And through the gloom of a Fochriw morning, it emerged.

Yes it is technically out of county but Rhaslas Pond above Fochriw is less than a bills length beyond the boundary. Saturdays are always busy for me so to get in a visit before the long-billed dowitcher skipped on to its next watering hole I needed to be on the road early. At the pond the weather was dismay, low light, cold, windy and a threat of rain. Nonetheless the bird was located at the south west corner and performed well with views down to 10 metres. 

On the way home two separate parties of redwing were noted crossing the Heads of Valleys road and on the outskirts of Blaenavon a red kite battled the wind.  

West country wanderer

Thanks to another sharp response from Peter Stewart I can bring you information about this colour ringed lesser black backed gull photographed at low tide on the River Usk, Newport last Sunday 6th October.

It was first ringed at Gloucester Landfill Site nr. Hempsted, Gloucestershire on12/4/08. A subsequent 38 sightings of the bird were made in and around Gloucester until 2011. This is the first record since that date.  

Motor city

It's a fallacy that my life revolves around off the wall naturalist activities and the subsequent updating of this blog. Other things in a busy schedule include work, subsidising off-spring, watching TV sport and listening to progressive rock/metal music- see not such a nerd after all ! So for obvious reasons this posting is a liitle late in making it to the digital super highway.

Talking of highways the Sunday before last (29 September) I visited the land of the internal combustion engine where the fantasy of a race track promising thousands of jobs sit bumper to bumper with the dualling of the Heads of the Valleys road. My usual parking spot for easy access to Garnlydan Reservoir was barred by earthworks, traffic cones and tattooed construction driving trucks that when revved belched copious amounts of air-borne particulates (PM 10s?). A fluorescent tabard wearing workman with discoloured safety helmet worn at a jaunty angle crossed the road in front driving a dumper that bounced in tune with the uneven terrain of upland rhos pasture. So displaced to a lay-by just past a blue roadside sign marked Powys I proceeded to make my way in full late summer sunshine across pylon dominated landscape to said waterbody.

En-route a stridulating meadow grasshopper was noted close to a chicane in the track but was barely audible between the noise of frequent drive-by bikers that seem to use the Llangattock road. Where a small quarry had developed a small pond black darter dragonflies were still on the wing, alighting on the dozen or so discarded tyres that now sit easy with carbon hungry aspirations of this area of Gwent. The reservoir itself was surprisingly low on water. Six wigeon flew in, possibly the same birds that were present at Beaufort Ponds earlier and a few gulls seemed unsettled mid water. Half a lap into a full circuit around the reservoir I put up three snipe. Fourteen lapwing then took flight moving around the reservoir set against the blue sky like an avian chequered flag and finally two redshank made it on to the podium.

  

Colour ringed Eurasian Mew Gull

A new gull watching location hit the big time yesterday -well for me anyway. Chippenham Sports Ground across the road from Waitrose supermarket in Monmouth was home to a party of around 50 gulls. Within a contingent of fourteen Eurasian mew gull (Larus canus) was this little bejewelled beauty that happily tugged at earth worms moving from third man to deep square leg on the cricket pitch. This is my first colour ringed mew gull from the county of vices 35. Given the colour ring starts with J suggests this bird is of Norwegian origin. Lets hope I can get some feedback on this one! 

Out of luck...again!

Shoreweed ( Littorella uniflora )

Lady luck wasn't with me at Llandegfedd Reservoir as there were no passage waders, no passage terns, no passage passerines (or very few anyway) in fact not much of anything at all. Vis mig was restricted to a small number of skylark. Botanically shoreweed was still visible on the muddy shoreline of Green Pool bay.

A mid afternoon visit to Tredegar House Lake was a little more variable but similarly dry. Moderate numbers of common wildfowl from coot to moorhen and mallard, with a smattering of cormorant, heron and six little grebe. A swallow was still visiting the nest site in the boat house and black headed gull numbers were over sixty, but without a Med gull or ringed bird in sight.

A by-product of the smelting process

A late posting from the weekend. Garnddyrys just of the Blorenge is a well known landmark for its large fused blocks of iron smelting slag. A red kite drifted overhead before disappearing into the mist of the Blorenge. A stonechat called from the nearby heather clad slopes and good numbers of meadow pipit were augmented by a party of around 30 goldfinch.

