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The male Sparrowhawk that visits our garden is a beautiful bird, that is not a matter for conjecture, but behind those good looks he is a ruthless and consummate killer - of that there can be no doubt.



Yesterday I witnessed this first hand – a few Siskins were coming to feed on a sunflower feeder in my front garden and I was watching this pleasant scene through my kitchen window. Suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere the Sparrowhawk flashed over the wooden garden fence and snatched one of the Siskins off the feeder before they realised what was happening – absolutely no warning or time to react whatsoever. The Siskin was killed in a fraction of a second and that was the only mitigating factor in the whole affair.



The Sparrowhawk’s modus operandi is to fly along the lane below the hedges so he can’t be seen and then at the prime time for him, swoop up over the garden fence and if there are any birds around he has a chance of snatching one of them. There is a low hit rate for this method because obviously if there are no birds on the feeder then it fails. If this type of attack ends in failure he next flies round and round the bushes the birds are hiding in trying to spook them out. However, they know this and they will not move and he then gives up. I don’t like the fact that he kills these and other small birds, but that’s the scheme of things and part of the cycle of both their lives.

What a glorious spell of weather we are having in the Brecon Beacons now, the cold north easterly winds have gone and although the early mornings are still a little frosty, once the sun comes up it is absolutely beautiful. Susan and I were out early this morning travelling up to mid – Wales to the lovely RSPB Dinas reserve below the Llyn Brianne dam up the valley from the market town of Llandovery. This reserve is well known for its Pied Flycatchers which readily take to the many nest boxes that are erected there. If you want close-ups of these lovely little birds this is the place to go NOW! They are busy in and out of the nest boxes and are very confident around people. You must keep to the board walks in this reserve to avoid any disturbance, but that is fine because you can get superb views of the birds from there anyway. There is also going to be a fine showing of Bluebells there this spring going by the leaves showing through, it should be spectacular in a few weeks’ time. What a lovely place Dinas is, it was so tranquil there this morning with the gentle little stream bubbling through the undergrowth and the flycatchers singing and flitting through the trees above, what a pleasant way to spend a spring morning.

Male.


Female.

Susan and I came across a fine show of King Alfred's Cakes fungi on an ash stump while out walking this week. Apart from the well-known legend where this fungus got its name, it can also be used as kindling to start fires. When dried out it will ignite from typically a flint spark and will continue to glow for a long time. Archaeological excavations have shown that it was used to start fires by people living over 7000 years ago and may have even been used in prehistoric times. It is thought that it was used to transport fire when people moved to a different location - an important survival tool!!

A few weeks ago during this horrible pandemic a rare bird was found by a local birder. It was quite difficult for that person to decide whether or not to release any information about the sighting. A lot of people don’t like so called suppression and if as a birder/photographer you have previously reacted and subsequently benefited from other people’s findings, it can understandably be quite annoying when you suppress your bird sightings. However, in this very dangerous situation we find ourselves in there must be suppression occurring all over the country, and rightly so in my opinion because there are always some people who will break the current travel restrictions to see these birds. Consequently if people became ill or worse as a result of these activities then the person who had released the information could find themselves in a very unpleasant personal situation. The bird found was a Little Bunting, not a mega by any means and an annual visitor to the UK, albeit in very small numbers, nevertheless a bird a number of people would like to see. It was only a short distance from where I live and was, (at the time, within the current welsh assembly guidelines for travel), however, I was still a little reticent about going to see it. The finder of the bird acted very responsibly in this matter as did the other very small number of birders, (which included Susan and me), who lived locally enough to see it. The whole viewing experience of the bird for those involved was over very quickly while keeping, (to use current parlance), socially distant, and no further visits were made.
Suppression is a very delicate matter; from a personnel perspective I am guilty of the suppression of various birds, Cuckoo, Barn Owl, Kingfisher etc. etc. I keep the location of these birds to myself to stop them being disturbed unnecessarily - or do I? If conversationally e.g. I found a Red Backed Shrike or some other rarity, I would immediately put the information out because I would feel morally bound to do so having previously gone to see other people’s findings. This is where it gets awkward – what is the difference between a rarity and one of the above mentioned birds I suppress? Why am I protecting a Cuckoo e.g. while exposing a Red Backed Shrike to potential harassment? The answer is, I am without doubt, acting selfishly by keeping the location of these birds to myself so I can get images for the promotion of my website. (Although the fact that these birds can be found by anybody if they put some effort in, possibly goes someway to mitigating my actions).
Perhaps the only solution would be to never react to other people’s findings and keep your own finds to yourself, you are then exempt from any logical criticism.
It's not an easy decision!

