Gilfach Farm

The forecast for the weekend was wall

to wall sunshine and after seeing a few

nice photo's of Pied Flycatchers from Gilfach

farm I decided a trip was in order.

Gilfach Farm is just outside the small town of

Rhyaddar. It's a fairly small reserve with a

chance of all the woodland species including

Wood Warbler, Redstart, Nuthatch and of

course Gilfach's star birds the Pied

Flycatcher's.

A short walk to the first hide produced

my first Pied Flycatcher's. The male

was outside the nestbox singing away

while the female was busy collecting

food for her young.

Close to the hide run's a stream which

produced views of tree pipit (albiet distance)

and Dipper. The woodland itself produced

Redstart although much of the time distant

and far to dark for photo's.

Around the reserve the sound of Woodpeckers

could be heard along with Nuthatch and Wood

Warbler. A short walk to the farmhouse

produced Redstart which were being treated

to a small bowl of mealworm kindly put out

by the warden.

The warden spoke of a Tawny Owl that had

nested close to the Farmhouse in fact she had

produced two young. He kindly walked

me to where she could be seen sat snoozing

and allowed me to get a few photo's. A big

thank you for that Pip.

The young Tawny's were around but right at

he very top's of the tree's so no really chance

of a shot of theses little fur balls. At least not

without disturbing them anyhow.

A short distance from the car park produced

at least three Crossbills, All busily munching

away on cones and making a right mess

of the path. Apparently this was how they first

noticed.

Seeing most of what Gilfach had to offer I moved

on to Crossgates a small village just outside

Rhyaddar on my way home. I've been past

it a few time's and noticed the gorse bushes

and open field but never had the time to stop

off and take a look until today.

A short walk to the surrounding gorse produced

a young Stonechat.

There were also Linnet but always distant.

A walk accross the field gave good views' of

Skylark.

I think the heat of day may have been

getting to this one...I caught him panting!

Well worth a stop and a good end to the day.

Out and about!

May started out with a trip too

Ynys-hir with my local RSPB group.

Reports were good and hope's were

high for Pied Flycatcher and Wood

Warbler. As we arrived just after high

tide it seemed a good idea to start with

a trip along the estuary.

Along the pathway to the estuary we

found a very obliging Sedge Warbler

which sat quite happily while we took

a few shots.

Apart from the Sedge Warblers that were

around we managed to see Little Egret,

Reed Bunting, Canada geese and

Greylag geese. Apart from that though

it was pretty quite.

From the Estuary we made our way up

into the woodland. Although the Flycatcher's

were around trying to photograph them

was really difficult. In fact... I never managed

a single shot.

Throughout the Woodland we see Redstart,

Pied Flycatcher, Wood Warbler and Garden

Warbler none of which wanted there

photo taken.

On the other side of the reserve we found

Swallow's gathering Mud for there new

homes, and we managed a glimpse

of the Welsh Osprey carrying what looked

to be a 2lb Trout up river.

On the walk back to the vistors centre

Wheatear and Winchat were found, again

too distant for anything other than

record shots but a good end to the day.

Last weekend I decided to stay local.

I hadn't been up on the Malvern Hills

for while and with plenty of Dottrel

being seen around I thought it might

be worth a shot...well I was wrong.

Although not all bad, I did at last get

to grips with a pair of Stonechat.

And a Redstart!...albeit the Female.

I'll work on the male next week, In

fact there were three male's in the

area...She must be a good looking

bird!

Apart from that though that was it

really not much else around apart from

the occasional Linnet that dropped onto

the gorse every now and then.

Castlemorton Common

As the nights grow longer it gives me

chance to get out and visit my local

common at Castlemorton.

Over the past few night's I've been

lucky enough to see Cuckoo,

Chiffchaff, Stonechat, Linnet and

even Grasshopper Warbler!

Here's a few picture's!

Nest building is well underway!