17 Wednesday Jun 2020
Tags
This was a bonus on Monday’s long walk …
I first saw its red bottom and tail walking away from me and thought I wouldn’t see it again but then it turned and sat in the long grass, keeping an eye on me while I took several photos. After about 5 minutes it spotted something more interesting on the other side of the field and trotted off. A delight!
15 Friday Feb 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, animals, nature, spring
Under blue skies and glorious sunshine, I returned to Barry for another long exploratory meander today so I expected this blog post to contain one of the many photos I took of water lapping on sand, aerobatic gulls soaring overhead, seaweed floating in and out on the waves, birds feeding amongst the reeds and rivulets in the Old Harbour …. But then I happened to glance over a railing into someone’s allotment and saw this gorgeous creature basking in the warm afternoon sun. And all thoughts of a marine theme vanished in a blink of a sleepy fox’s eye.
12 Thursday Jul 2018
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, British butterflies, butterflies, Cinnabar caterpillars, Comma, Cows, Glamorgan Bird Club, Green-veined white, Meadow Brown, Peacock, Red fox, Red kite, River Ely, Sand martin, Small tortoiseshell, Stock dove
Yesterday I enjoyed another wonderful, if rather hot day’s birding with my friends from the Glamorgan Bird Club, this time wandering a trail alongside the River Ely near Peterston-super-Ely and Pendoylan.
On the way there, my friend John and I had incredibly close views of three Red kites and more of these magnificent birds of prey were gliding overhead during our walk.
We saw Stock doves (one pictured above) sitting obligingly close to Woodpigeons so we could see the differences in the two species.
A Red fox was spotted trotting along in a distant field, its lunch in its mouth.
A large herd of large cows moved reluctantly away from the river so we could pass by. You’d have to be crazy to mess with this lady, who was keeping a steady eye on us in case we ventured too close to her calves.
The fifteen participants … well, fourteen really, as I was taking the photo.
The meandering River Ely was running low due to the recent drought conditions here in south Wales.
As well as birds, we also saw lots of butterflies, including these: Cinnabar caterpillars, Comma, Green-veined white, Meadow brown, Peacock, and more Small tortoiseshell than I’ve ever seen in one day before.
The highlight of the day for me was watching these Sand martins hawking for food over the fields and then returning to their burrows in the river bank to feed their hungry young. Magic!
27 Saturday May 2017
Across clearings, an eye,
A widening deepening greenness,
Brilliantly, concentratedly,
Coming about its own business
~ from ‘The Thought Fox’ by English poet and children’s writer Ted Hughes (1930-1998), from his 1957 collection The Hawk in the Rain