Below is a record shot of the Little Bunting.

Now is the time of year to see and hear Song Thrush but also Mistle Thrush. One is an established singer and is often lauded as so, the other, although not recognized as such is still a very capable vocalist. It’s easy to separate the two by identification and also by their calls. The Song Thrush’s call is a very discreet ‘Zit’ barely noticeable and largely unheard because of this. The Mistle Thrush’s call contrastingly is a very loud and prolonged rattle which is very diagnostic. However, with regard to their respective songs, I’m quite sure many people hear a Mistle Thrush singing and assume it’s a Song Thrush.
The Mistle Thrush’s song is clear and loud with quite harsh tones with sharp short notes and verses interspersed with quite long pauses, (these pauses are a good way to separate the two birds)! It’s also a little more monotonous than the Song Thrush with fewer squeaky embellishments. Nevertheless it is a very accomplished singer and to the unpractised ear could easily be mistaken for a Song Thrush.
The Song Thrush, however, has a bold announcing song which is much more varied than the Mistle Thrush, with squeaky and shrill cascading notes repeated multiple times with hardly any pauses. It’s logical therefore to assume that the difference in songs is straightforward, but it’s also easy to become complacent and to assume that it must be a Song Thrush because it's singing - but it isn’t always the case.
With regard to identification; the Mistle Thrush is a bigger bird with a longer tail and it’s also a much stronger flier than the Song Thrush.



Plumage – wise it has round spotting on its belly and flanks which almost always form a diffused smudging on its upper breast. The throat has irregular spotting and it has a conspicuous pale cheeck patch.



The Song Thrush is a much smaller, rounder bird with a short tail, it hops around on the ground looking for food and in flight, although fast, has a more undulating and less direct flight.



It has much more uniform ‘Arrow Head’ type markings on its belly, breast and flanks and a broad yellow / buff band on its flanks and breast. It is also much more plain brown on its back.



These birds although quite different when examined by song, call and plumage can still easily, without clear views, be confused in the field.

There is a small but beautiful little stream named Nant Menascin that originates on the foothills of the Brecon Beacons and flows down through the pretty village of Llanfrynach. It then meanders across farmland and under a bridge on the Monmouth and Brecon canal before crossing the Usk valley to join the river of the same name just north of the village of Pencelli. Alongside the Menascin there is a SSSI named Coed Nant Menascin where many plants and trees exist in various habitats. Coed Nant translated means wooded stream or brook, the word Menascin is somewhat more difficult to translate, one possibility offered is by RJ Thomas in ‘The Names of Welsh Rivers and Streams’, suggests that it was a combination of ma-, meaning 'place, flat', and the personal name Hesgyn. Whatever it means will never be known with any confidence, that will be lost in the mists of time. Where this little jewel flows through damp habitat, the Marsh Marigold, the ‘King of Buttercups’ grows in profusion.



The Marigolds are interspersed with the beautiful Wood Anemone, sparkling white with a delicate pink blush, and also the Lesser Celandine that ubiquitous yellow flower of spring. It’s uplifting to be amongst all this natural beauty on a fine spring morning while the scene is embellished with the song of Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blackcap.

Dippers populate the Menascin - totally at home as they forage for food and raise their young in its fast flowing crystal clear watery habitat.



Places like this are as good as any medical help for people feeling low in these difficult times and I highly recommend a visit.

