A Short Spring Visit to North West Wales

 

Wed 11^th May’22

Arrived yesterday evening (see previous Blog.)

Walked up the field to see the lambs at the top of the field, and then down to see the pond, new last year. It’s got huge numbers of toad tadpoles, the odd water boatman and pond skater and whirligig beetles. The plants sparse but settling in nicely. Stone surrounds still being added. Swallows flying over and a House Martin. Whitethroats singing.

This year's twins (mum on left, Grandma in front)

Whirligig Beetles, Pond Skaters and Water Boatmen have settled in the pond, nd there are great numbers of black Toad tadpoles.

(Kim e-mailed a day or two ago:' Birds are enjoying the pond, Swallows dunk then preen on the fenceposts; Dunnock, Spadgers, Meadow Pipit, Linnet, Goldfinch coming to drink ; and sundry Corvids to wash and brush up or drink.

A Swallow just now was flying all round back and forth just above the surface getting-what? pond- skaters or flies?')

In the afternoon we walked up the field again and onto Bywchestyn. Fields each side at the top have been ploughed by Gareth. Looking across to the west Kim saw what looked like a Hoodie. Martin from Cae Cryn was standing by the gate and he and Kim chatted a bit.(He e-mailed her later to say he’d seen a couple of hoodies with some rooks about where we’d seen that one which was a nice confirmation.)

The Parwyd, looking across to the site of the Peregrines' nest.

We walked across to the Parwyd where there was a flock of about 40 non-breeding choughs wheeling around and perching in places. Saw one of the nesting peregrines being chased by crows and the recently-fledged Ravens who had nested there just above the Peregrines, were perching and soliciting vociferously. Lovely clumps of Thrift and Sea Campion. 

Thrift.

                                 Sea Campion

Raven.

                                              Chough

Intermittent rain in the evening.

Thursday 12^th May’22

Bright sun first thing. A bit less wind. We walked across to Pen y Cil to look for Wheatears. Lovely thrift. Dirty sea. We saw them as we sat on the rocks. Kim saw some Manxies but I didn’t pick them up.

Male Northern Wheatear.

In the afternoon Kim and I walked, after driving to Pwll Cyw which is covered with Bog Bean in flower.

Pwll Cyw. The Council dredged this pond a few years ago but it has soon covered with (mostly) Bog Bean.

Close-up of Bog Bean.

Then drove on a bit to the top of the lane with the two little cottages.

                                                            Bryn Caned

Cae Crin

and then on down the track past them, towards Porth Melyn. Found what looked like a tennis-ball sized fine grassy spherical nest in the bottom of a tuft of long grass. SEE THE END OF THIS BLOG!

Cock Stonechat. He was keeping a close eye on us as his family were scattered among the nearby gorse bushes.

Several Linnets were flitting around on the short turf on the clifftop.There were patches of Spring Squill making a blue sheen on the grass.

Friday 13^th May’22

Set off early to go to Anglesey. Kim wanted to show us a wetland reserve they went to last winter.

We crossed the Menai Strait on the Britannia bridge, built by Robert Stevenson in the mid 1800s.

A few miles along the road is a wide shallow valley running NE to SW with low ridges to the north and south. The valley is formed by the River Cefni, the principal river of Anglesey. Eleven miles long, it runs out to sea in the SW of Anglesey at Malltraeth. The valley bottom contains the RSPB Reserve of Cors Ddyga, a mix of wet, marshy meadows, extensive reedbeds and areas of open water.

                                                      Cors Ddyga Information Board.

We stayed out of these wet meadows as we didn't want to disturb the ground-nesting birds. A Skylark was singing overhead. Going down a steepish track through woodland to reach the valley there was a chorus of Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff song.

The stony track ran through the reedbeds and we stood and watched a male, later joined by a female Marsh Harrier flying low over the reeds. Greylag Geese and Lapwings were also flying across the far end.

  

Male Marsh Harrier.

                                            Female Marsh Harrier

We were treated to the most prolonged sedge/reed warbler recital I’ve ever heard, though still none the wiser as to which. Too much wind for them to be climbing up the reeds to give us views.

This is a Reed Warbler.

Sedge Warbler is much more streaked over the wings and back and has a noticeable white streak above the eye.

            A Male Reed Bunting sang his little song.

We passed or were passed by about 16 people altogether. It’s a good big round walk round the periphery of the whole reserve but we just did the first leg to the River Cefni and back. Skylarks singing. Bitterns have been seen/heard but no luck today.

Caernarvon is now by-passed by a new road but we chose to drive home through town and passed the castle

Caernarvon Castle

and then drove along the coast of the Menai Strait. A few gull were foraging among the stones on the shore and we saw about 14 Whimbrel feeding before they flew off in a little flock.

