Beside river and tip

I'd intended to check Tredegar House Lake for gulls but a patch of rough grassland near to Newport tip caught my eye, and it was here I spent a couple of hours. The grassland led down to the edge of the Ebbw river where moorhen and shopping trolley were both at home. The late summer sunshine produced a good number of common darter dragonflies alighting on wooden fence posts and a discarded velour armchair. A couple of migrant hawkers patrolled to the sound of a chiffchaff in autumn sub song. A large stand of thistle were linked by the webs of fat garden spiders. I'm almost sure I heard the song of a Roesels bush cricket but a protracted search produced only long-winged conehead.