There is a Sparrowhawk that has been visiting our garden for a couple of years now, at least I think it is the same bird. He is very confident, sometimes just perching on fences and looking into the house at us moving around. I opened the back door of the house last week to get something from my car and he was perched on some wooden boards that surround a flower bed that is about ten feet away. I expected him to fly off immediately but he just stayed there looking at me. He was soaking wet and indeed it was still raining heavily but he didn’t seem to care so I closed the door and waited until he left in his own time. This set me thinking because we have seen him do this on a number of times since. Two days ago I decided to try my luck and photograph him because as he has got older he has become a very handsome bird and well worth getting an image of. I left the back door open about two feet so if he perched in his usual position I might be able to get a shot. I took some shots of the wood he normally perches on before he hopefully arrived, just to see what the minimum focussing distance was and where I would have to stand to get him in focus and in the frame. I decided to use my Canon 600 f4 prime which I left ready in our kitchen, sometime later Susan was making some pikelets in the kitchen when she said ‘he’s here’. I quietly positioned myself in the spot I had marked and handheld the lens to take a shot, he didn’t flinch, he just looked at me. However, I had misjudged things, I thought I could frame him as a landscape but he was too close so I had to rotate the lens and camera to portrait which is a bit more awkward when hand holding, but a lot easier if you have a battery grip on your camera because you can access the focus/shutter button without having to wrap your hand over the top of the camera. I took a few shots as he just perched there and as the light began to fade he just flew off presumably to roost, what a lovely bird he is.

We have had a male Brambling in our garden for at least three weeks now, at least that’s when I first saw him. He usually appears around the feeders every day for a few minutes, but the last couple of days he has taken to what can only be described as sun bathing. He basks in the sun by sitting in the grass in front of the house for ten minutes sometimes. We had just arrived back home from our walk and Susan said ‘look! There he is again’ so I thought I’d try him out for a photo. I quickly got my Canon 600 and got down low on the grass and to my surprise he didn’t move at all, I really thought he’d fly away but instead he just looked at me with complete indifference. I have never seen a Brambling be so confident before, usually they are quite spooky. The sunlight was quite harsh but that was what the bird obviously wanted – warmth. I took a few shots with the bare lens and he was almost filling the frame then.



But unbelievably he started to walk towards me to the extent that I could no longer focus because he was below the minimum focussing distance of the lens which is under fifteen feet – ridiculous!! To be out in full view at that distance to a Brambling is a first for me. I had no alternative but to move back and after refocussing I could just see him staring at me quizzically.





What a strange experience. Then he just decided to fly away into a garden hedge - tanning session obviously over. I wish him luck on his northerly journey back home whenever he decides to go.

In the next couple of weeks the Siskins that have been in our garden in numbers will leave to go to their breeding grounds in the local conifer plantations. I will be sorry to see them go, because not only are they so colourful, but the lovely sounds they make fill the garden, especially when I am filling up the sunflower feeders in the morning. I know they are watching me from up in the large ash tree that is above the feeders because I can hear the volume increasing and when I look back as I’m walking away I can see them dropping down to feed. I have tried photographing them on a few different perches as detailed in previous blogs and I am always on the lookout for new perches when Susan and I are out walking. This week when we walking up the usual path behind our house we could see some fallen oak branches that had come down in the high winds a couple of weeks ago. Interestingly on one twig there were some ‘Galls’, these are formed when a particular type of wasp lays its eggs into an oak bud via its ovipositor. The chemicals in the oak bud react with chemicals laid by the wasp and these galls are formed. There are many varieties of these galls but these particular ones were formed because of the Oak Marble Gall Wasp and are consequently named Oak Marble Galls. They are about two cms in diameter and form a protective shell around the eggs. When the wasp’s eggs become grubs they bore out of this protective gall and then obviously in time become new wasps. I thought they would make a nice perch along with the dead copper coloured oak leaves that were on the same twig.



I also used some larch cones for another perch.



After that session I removed the perches and metal tubes,(previous blog), in anticipation for some quite bad weather that is forecasted for the rest of this week. My next perches will be hawthorn and blackthorn twigs when the time comes.