Whimbrel has a shorter beak than a Curlew, distinct white crown stripes and a distinctive call.

.

Sat 14^th May’22

Pottering day. No wind. Hazy, becoming sunny. Potted up my courgettes and other plants.

We were seeing Small Yellow Underwings on the Mouse-eared Chickweed in their bottom meadow . My first for UK. Also one or two Common Blues.

Mouse-eared Chickweed

                                             Small Yellow Underwing

(Kim emailed today June 2nd to say they had counted 21 of these little moths in the meadow today!)

We sat in the little clearing in the garden; a real sun-trap. Watching the holes in the block of wood that Gwydion had drilled last year for the leaf-cutter Bees to nest in, this time we were seeing Red Mason Bees showing interest in the holes.

Red Mason Bee interested in holes in wood.

Up the cliff this afternoon to look at the spherical ‘nest’.(See the end of this blog.)

Watched a Hairy Sand Digger Wasp at the side of the track up  above  Bryn Caned..It was covering what we supposed to be a nest hole in sandy gritty stuff at the side of the track, carting bits of grit, sand and grassy stuff, over the nest position .Interrupted by a roystering labrador.

Hairy Sand Digger Wasp burying its nest hole with particles of grit.

The uncontrolled dog unfortunately stopped the video and destroyed the wasp's efforts.

Porpoises in the Sound.

Put the moth trap out down in the top corner of the bottom field as the wind had dropped a good deal.

Sunday 15^th May’22

Opened up the moth trap. A modest catch.

A Brimstone Moth was roosting in the grass beside the trap. his often happens ; they seem to be attracted to the light but prefer to roost outside over night.

.Quiet morning. In afternoon we drove up the Rhiw road as far as Penrhyn Mawr where we parked and walked along a pretty bare stony track with a lot of reddish plants of Crassula tillaea.

Crassula tilaea belongs to the Stonecrop family. Easily overlooked in dry stony places, but these red patches were quite conspicuous. It will quickly become desiccated in a dry summer and disappear.

 Then crossed two fields from where we could look across Aberdaron Bay towards Pen y Cil and Bardsey, or directly south to the Gwylans. Using the ‘scope we could see Guillemots, Shags, Cormorants , Herring Gulls and Puffins standing outside their holes and lots especially on the sea just off the islands.

                The Gwylans (Gull Islands) Gwylan Fawr is in front and partly hiding Gwylan Fach.

The Puffin is an engaging bird. The beak loses its bright colours in the winter.

Through the scope we could see plenty of Puffins standing outside their burrows and there were even more bobbing about in the water just off the islands. Guillemots were standing by chicks and eggs on a flat rock slab, gulls were wheeling above and we remembered our annual visits there when the children were small.

Looking west from Penrhyn Mawr. Bardsey in the distance.

Monday 16^th May’22

After lunch we made a short visit to Porth Oer (Whistling Sands.) This beach gets its name from the strange squeaking noise as you walk on the sand. The particles are small and round and as they rub together under foot, they squeak.

                                                     Looking north east across Porth Oer.

this time we didn't go on the beach; instead we walked along to the headland on the southern end of the beach and stood on the clifftop. As we walked back to the car through a small piece of woodland, Kim caught a glimpse of a Spotted Flycatcher and we watched it among the leafy branches.  Perhaps they had come in the previous night, because when we got back to Ty'n Gamdda, there was another in the fruit trees down the drive!

These migrants are becoming less frequent and it was a fitting end to yet another fascinating visit.

PS. THE 'NEST'

When we looked at it again, we decided it was in low vegetation where the strong winds had made a little vortex and whirled the fine grass round and round to resemble a nest! 

It makes a good trick photo!

s

JOURNEY TO NORTH WALES : 'Those Blue Remembered Hills'

 

JOURNEY TO NORTH WALES : ‘Those Blue Remembered Hills….’

May 10^th 2022

Route taken.

We went up to Kim’s for a week this spring, leaving the house in rain at 7 in the morning. What a difference a few years make. The smallish road from home to Launceston, once more or less deserted this early in the morning, was very busy with traffic and when we joined the A 30 at Launceston, that road was equally busy. There had been rain overnight and the countryside was gleaming soft spring green, punctuated by crisp white Hawthorn blossom. The A30 from Launceston to Exeter skirts its way round the north side of Dartmoor The verges were a froth of Cow Parsley and the sky was silvery grey with glimpses of sun beyond the low clouds blotting out the higher tops of the moor. It still takes forty minutes to reach Exeter from home, but this is a much pleasanter route to make our way out of east Cornwall than struggling through the Plymouth commuter traffic.