  

At Dunlop Semtex Pond the first four winter wigeon were on show but the pond was dominanted by a site busting count of 82 Canada goose. Also present were small numbers of moorhen, coot, tufted duck, mute swan and great created grebe. 

Reading - Newport - Cork

Some of you may remember the colour ringed black headed gull in the July 16th posting. Having got around to reporting the bird via the Cotswold Water Park ringing project I've now recieved a response. Thanks to Tim Ball for the swift turnaround of information. Details as follows: 

26/06/2011   Ringed as pullus (1) at Lea Farm, Gravel Pit, Hurst (Wokingham)

16/07/2013   Ring read in field at Tredegar House Lake, Newport

21/07/2013   Ring read in field at Dunkettle, Cork Harbour, Eire

Its seems well etablished that many southern England black headed gulls move in a westerly direction after breeding. It is interesting that just five days after my sighting this bird was in southern Ireland.

Reduces anti-social behaviour

 Gull with part eaten apple 

Gull with tennis ball  

Gull with child's slipper

'Give them something to do' is often the response of the general public to instances of anti-social behaviour amongst the youth. The assumption being that if youngsters are free from boredom they'll be less inclined to drink under age and go snogging in parks. The same could be said of those other urban anti-socials, the gulls. A spate of ice cream pinching and dustbin raiding is enough to tie up the resources of the local Wildlife Crime Officer for months. In an effort to keep gulls occupied and away from jumping on parked cars in supermarkets residents throughout Gwent are being encouraged to throw all unwanted small items into the River Usk Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The idea is that these then become exposed at low tide and washed back up on the incoming tide offering gulls endless hours of boredom busting fun. Early indications from a pilot study in Newport suggest reported cases of dive bombing gulls are down. Mrs Jones of Seagull View has greeted this news with cautious optimism, she said. 'These birds were landing on my chimney pot and calling loudly, things got so bad we had to install CCTV and go ex- directory, Dai at number 19 was even considering vigilante action. But the 'Give it to the Gulls initiative does seem to be working'. These sentiments were echoed by Mr.Bright a local lighting engineer who had seen a corresponding reduction in gulls hanging about on roadside lighting columns and swooping to take morsels of food ejected by legitimate road users.

This is a rare sight indeed

Happened to drop into Magor Marsh today and was lucky enough to photograph a water vole taking advantage of an apple on one of the feeding platforms. Gwent Wildlife Trust has an on-going reintroduction programme at this site. Lets hope its successful.

A sense of neglect

Dunlop Semtex Pond in Brynmawr has taken a turn for the worst. Once a pond servicing the thirst of heavy industry this redundant natural resource was included in a comprehensive regeneration scheme that saw  a mix of residential and retail properties, freshly branded as 'Lakeside'. The pond itself was sold to a local angling organisation and public monies were used to improve access primarily for fishing. Since this brave new world the pond has steadily developed an air of neglect. Waterside fences have been damaged and not replaced, access to ramps and fishing platforms are barred to all other users by padlocked gates (similar to Wentwood Reservoir) and its also accumulating that characteristic eclectic mix of urban detritus. Furthermore there's an issue with algal blooms. The surface is now over half covered by algae that seems somewhat unique to this site. I suspect this is directly related to the daily input of detergent from a nearby business exacerbated by the ill judged introduction of defecating domestic fowl. These birds are mainly sedentary choosing to spend most of their time preening in or adjacent to the main water inlet, where organic material is flushed into the pond.      

I'm sure the reasons behind this neglect are complex so I wouldn't wish to be too critcal. My issue is with the regulatory bodies and funding organisations who appear to think that the future well being of these sites are best placed with fishing interests as if they are the only player in town. Welsh Water embraces angling like a lifelong friend often to the exclusion of other legitimate users. Wentwood Reservoir is like Fort Knox accessible only to fisherman with no hint of multifuctionality here! Angling is a predominately male dominated past time but with numbers particapating falling annually it surely is time for plan B, where the interests of the majority are preferred to the interests of the few. 

 

Vignette

Its been a good few years since I last saw an osprey at Llandegfedd Reservoir. A quick morning visit with the specific objective of seeing a bird that's been present for the last couple of days didn't disappoint. As soon as I arrived to my chosen vantage point on the The Island the bird quickly appeared complete with fish, flying over Green Pool Bay then alighting in a tree just out of sight. Other birds of note included a single little egret, three tufted duck and 19 teal.