I thought it was about time I made an effort to overcome this bout of torpor I have been enduring. This horrible time we are living through has had a way of creeping up on me, and the old saying ‘The less you do, the less you want to do’ is very appropriate currently. I therefore decided to blow the cobwebs off my Canon 600 and try and find some images. Walking along the roads locally the trees are now laden with catkins predominately hazel and alder. The hazels are a greenish yellow but the alders are vivid purple which I find are far more photogenic. They tend to be much more colourful on the one side, I presume that’s the side that gets the most light. I jumped over my garden fence and walked down to a line of alders in my neighbour’s field and cut a number of small branch ends that were laden with catkins. I intended to use these cuttings as perches to photograph the garden birds we have been feeding throughout this winter.
I’m always chopping and changing the perches that we view from our bird hide which we built about ten years ago and I mentioned in a previous blog that I thinned out the tree canopy above these perches to allow much more light in, and indeed the photographic opportunities have been much improved. I constructed these perches so that there are no obstructions, like tree branches or hedge growth directly behind them, thereby avoiding the dreaded ‘Sphagetti Backgrounds ‘and therefore any background of the photographs hopefully is fairly smooth, and depending on the light on a given day is various shades of golden yellow and light green with only a few darkish shades of distant trees. These shades of colour are in fact my neighbour’s field which is barley stubble at the moment, which has been rendered buttery smooth by a big prime lens, (Canon ef600 f4), – it makes a huge difference!
The background of an image is as important as the subject itself and a cluttered background takes the viewer’s eye away from the important aspects of said image. In order to achieve any decent results I tied some small hollow metal tubes at various angles to the main supports of my perches with cable ties, and then inserted the alder catkin twigs into these hollow tubes. These tubes were cut from an old garden canvas chair which I knew would come in handy one day! This enables me to change the twigs at any time to freshen up any future images. There are about a hundred birds feeding regularly around the feeding stations in the garden - many Siskins, Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Robins, Blue Tits, Great Tits and Blackbirds, also a few Wren, Dunnock, Greenfinch, Coal Tit, Marsh Tit, Long Tailed Tit, House Sparrow, Song Thrush, Treecreeper and Nuthatch.
The main target for the alder catkin photographs were the small birds namely, Siskin, Blue Tit, Coal Tit and Goldfinch because of the delicate nature of the twigs. The twigs have to be placed in a particular way so the birds will perch on them to enhance the look of the image, it’s not easy and a few attempts were necessary because you don’t know which perch the birds will favour and how they want to land on that perch.
In the end I managed a few half decent shots of these four birds but I will continue to experiment after the forecasted bad weather has passed over this weekend – stay safe everyone!!

Blue Tit.



Coal Tit - very difficult to photograph - such a busy little bird.


Siskin.


Siskin.


Goldfinch.


Siskin


Long Tailed Tit - another very busy bird.


However, it's not all about good light because this very infrequent visitor
to the garden just dropped in last week during heavy rain. He stayed for
five minutes and then just disappeared - just lucky to be there at the time.

Male Brambling

Here we are again, still on ‘Lockdown’ but it looks like there is light at the end of the proverbial tunnel with the vaccine roll-out programme proceeding at a pace. All credit to a superb effort by the NHS!!
There was a bitter wind blowing this morning as we walked up onto a local hill side so it’s a good job the path we were walking is enclosed by tall hedges giving us some cover because these very cold conditions are set to persist for the rest of this week. We noticed a distant flock of what looked like thrushes trying to feed in a horse pasture and as we approached we were pleased to see about fifty Redwings. They must have been pushed west by the cold easterly wind and also a small flock of ten Blackbirds similarly brought in by the weather. The hedges that line this path at one time must have been almost totally made up of Elder, which is very unusual around here. The branches of these old Elder trees, many of which are on their last legs, grow into some wonderful shapes and the fallen ones make great perches for photography. Elder is a very weak wood and therefore there are many fallen branches broken off by the wind. There is a fungi which we call Jelly Ear which has a particular liking for Elder and these hedges as a result are festooned with this fungi at the moment.



This fungus has many other names, Wood Ear, Jew’s Ear, and Judas’s Ear, the latter two named so because supposedly Judas Iscariot hanged himself from an elder tree. Over time these hedges have become interspersed, mainly with Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Hazel and Birch. When Elder was in profusion along this path the flowers in spring must have been quite a spectacle.
In anticipation of this cold weather I cleaned out the little reflection pond in our garden and increased the amount of seed we put out in the hope of photographing some birds. Last week I thinned out the canopy of the small wood that backs onto our garden using a telescopic chain saw attachment which was hard work but well worth it because the amount of light now pervading the feeding station is vastly increased. I have also bought a small parabolic gas heater for my bird photography hide because it gets really cold in there in winter. This little heater really gives out a huge amount of heat for its size and it should make it far more comfortable in there.
I’ll leave it for another day to get the birds used to the new feeders and then see what comes in - you never know.