The great red sandstone cliffs sliced through to join the A30 with the M5 at Exeter are still largely bare rock with fringes of pink Mexican Daisy now establishing in the fissures and cracks. We began to head north again towards a grey threatening sky, through the veils of spray flung up by big lorry wheels. We were glad we weren't going south as there was a huge tail-back in all the south-bound lanes about Bridgewater. It went on for miles.

As the M5 ages, the extensive views to either side are being increasingly hidden by the roadside planting of trees and shrubs, now reaching a considerable size and our focus is now fixed on the road ahead. We reached Brent Knoll Services (now called Sedgemoor Services) for breakfast at 9.30. Having paid £1.63 a litre for petrol before we left Tesco’s in Launceston, we saw the price at the service station was an eye-watering £1.88 per litre!! We were watching the petrol prices as we drove, with an eye on our needs on the return journey. The mid-Wales garages seemed to be charging around £163.9 to £165.9 a litre.

Brent Knoll is a good landmark on the left as you go north. It’s a hill of 137 metres on the Somerset Levels where the Mendip Hills end partway between Weston-super-Mare and Bridgewater.

Towards Bristol, now suitably refreshed, we saw this stretch of road was bordered  by the golden yellow of Oxford Ragwort. This plant was introduced from the stony slopes of Mount Etna to the Oxford Botanic Garden in the early 1700s. The story has it that its parachute-borne seeds lifted off and subsequently travelled along the clinker beds of the railways of Britain, ‘getting off at every station!’ over the next few hundred years The plant certainly thrives in gutters and pavement cracks and other dry stony places and is widespread in Britain now.

Oxford Ragwort.

We decided to go up though mid-Wales on the shorter but slower route, crossing the Severn estuary on the now not so new Prince of Wales suspension Bridge. The toll charge over the Severn estuary into Wales has been scrapped, so we opt to take this route up through Wales rather than fight our way though the Birmingham and the M6 before going off to the west on the M54 past Shrewsbury etc. The welsh roads are pleasanter, shorter and through lovely scenery, but the journey takes longer.

The Prince of Wales bridge.

Prince of Wales bridge, going towards Wales. The side barriers, presumably to cut down cross-winds, unfortunately prevent views of the estuary below as we drive across.

This second estuary crossing was built between 1992 and 1996 to supplement the first bridge over the Severn. This was built in 1966 and replaced the old small Aust Ferry. The elegant, aerodynamic second bridge, over 5ms long, the Prince Of Wales Bridge is a handsome, partly suspension bridge. One has to leave the motorway on either end to get down to admire the views.

Continuing west along the M4 as far as Newport, we then turned north and headed for Abergavenny. A lot of Ash trees have been planted along this road, as well as it being an abundant local tree. Over the past two or three years we have watched the inexorable spread of the die-back disease, although this year so far, quite a few trees are showing signs of re-growth . Maybe this might be signs of immunity developing in the surviving trees and it’s to be hoped that no programme of wholesale felling is undertaken prematurely.

Just before we reach Abergavenny you can see the ruins of Raglan Castle up on a ridge to the right. I have always wanted to go and have a look at it but a detour at this stage of the journey seems too time-consuming. All I know about it is that it’s late mediaeval.

Raglan Castle.

Abergavenny is a busy market town in Monmouthshire, and is a good centre for exploring the Brecon Beacons or, nearer, a leisurely walk along the Newport to Brecon canal.

Through Crickhowell and past Tretower, another impressive-looking ruin worth a look at , this castle, built in 1100 by a Norman lord, became the home and fortress of powerful Welsh lords for several hundred years more.

Tretower.

The road from Abergavenny to Builth Wells was quieter and the countryside was green and benign , and the road verges were studded with bluebells and stitchwort.

Continuing north the road passes between the hills of the Brecon Beacons to the left and their continuation as the Black Mountains to the right before we reach our favourite stopping-place for a breather and mid-morning drink time. We have met the Wye valley by now, and we cross the wide river in its thickly wooded valley by a pretty little iron suspension bridge.

The bridge is only just wide enough to take a car (fold back the wing mirrors and breathe in!) and the planks on the road surface clack as you go over, reminding us of the wooden bridges regularly swept away by flooded creeks in Australia,

River Wye, looking upstream from the little bridge.

There are may fine old trees here, and a little way upstream there is access to a public footpath which runs through the fine woodland alongside the river.

This area seems to be part of an estate; we assume it belongs to Llanstephan House a little way up a side road. I see it has a large garden open for the National Gardens Scheme.

