countryside. From racing up spoil tips, cutting through upland peat bog to the muddying of a footpath through an ancient woodland, a close encounter with those enjoying themselves with machines, has, until recently filled me with tub thumping rage. 'Don't you know access to the open landscape is only for  Berghaus wearing, GPS carrying tourists and not for local people to use for fun'? So does this view stand up to scrutiny and should it be exposed as nothing more than a prejudice designed by middle class professionals to control working class lads from have a bit of relaxation on whats left of our accessible green space? And are their activities really damaging wildlife interests?

There's no pristine wilderness habitat left. All that we cherish and protect for its rich biodiversity has been created and shaped by the actions of man. Take for example those 'highly valued and protected SSSIs' jewels in the crown of the post war nature conservation ethic of which the vast majority are the product of human interventions in the landscape. Llandegfedd Reservoir once a rural idle with wooded streams, wild daffodils and five bar gates whereby wellie wearing, thumb stick carrying farmers could rest for a fag and survey the chocolate box landscape. Now pumped with water to quench the dry throats of Cardiff but celebrated as one of the principal inland water bodies for wildfowl and awarded the lofty accolade of SSSI. Also the Gwent Levels reclaimed from the Severn Estuary used for agriculture,compensation for a barrage and protected by a concrete sea wall. Any threat to this man made SSSI is met by the wrath of conservationists many of whom would happily sacrifice their dignity to lay in front of a road builders JCB. So could it be that contrary to the popular belief that off roading is damaging to ecology, and in the absence of teams of work party conservationists actively diversifying the landscape, that this form of recreation could be providing a valuable ecosystem service by default, and if so what's the supporting evidence?

The impact off roading in Gwent is sharply focused in its coalfield valleys where urbanisation and ribbon development follows the more accessible valley bottoms but thins quickly as the contours narrow. This ensures that valley communities are never too far away from open countryside. On summer weekends and  evenings the throaty sound of motorbikes mix with singing skylark, willow warbler and shouting Welsh mams to provide an ambiance that's uniquely valleys.

Evidence of off roading especially in the uplands is not hard to see. Deeply incised tracks through wet heath and peat, circular patterns on plateaus of part vegetated spoil and hill climbs through scattered ffridd beech woodland the scars are all around. From an aesthetic perspective this is often not a pretty sight but nonetheless is, I would argue, disturbance ecology in action.  Tracks through homogeneous bracken covered slopes increase patchiness and edge habitat for nesting whinchat.  Bare ground maintained and alternated by the variable linear actions of tyre treads are ideal for basking adders and common lizard, for predatory invertebrates such as the green tiger beetle in pursuit of that mottled grasshopper. And in the drier areas the surface breaking actions of a group of tearaways in Wolf Speed jackets offer feeding opportunities for wheatear or if you're lucky a trip of dotterel. Some of the best places for water beetles, palmate newts and odonata such as scarce blue tailed damselfly and keeled skimmer are from water holding wheel ruts thereby compensating for an institutional fear of maintaining standing water habitat.

Now you may think I've lost the plot but it seems I'm not the only one to hold these subversive alternative views. The campaigning geographer and peri-urban champion Marion Shoard in her contribution to the book Urban Wildcapes (Jorgensen and Keenan 2011) cites an example of incidental habitat enhancement. She says:

'  ........attract low-key uses which actually enhance wildlife and wilderness value. Scramble biking produces small-scale disturbance which generates loose friable substrates on the West Thurrock Marshes. This makes nesting easier for rare burrowing bees and wasps , such as the brown-banded carder bee and the five-banded weevil wasp..........'

There are of course undeniable issues with motorbiking in peri-urban environments which shouldn't be ignored. My personal aspiration of enjoying a peaceful walk is often shattered by bikers who tend not to have much regard for other users. They can also play havoc with livestock thereby incurring the wrath of Commoners and in doing so act illegally. And in the brave new world of industrial archaeology free spirited bikers may cause damage to the values society has now placed on these landscape features. However in societies scramble to persecute those enjoying themselves with machines we can easily lack objectivity and overlook some of the beneficial aspects of which one, I would argue, could be nature conservation.     

Of dubious origin

 

This imm White fronted goose was in amongst the Canada geese at Cwmbran Boating Lake yesterday. Its clearly of dubious origin but not something that I've come across in vc 35 before. If it is a feral bird where do they all come from?

Note - thanks to Chris Jones for correcting my initial identification faux pas.