At Penyfan Pond this afternoon were singles of cormorant and tufted duck. Away from the pond was a spotted flycatcher that utilised some fencing for feeding along with a nearby redstart.

We were clubbing it

Today I spent a very enjoyable time with Mike Kilner. Although Mike's speciality is spiders he was keen to do some clubmoss twitching. First up was stags horn clubmoss and it was just as well Mike was with me. Whilst I was thrashed about aimlessly in leggy heather Mike dropped on the clubmoss relatively easily. And what a sight it was hundreds of fruiting bodies proud and erect.

Next up was fir clubmoss this required a walk to the top of Canada tips to find a specimen growing in the base of a disused reservoir. Once again Mike was able to locate the clubmoss after my poor attempt at findng it.

Little RINGED plover

Yesterday afternoon at Llandegfedd Reservoir was good for ringed birds if nothing else. A ring on a little ringed plover was hardly noticeable whilst my first ever tibia ringed gull was briefly visible before the bird took flight. Otherwise a Cetti's warbler gave a short burst of song from the inlet bay whilst wildfowl got on the scoreboard with seven wigeon, nine teal and a single tufted duck.

Bings

A late posting from 1st September reports on my jolly around the bings of Blaenavon. What are bings I hear you say? Bings are Scottish for spoil tips or slag heaps. These features are ideal for all wannabe naturalists, variable in aspect, chemical composition and age they are the prefect resource for the study of vegetational succession. Bare ground, lichen heath, acid grassland its all to be found on this unintentional exercise in habitat creation by our industrial forefathers. Its a paradox that not too long ago this landscape was vilified as unkempt and derelict now enlightenment has championed its abundant natural history. And with the continued loss of similar sites across south Wales Blaenavon is set to become an island of bing biological diversity amongst the stealth of urban development.

It was notable as the first coat wearing session of the autumn. Birds were a tad thin on the ground a wheatear broke the duck followed by a family party of stonechat. As the temperatures improved the grayling butterflies started to appear with up to half a dozen on a sunny warm south facing bing supported by an odd small tortoiseshell. Where the spoil gives way to more traditional upland habitat round leaved sundew could still be found in flower amongst the sphagnum. On return the sun was now doing its stuff and to my surprise a late green tiger beetle alighted close to foot.

Its that gull thing again

Nowadays its rare not to record a great black backed gull from Llandegfedd Reservoir. Even through the spring and summer months there's always at least one bird present. This pair was close in at the dam today attracted by a dead fish.

Fiddlesticks

This evening my beady eye caught sight of this colour ringed lesser black backed gull feeding on the roundabout opposite Newport's waste transfer station. Despite a detour to park up for a closer view of the bird and attached ring this individual failed to oblige hence a crop of poor quality images. There's some suggestion it has bred locally as at one point an immature bird was seen to spend time with this adult seemingly begging for food.

Royal mint

There's a substantial margin of flowering water mint (Mentha aquatica) along the Mon and Brecon canal at South Sebastopol at the moment that's attracting a good variety of invertebrate interest. Common hoverflies along with other assorted diptera are augmented by a few butterflies. This clouded yellow was found along with a small copper and green veined white. Diptera of note included this Tachina fera.

Freshwater molluscs

Not much to shout home about at Llandegfedd Reservoir yesterday. A little egret close to the Green Pool hide was confiding and at least three common sandpiper were very focal. Also calling well were many dark bush cricket. The receding water levels had also exposed many thousands of freshwater molluscs, these were ear pond snail Lymnaea auricularia.



What is over mature?

According to my copy of Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Great Britain and Ireland (Brooks & Lewington)this black tailed skimmer photographed Thursday evening at Garn Lakes Local Nature Reserve is 'over mature'. Sure enough it clearly wasn't in its first flush of youth (note some wing wear) and the same oracle suggests its flight period to be over by the time the Green Man Festival pitches its first tent, so this one was skimming on borrowed time.