Builth Wells is the next market town, home of the annual Royal Welsh Show held every July. With very old historical links, a catastrophic fire swept through the old town in the 1600s but it was rebuilt and enjoyed a hey-day In Victorian times when it became popular as a spa town following the opening up of two mineral water springs outside town. Many of the major buildings in town are Victorian and a big mural depicting a tale of the Welsh Prince Llewellyn can be seen on one big wall at the roadside in the main street.

Occasional glimpses of Red Kites can now be seen. Rhayader, the next small town is the focus of a Kite feeding centre, now a popular tourist attraction.

Red Kite.

The clock tower in the centre of Rhayader.

This small market town is twenty miles down the River Wye valley from its source. The river rises on Plynlimon the highest mountain in the Cambrian mountains, (and also the source of the Severn.) A small side road leads from Rhayader up into the hills where many years ago we camped with the children when they were young. We had stopped in old oak woodland with nesting Redstarts and Treecreepers in the trees near our tent. The road went on up into the hills to the Elan Valley reservoir. It was a memorable camp and totally unknown in the early 1970s.

Now however we go on up the main road to Llangurig then Llanidloes, and then up the winding road past the extensive reservoir of Llyn Clywedog which dams the headwaters of the river Severn. Started construction in 1963, this dam was intended to alleviate the floods of the Severn downstream and to safeguard the water supply to Birmingham and the Midlands.

Llyn Clywedog reservoir.

Continuing north we approach the Cambrian Mountains and taking a small side road to the left at the hamlet of Staylittle, we head up into open moorland past the traces of 19th century lead mining into open countryside with extensive views stretches all round. This road, now increasingly popular can be cut off by snow in the winter as we have found to our cost on a couple of occasions.

 Near the top, a rough side track leading through the mountains to remote upland farms further east has, in the past given us a secluded stop for picnics and even an overnight stay on occasions.

Llyn Glaslyn

Passing Lake Glaslyn on the stony track in this national nature reserve we saw grouse back in the early 1970s; much more recently we stopped overnight at the side of the track when on our way up to Kim’s. She was returning home after having stayed with us in Cornwall. She had taken the opportunity to clear out a huge amount of old unwanted drawings, card offsets and other art debris accumulated under the spare bed over several decades. We slept in the campervan but Kim decided to put her bed-roll just outside, using the big wad of paper and card as extra padding underneath. Rain set in during the night and a stream of water began to run down the side of the track. She awoke at first light, her bedroll floating on the mattress of discarded art works!

Going down the mountain road towards Machynllech.

Coming down the mountains the narrow road winds though well wooded, pastoral farms, soon reaching Machynlleth in the valley of the Dovey river. The small town is now another popular tourist destination, picturesque and a good walking centre.

Victorian clock tower in centre of Machynllech.

Delays just north of Machynllech last summer were due to extensive works, making a new crossing of the River Dovey and associated road works. Little seems to have changed this time!

Further up the road we pass the Alternative Technology Centre at Carrog. From small rather hippy-ish beginnings over fifty years ago the CAT has become a well-recognised centre, embracing and demonstrating the concept of low technological, sustainable methods of building, heating, lighting, waste-disposal, in all walks of life. The centre is open to visitors and also runs relevant courses.

Screes of Cadair Idris east face.

Cadair Idris.

The next striking area of scenery in this magnificent centre of Wales are the desolate screes of Cadair Idris rising up to almost 900 metres as the road rises alongside the eastern edge before dropping down through old woodland to Dolgellau. This important and historic centre is now bypassed by the modern road which then runs fairly straight though the extensive conifer plantations of Coed-y-Brenin in the Snowdonia National Park. The view soon opens out to the left and the horizon is bounded by the chain of rounded mountains called the Rhinogs before passing the lake, mothballed nuclear power station and village of Trawsfynydd.

Rhynog mountains (Rhynogydd or Rhynogau Welsh plural.)

The un-lovely nuclear power station of Trawsfynedd across the lake. The power station is now decommissioning and mothballed. Rhynogydd behind.

After so many miles, we now leave the A470 as it heads off to Conwy and Llandudno, and we start our last, west-heading leg out of Snowdonia and towards the lleyn Peninsula.

This most northerly peninsula is about thirty miles long from its rather indeterminate beginning west of the Snowdonia range to Kim's home out on the tip.

Looking back towards Snowdonia from the beginning of the eastern end of the Lleyn Peninsula.

 These days we usually leave the main road at Maentwrog and take a right turning up through more quiet upland country through Rhyd, bypassing Penrhyndedraeth and even Porthmadog and regain our road at Criccieth, birthplace of Lloyd George. We now head down the much improved road through to Pwllheli and the last 15 miles, at last, to Ty’n Gamdda, Kim’s home on the furthest possible SW tip of the Lleyn Peninula.

This way is about 350 miles from home but nearer 385 by the orthodox route via Birmingham and the A5.