Bubbling

Despite the dire warnings of pending extinction I've found cuckoo to be relatively widespread this year. Whether its the Blaenserchan valley, off the Blorenge, Waunafon bog or the flanks of the Coity the call of this bird has been a banker on my early morning excursions this spring.

Saturday I was marching around the modern day heritage features of Big Pit's environs. The landscape now littered with 'you are here' and 'this is where you need to go' signage still holds that old fashioned naturalist magic if, of course, you can access it before the tourists arrive to sample a day of paying homage to our mining forefathers.

The large coal spoil tip adjacent to Big Pit car park was the venue for my annual moonwort count. Although this little fern has just started to show the count of 187 was impressive. Next time 200+?

Other notables included several goldfinch, a good number of linnet and a calling reed bunting. A dingy skipper alighted as the sun warmed the spoil.