Susan and I were out walking yesterday along an enclosed path near where we live which was thankfully sheltering us from a spell of squally weather. We have on our walks been looking for Fungi, and there is still plenty around if you make an effort to look. We try and make an effort to get some exercise and alleviate the boredom that we and obviously the rest of the country are suffering from during this time. Some way along this path I just happened to look down at some Holly leaf litter which was dried out but when I parted the leaves with a stick I couldn’t believe what was underneath – a large amount of Holly Parachute Fungi! These Fungi are very difficult to locate because of their diminutive size, some of the caps are only one millimetre across. To say we were pleased is an understatement. These fungi only grow on damp decaying Holly leaves so you have to pull away the top of the leaf litter which is usually dry, and look at the damp leaves underneath. I managed to take a few shots, (with great difficulty), a small portable LED light on a mini flexible tripod and some small foldable light reflectors make such a difference and also my twin macro flash unit is invaluable.





Manfrotto 055 carbon fibre tripod.
Manfrotto MHXPRO tilt and pan head.
Canon 7D mk2 DSLR
Canon EF100 f2.8 is macro lens.
Canon 25mm Extension Tube.
Yongnuo Twin Macro Flash unit.
Mini flexible tripod.
Small twin coloured LED light unit.
Flexible light reflector kit.

Well here we are in 2021 and we are still in ‘Lockdown’. What a dreadful situation this is, with the current ‘Wave’ of this pandemic, as they predicted, worse than the first. Susan and I will both be having the vaccinations, but when that will be goodness knows, as we are neither old nor vulnerable enough to be included in the first vaccination programmes. I’m not grumbling about that for obvious reasons, so we will abide by the rules and batten down the hatches until this is all over. In the meantime we have been going for local walks from home, but unlike the previous spring there is very little wildlife to see.
In particular walking locally exemplifies the barren nature of the surrounding countryside in winter, where fields are cropped short and there are just a few Corvid flocks and the odd Common Buzzard scavenging for food. There are far more birds seen in our garden than anywhere we are walking with Siskins now starting to visit the feeders – always welcome!
We have over the last year or so become interested in fungi and I wish we had done it earlier because it is a fascinating subject. You have to diversify your wildlife interests because birding can become difficult at certain times in this area and Butterflies and Dragonflies exist in a relatively short window and last year was dreadful for them. I don’t do much landscape work, just the odd scene if the fancy takes me, so you have to fill your time doing something.
Yesterday we were on one of our local walks and we were pleased to see some nice Fungi.

Velvet Shank


Hairy Curtain Crust


Smokey Bracket Species?


Turkey Tail



In particular though, Scarlet Elf Cup, a winter mushroom that is starting to show through the leaf litter, it can be seen in good numbers on woodland floors for the next few months and it’s worth seeking out because it’s really lovely.



Scarlet Elf Cup



Back home in an attempt to divorce myself form this current malaise I have been reading a series of books by an author named Elly Griffiths whose murder/mystery books are situated in North Norfolk - a place near to my heart as people will know who read this blog regularly. Her books are very good indeed, with a fast moving dynamic style of writing that never gets bogged down. I saw a real bargain on line with ten of her books for £22.50 - normally about £32.50, so I snapped them up, and what a bargain they are. The central characters in the series are Dr Ruth Galloway a forensic archaeologist living near the marshes on the North Norfolk coast and DCI Harry Nelson a hard bitten no nonsense detective. Her obvious academic view on life juxtaposed with Nelson’s ‘university of life’ attitude come together perfectly.
I can highly recommend these very well written books, great value.

Susan and I have seen some nice fungi on our walks this winter and there are still some to see albeit at the end of the main fungi season.

Witches Butter.


Velvet Shank.


Sulphur Tuft. (Quite Poisonous).


However, this morning on a walk through a local woods I looked on the ground among some fallen wood and I thought I could see ice. This seemed a little peculiar because it wasn’t that cold, and on closer inspection we came across a very unusual sight indeed. We could see what looked like an extremely unusual fungus but on touching it just melted. We took a number of photographs so we could reference it later at home.