Belgium chocolate

Taking the road from Chepstow to Monmouth yesterday the River Wye was revealed in all its full chocolate brown flooded glory. The adjacent floodplain had done its job by taking excess water leaving a pretty watery landscape of flooded fields. Pulling into a car park in Tintern beside the swirling debris laden river I was soon able to attract a few gulls. One black headed gull was carrying a Belgium ring marked 7T97132.
  

Blue 784 returns

A Turkey sandwich break to a playing field in Cwmbran produced a couple of paddling Herring Gull. One bird turned out to be colour ringed blue 784. This bird was first recorded around the same time last year and from the same locality. Bird was first ringed at a landfill site in Gloucester 2006.  

Video footage reveals evidence of Gwent colour ringed Med Gull

I've been using the video facility on my Panasonic Lumix of late with interesting results. This still taken from a short video of two Mediterranean Gull at Tredegar House Lake back in October clearly shows a white colour ring on one of the birds. It was a brief glimpse revealed only by going through the footage frame by frame. It seems this is the first documented record of a colour ringed Med Gull but unfortunately the clarity of the still is not of a quality that allows the number to be read.  

ST291.20 MUSEUM ZOOLOG. HELSINKI - FINLAND

This Finnish ringed Black Headed Gull took some enticing to bring it within photographing range at Riverfront Newport yesterday. Elsewhere there were 60 Tufted Duck and 13 Little Grebe at Tredegar House Lake.   

Sustainable Peri-urban Drainage System (SPuDS)

Those familiar with the land use planning process will no doubt understand the rationale behind Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS). Water management in the urban environment is crucial in helping to alleviate episodic flooding. Hard surfacing that's efficient in rushing water off to the existing drainage system often ends up being someone elses problem further down the river catchment. To moderate this SUDS are often designed and incorporated into new developments as a way of ensuring water is regulated.

A key feature of SUDS is a balancing pond. In modern systems such a feature is often simply a depression in the ground that takes excess water and releases it in a measured and controlled manner. But its seems that balancing ponds are not just a part of a modern water management system The peri-urban industrial landscape around the south Wales coalfield has many 'balance ponds'. The pond pictured above is situated above Pwll Ddu quarry and in recent times at least, has been devoid of water. But this changed within the last week when heavy rain temporarily filled the pond.

Parkland wildlife

This late posting relates to a visit to Tredegar Park last Sunday. Like all parkland environments theres no shortage of grey squirrels to entertain the middle class National Trust patrons. This one played peek-a- boo around a mature Wellingtonia tree but had obviously met with some sought of accident as the majority of its characteristic curly tail was missing. 

The lake itself seemed brimming with birdlife. The common wildfowl were supplemented by a healthy count of 58 tufted duck and 12 little grebe. Many of the female tufted duck displayed varying degrees of white facial markings providing a potential scaup banana skin for those inexperienced birders. 

Breeding plumage in winter

Black headed gulls are well known as non conformists when it comes to the timing of plumage change. Those hardy birding souls who have in the past endured the harsh winter weather to view the Llandegfedd Reservoir gull roost will have noted the change in black headed gull plumage from late January onwards. This bird at Riverfront Newport last week (mid December) was certainly the most advanced in the development of its summer head plumage I've seen. 

This one is EY66023

Not sure if those of you who read this blog are starting to reel at the sight of another ringed black headed gull but for me this is citizen science in action. There are thousands of bird ringers in the UK and abroad giving up their time and money to further our understanding of birds and to provide the much needed evidence base for targeted conservation action. As a lapsed bird ringer its not in my DNA to ignore a bird carrying a ring and at this time of year it's gulls that provide the stimulus.This bird was one of two with rings at Cwmbran Boating Lake midweek.   

Beside the Wye

Another brief stop-off visit to Tintern and two black headed gull were with rings. The most interesting was a foreign bird but I wasn't able to get a good series of photos to enable the ring to read. The other was UK ringed number EN95615.



Wild cabbage (Brassica oleracea)

A shock discovery of a photographic record of a great grey shrike from the head of the Blaenserchan Valley in early November had me out in the hope it was still around. Needless to say it wasn't so I made my way down to The British avoiding a steady stream of off roaders some pulling wheelies in defiance of oncoming vehicles.

At The British a yellow flowering plant caught my eye from a roadside pull-in popular with local fly tippers. A robust plant with green brassica type leaves had me reaching for my BSBI crucifer guide. It seems this is a specimen of wild cabbage a native yet scarce plant in the UK. A mainly coastal species the only substantial population in vice county 35 is on the walls of Chepstow Castle. But just before you get excited it seems wild cabbage is often grown in gardens and The British record surely has its origin as a domestic throw out.   