Wrestling with this term and like a pensioner who's misplaced his reading glasses I stumbled around during Friday night shopping looking for some everyday examples of over maturity along the well stocked aisles of Tesco's Abertillery. The dairy section was the most obvious place for 'over maturity' and this extra mature cheddar delivered as any self respecting dairy counter should. Breezing past the Tena pants and over 50's Wellbeing vitamins I resisted the temptation to draw any parallels between these products and my quest . Other than the cheese and wine there were surprising few other products that saw a market opportunity in decay, until I reached the famed reduced section. Here over maturity was a pre-requiste. Discounted sad and forlorn examples of battered fruit and veg and other assorted items close to their sell by date were left only to be periodically tended by shop care workers. An apple that was soft and bruised sat cheek by jowl with pre-packaged rocket salad that was wet and flat and a bunch of petal shedding tulips were propped up in a black bucket marked, flower zimmer. So there you have it if this black tailed skimmer was to be found on a supermarket shelf it would surely be past its best before date and marked down for a quick sale- that's over mature!

   

The long and short of it

 

A few hardy souls turned out for the South East Wales Biodiversity Records Centre (SEWBReC) Bioblitz at Llantarnam Abbey today. The Abbey and its grounds has until recently been a bit of an unknown quantity hitherto only known for its lesser horseshoe bat colony. The aim of the assembled recorders was to put the site firmly on the biological recording map.

Short winged conehead

Long winged conehead

It was unfortunate that the weather was not conducive to recording invertebrates but in my capacity as County Recorder for Orthoptera I chalked up a fair list of long and short winged conehead, speckled and dark bush cricket, common green, meadow and field grasshoppers and common earwig. 

Elegant

As mentioned in my previous posting the muddy margins of Llandgefedd Reservoir are ideal for passage waders etc. at the moment. August is always good for little erget at this site and there were at least four birds on offer yesterday feeding close to the waters edge. Five oystercatcher were something of a surprise, supported by singles of common and green sandpiper and ringed plover. Other notable birds included a reed warbler, kingfisher, two little grebe, at least two great black backed gull, and the black swan continues to hang around closely associating with a pair of mutes. It was interesting to note that almost all of the Canada geese left due south at about 7pm suggesting that they roost elsewhere.

The liverwort Ricca cavernosa was plentiful around Green Pool bay.

Top of the pops

Niko Tinbergen hit the mark when he referred to naturalists as curious. In my scavenging for flora and fauna hitherto unrecorded in this embarrassingly poorly recorded corner of the principality I found this bottle partly exposed from the sphagnum margins of Coity Pond. Although well weathered the bottle was complete with a tightly fitting cap emblazoned with some long lost words. In Time Team fashion I carefully exposed the bottle from the mud and moss like a true archaeologist, carrying it to the bankside as if bearing a gift.  Whilst examining the bottle a wave of nostalgia washed over me. I remembered with affection  the summer's of my youth when healthy young lads played cricket or rolled their sleeves up before climbing trees, only to quench their thirst with a bottle of deposit paid Corona lemonade afterwards.

You will have probably realised by now that all this talk about deposit paid soft drinks bottles masks a rather lightweight session of wildlife spotting around the pond. For a water body of this size and in early August it is reasonable to expect a good population of damselflies. On the contrary the two common blue damselfly that showed were trumped only by a couple of black darter. Bird wise a reed bunting called and linnet flew overhead. 

Black and white

The dis-harmony that was on display between these two species of swan back in the breeding season has melted away as both serenely fed in the shallows of Green Pool Bay at Llandegfedd Reservoir. With a tasty drawdown zone now developing there's been a dribble of waders passing through. Yesterday evening I touched base with a redshank, a ringed plover and a common sandpiper. A couple of kingfishers chased about in characteristic excited fashion and a pair of reed warbler were still carrying food. Up to half a dozen black-tailed skimmer were active along with many marbled white butterflies.

Aye Aye Captain

After all the doom and gloom of recent poor butterfly years it seems this year has bucked the trend. Grassland habitat is alive at the moment with various skippers, ringlets, meadows browns and so on. Having heard on the grapevine that the remarkable coloniser the Essex skipper has now reached Blaenavon I took it upon myself to visit that much talked about 'derelict' site The British, in search of this climate change benefiter. Of the 29 skippers examined through my x10 optical aid five sported those diagnostic black tipped antennae. However the most amazing thing of my visit was that I didn't fall down an 100ft open flooded mine shaft, I wasn't knocked down by hoards of rampaging teenagers on motorbikes, nor did I stumble across any rusting barrels of glow in the dark toxic chemicals. In fact contrary to popular media commentary the site is tranquil accessible green space full of cultural and natural heritage!