This is what we had seen, it is known as Hair Ice;

When a very specific set of circumstances come together; a humid winter night in a forest when the temperature is just below 0 degrees Celsius and usually at a particular latitude of between 45 - 55 degrees north. A fungus named Exidiopsis Effusa which grows on damp rotting deciduous wood enables incredibly delicate ice crystals to form. This fungus, uses a complex process, unexplained by science for many years – (liquid water on the fungus freezes on contact with the surrounding atmosphere, and by a still not fully understood mechanism, is drawn out), allowing these ice structures to grow and resemble the shape and size of human hairs – about 0.01mm in diameter and several centimetres long. The fungus also supplies a recrystallization inhibitor containing complex organic compounds of Lignin and Tannin allowing these ice structures to maintain their incredibly fragile state and shape for a number of hours until there is a rise in the ambient temperature which results in melting. Because of these really quite specific set of circumstances this is quite a rare phenomenon and was a total and unexpected pleasure to see and photograph this morning – a fine end to 2020!









Happy New Year to all.

There’s one thing about the weather in the Brecon Beacons and that is once it starts raining in the autumn then there is no stopping it, and frustratingly this autumn is no exception!! Since the weather ‘turned’ in October we have had a miserable run of wind and rain, only punctuated with a few sunny days here and there. We have had little in the way of nice sunrises and sunsets, just the odd one. Where we live it’s impossible to predict when a nice sunset in particular, is going to occur, it’s totally random. Sometimes I look out of the window and there it is, but annoyingly it’s too late by then because it only lasts for a couple of minutes. However, a couple of weeks ago we were walking in a local forestry in the late afternoon and I had taken a couple of ‘nothing shots’ when we could see what appeared to be a nice sunset unfolding – a rare occurrence indeed! I needed one more image for the annual calendar I make for ourselves and our good neighbours on the adjacent farm. I have sold calendars in the past, purely by accident, when people have seen them and then wanted one, but it’s not really something I want to do. In the past I have seen and heard people trying to sell calendars – badgering people who are not really interested and are too polite to refuse. I can’t see me ever doing that, it’s so embarrassing. There’s one well known birder/photographer in Norfolk who I know and who has a bad reputation for doing this and when people see him coming they quickly walk the other way to avoid his sales pitch. In reality anybody, even with the most basic of cameras, can produce a calendar, but for the amount you make on them it’s just not worth the effort. You can buy a mass produced calendar on the high street for a fiver and that’s all ninety nine percent of people want. Anyway I digress; I quickly set my gear up looking across the valley as the sunset evolved into a glorious scene. I was pleased that the final image for my 2021 calendar was ’in the can'.




View from Buckland Forest, Bwlch - looking across the valley to Allt yr Esgair - known locally as 'The Allt'

This run of Atlantic weather fronts that are sweeping across the country recently is quite depressing. As I type this blog today I’m looking out of the window of my little office from where I create this website at leaden skies, strong winds and lashing rain. This weather, combined with Covid 19 restrictions in some parts of the country, must be a veritable nightmare for people, and I sincerely hope that the tentative, but positive news of a vaccine this week comes to fruition. The whole future of this country and indeed the world is hugely dependent on the synthesis of a successful vaccine.
We are very lucky living in the Brecon Beacons with wide open spaces away from this awful situation, nevertheless you cannot drop your guard for a second with regard to this virus. Even when out walking if Susan or I open a gate we sanitize our hands, never in my wildest dreams did I think we would be doing things like that.
Thankfully yesterday we did manage to get out for a walk locally, we walked up a path near our house that leads to a hill named Allt yr Esgair.



Sometimes the appropriately named Jelly Eared Fungus can be found, (formally known as Judas’s or Jew’s ear fungus), growing on trees on the path side. This fungus goes quite hard in dry conditions but after rain becomes soft and pliable.
It is apparently edible, however, I would not recommend eating any Fungi growing in the countryside unless you really know what you’re doing – (Serious Point)!! I buy my mushrooms from the local farm shop or supermarket.
As we walked along, suddenly a bird exploded from the vegetation and flew ahead of us before disappearing over the top of the hedges that line the path. We could see clearly that it was a Woodcock, these are frustrating birds to see well, with their cryptic plumage they are usually so well camouflaged that you don’t even know they’re there or they are flying away at speed after being flushed. Many come into the UK in autumn and their migration is strongly associated with a full moon.

Further on we found some Jelly Eared Fungus and took a few shots before retracing our footsteps back.