High count

Cwmbran Boating Lake is a small wetland that's always worth a visit. This lunchtime there was a site busting count of 41 goosander along with smaller numbers of other assorted wildfowl and gulls.

Tintern teasers

A small party of black headed gull caught my eye when passing through Tintern yesterday. Out of around 20 birds three were carrying rings but despite numerous photos from as many angles a possible I could only get enough to read the sequence on a single BTO ring. Does anyone recognise the origin of EP33914?

Beer for birders

Well not exactly beer but a variety of ciders. Happened on this clutch of attractively labelled gut rot in a home brew shop by the name of Brewers Droop in Bristol. Can't tell you what they tasted like as my wife has drunk them!

Danish II

A quick visit to Riverside Newport and the colour ringed redshank is still showing well feeding along the shore line of a rising tide. An elderly gentleman arrived on his bike with a shopping bag full of scraps for the birds, quickly attracting a mass of noisy gulls. In amongst the gathering was this colour ringed black headed gull although sorting out the number was a bit of  a challenge due to a coating of luscious River Usk mud. On closer examination the letters ARK can be seen on the metal suggesting its of Danish origin. The white colour ring is inscribed with the alpha numeric sequence 5EY.  I'll report and wait.   

Just hangin' about

I've never really bought in the whole twitching thing, as rushing around the country looking at ship assisted birds that wouldn't have otherwise found their way to our shores is just fundamentally unsustainable. However I'm sometimes tempted to get involved if its local and the Newport Wetlands penduline tit was just about local enough for me.

On arrival I felt reasonably confident the bird that had performed for three days in a stand of reedmace just outside the visitor centre would once again show well. How I was mistaken! I therefore joined about 100+ birders in a vigil of just hangin' about. After an hour of mind numbing inactivity I came to my senses and left with only a pair of stonechat to trouble the pages of the now infamousValleyNaturalist field note book, but underscored with, 'twitching what's the point'!

German nein Dutch

Some people twitch tits I prefer rings - this is of course a reference to the Newport Wetlands penduline tit and my interest in citizen science through the reading of birds carrying rings! Now as a lapsed 'C' permit bird ringer I know how tricky it can sometimes be sorting out a poorly stamped inscription on a little aluminium ring. So imagine the complexities of reading same ring in the field but attached to the leg of a frantic black headed gull drunk on an elixir of water soaked bread. This was just the scenario last Sunday when it seemed that every card carrying National Trust member had descended on Tredegar House Lake with a dog ( usually a water loving Labrador or spaniel ) and a bag of kitchen scraps. 

Most, if not all of these well meaning individuals had only one objective and that was feeding a family party of mute swan. But where bread is involved it's always reduced to a raucous feeding frenzy akin to that outside Ali's Kebab Emporium in the wee small hours of a Saturday morning.

Now part of the ring readers field craft is to keep a keen eye of those wildfowl feeding Sunday strollers, as the resultant gathering of the avian masses is where the rings are. One such gathering of an excited family attracted most of the gulls from around the lake and at least two black headed gulls were carrying those shiny things but with the photographic difficulty factor close to ten on the photographic difficulty factor scale I decided to concentrate on the one that kept alighting on a small boundary wall. Sixty plus images later I felt I had enough to sort out a number.

Later that evening I had secured  a number believed to be from the German ringing scheme. This was subsequently submitted and to my surprise a couple of days later I had a reply from Frank Moors of the Dutch scheme with details of the bird that was ringed in the Summer of 2012 at Griend in Holland. The only drawback was that the information was supplied in Dutch and translation was somewhat painful.

That afternoon at Tredegar Lake there were also at least two Mediterranean Gull, four tufted duck and six little grebe along with singles of cormorant and heron.

That same day I called in to Riverside, Newport as the tide was out. Amazingly the first bird I set eyes on was the colour ringed redshank first noted almost exactly a year to the day in the same location. The contrast between the response to reporting bird rings to the BTO and that of continental schemes is that one year on I am still waiting for a reply!      

Hunting down the strangler

A couple of country bumpkin types told me of the presence of a rare fungi the powder cap strangler (Squamanita paradoxa). This parastic fungi occurs in only one Welsh location and that is the Clydach Gorge. Why this should be is anyone's guess, but it could be that its just under recorded as its preferred habitat of acid grassland is widespread in the valleys. In an half hearted attempt to track it down I stayed local and headed for The British. After good numbers waxcap, coral fungi and the odd dung fungi I called it a day, but not before shooting a few frames of some masculine industrial heritage.