It was only this morning it dawned on my that today is the day birders the world over get to demonstrate their undoubted field craft and celebrate the glory of birdsong. Not be to left out I made my way to the flanks of Mynydd Farteg Fach for a ffridd dawn chorus walk. Access to the hillside is via a well known fly tipping hot spot and amongst the conifer cuttings, broken glass and black bags a flowering plant caught my eye. Its common to find a range of garden 'throw outs' associated with these fly tipping sites and the plant that attracted my attention was variegated archangel. It's an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act to introduce it to the wild but this patch was flourishing within a stand of molina. On one of the leaves I noticed a curled up caterpillar that turned out to be a woolly bear or garden tiger (Arctia caja) moth
Despite the cold wind there was no shortage of bird song. At least three pair of stonechat, a singing reed bunting, good numbers of linnet and skylark, willow warbler, meadow pipit, raven, kestrel, whinchat.
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