Migration starts to pick up
April is easily my favourite month on the patch as I love the sights and sounds of migration.
This year is obviously going to be very different with us all under a form of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic which has now really taken hold in Britain.
I will keep reporting on Dowlais for as long as possible as its a fairly straightforward walk from my house
The best harbingers of summer here, as elsewhere, are of course swallows and a group of 4 were present during both my visits this week, resting on wires or examining roadside buildings as potential nest sites.
The first blackcaps and willow warblers joined the newly arrived and singing chiffchaffs. At one point I believe I had up to 6 willow warblers visible from my garden, though, as ever difficult to photograph
At the start of the Dowlais track there is a gate. Staring across the first field from this gate you view a short piece of hedge. A few years ago, in conversation with Ian the Postie, we discussed the regularity with which this tiny area turns up a spring redstart and named it "the redstart hedge" It is the section at the far side of the picture here (note there is no closer access)
Obviously I check this assiduously every April visit and sure enough this week it came up with the goods again
Since it is so far away, here is a slightly better shot taken, again at Dowlais, but Last April where one turned up on a closer gate for the only time ever
Since so much of the week was spent in my garden staring upwards I was delighted to catch a couple or red kites tracking North and managed a quick snap (cropped heavily here) of the birds
Finally it would not be the same place without the lapwings and redshank. It now looks like there may be up to 5 pairs of lapwing and a couple of pairs of redshank attempting to breed so I will finish with a couple of photographs of the lapwings displaying and a short video to give a better feel for why I return again and again to revel in it
I will try and write an extra blog with the garden insects and other creatures in the next day or so, meanwhile here are the promised lapwings in action with a skylark soundtrack
This year is obviously going to be very different with us all under a form of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic which has now really taken hold in Britain.
I will keep reporting on Dowlais for as long as possible as its a fairly straightforward walk from my house
The best harbingers of summer here, as elsewhere, are of course swallows and a group of 4 were present during both my visits this week, resting on wires or examining roadside buildings as potential nest sites.
The first blackcaps and willow warblers joined the newly arrived and singing chiffchaffs. At one point I believe I had up to 6 willow warblers visible from my garden, though, as ever difficult to photograph
At the start of the Dowlais track there is a gate. Staring across the first field from this gate you view a short piece of hedge. A few years ago, in conversation with Ian the Postie, we discussed the regularity with which this tiny area turns up a spring redstart and named it "the redstart hedge" It is the section at the far side of the picture here (note there is no closer access)
Obviously I check this assiduously every April visit and sure enough this week it came up with the goods again
Since it is so far away, here is a slightly better shot taken, again at Dowlais, but Last April where one turned up on a closer gate for the only time ever
Since so much of the week was spent in my garden staring upwards I was delighted to catch a couple or red kites tracking North and managed a quick snap (cropped heavily here) of the birds
Finally it would not be the same place without the lapwings and redshank. It now looks like there may be up to 5 pairs of lapwing and a couple of pairs of redshank attempting to breed so I will finish with a couple of photographs of the lapwings displaying and a short video to give a better feel for why I return again and again to revel in it
I will try and write an extra blog with the garden insects and other creatures in the next day or so, meanwhile here are the promised lapwings in action with a skylark soundtrack
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