Ah! the memories

Back in the 1980's and 90s I was part of a small ringing group of three based at a site just off the dam at Llandegfedd Reservoir. Here we spent many an enjoyable Saturday ringing in the comfort of a hut donated by Welsh Water (in the days when they supported birding) and modified to include a wood burning stove etc. Annual ringing totals often approached 1000 birds sometimes boosted by August and September sessions at the North End. Alas the hut fell in disrepair when my 'A' ringer Percy Playford became ill.

Shortly after Percy died the hut was rescued by Richard Poole and transferred to a site on the Island but unfortunately its use in this new position was short lived and here too it was abandoned. The hut today is a fragment of its former glory now all but derelict, rotting and crest fallen but a few reminders of its glory days can still be found amongst the remains. A stencilled ringing notice from the days before computers, a tin of nails, chairs, a table and a modified window for easy of release of processed birds. A piece of the social history of bird ringing in Gwent disappearing without a whimper.