The weather looked too threatening to go up on to the hill, because if you are caught out up there without the proper clothing you can get a right royal soaking.
Buoyed by finding our first fungi of the day we decided to look for more, knowing it would be difficult because it’s quite late in the season. However, we walked a local grassland, not too far from the vehicle, because the weather still looked quite unstable. We were lucky to see a good variety of species alongside an old stone wall that borders the Penpont estate near Brecon.

Common Inkcap


Golden Waxcap


Meadow Waxcap


Just as we were packing up it started to rain and there was just enough time to take a quick shot of a quite intense rainbow that had appeared, (albeit with a macro lens).



We then hurried back to the vehicle and just made it as it began to lash down with rain. We headed for home with a few images just in time for lunch - a bowl of Susan’s excellent cream of butternut squash and red pepper soup - Delicious!!

Whenever there’s a full moon on All Hallows Eve some mushrooms over in the local wood grow to a huge size. They also glow magically and this attracts the woodland fairies, and if you are very quiet, (and remember to use a portable hide and silent mode on your camera), you may be lucky enough to capture a similar scene.

In the Brecon Beacons we are enduring a horrible spell of wet and windy weather, day after day during our current ’Lockdown’ period. Susan and I have been dodging the weather to get a few local walks in to offset the boredom. Today in one of the many quiet times, I was looking at some images of fungi, casually taken with my mobile, on one of the said walks. A few of the images looked to have some potential for a bit of ‘Fantasy Photography’ using Photoshop, so I set about trying to transform it into something totally different.
Using ‘Layers’ and ‘Layer Masks’ allows you to light paint and colour in particular areas of any image, creating glowing effects and different colours, which can give an ethereal look. They are very useful tools for this type of digital photography manipulation and it can give some good results.
However you do need to recognize an image that has potential to start with, otherwise it's hard work for no reward.

I used a very ordinary image, (that I felt had that potential), of a cluster of fungi growing on some dead wood.



And employing the above techniques the image has been totally transformed. I also added a fairy using image blending to give it the final touch.



Well you have to try and do something in these dark times!

Earlier on this year when we went to see a Rose Coloured Starling just north of Brecon the man who first reported the bird came out of his house to talk to us. He turned out to be a real butterfly expert and he and his wife were growing many different plants in their garden and green houses that were suitable for attracting butterflies. They were also keeping lots of caterpillars on various plants for the conservation of various species. He kindly gave Susan a milkweed cutting in a pot, he was using this plant to ‘Cultivate’ butterflies, including Monarchs in the past. This plant is a fundamental resource for Monarch Butterflies in North America because it is the only plant that both the butterflies and caterpillars can eat. Milkweed is quite toxic because of the Glycosides it contains and this toxin subsequently makes both the butterfly and caterpillar poisonous to potential predators. Monarch butterflies are in real trouble with their numbers crashing, and there is a big programme of milkweed cultivation, including in people’s gardens, in North America in an effort to reverse this decline.
When we were birding in Cape May, New Jersey, USA about fifteen years ago we saw a presentation by some butterfly experts on the Monarchs and there were hundreds hanging from some trees and some of them were being wing tagged to monitor their movements. They really are very impressive insects and to see a big movement, sometimes in the tens of millions must be some sight.

The milkweed cutting grew well outside in our garden during the rest of the summer and is now inside to protect it from potential frosts.



Because of the warm conditions indoors a few days ago the seed pods began to open to reveal a most attractive scene. The ‘Flax’ that surrounds the seeds and acts as a parachute to aid dispersal is so delicate and has a beautiful silver sheen.



Susan kept some seeds for next season to grow some new plants, so let’s all look forward to that time – good luck to everyone in the current difficult times.

In my previous blog I aired my reservations about visiting the Elan Valley to look for Ring Ouzels and I stand by what I said regarding the hordes of visitors being a problem for a photographer. Disappointingly this week, on Monday to be precise, we received the daunting news that Wales would enter into another full ‘Lockdown’ for two weeks starting this Friday. This started me thinking about trying to go and photograph the Ouzels, but the thought of all the people was still putting me off. However, when I saw the weather forecast for today it was pretty bleak, rain all day, but that wasn’t as bad as you would imagine. It’s no good if you are walking or bird watching because you will get soaking wet, but if you are sat in your vehicle in the dry waiting to take some photographs it’s not bad at all! In addition the rain would put most people off visiting that area, but the birds would still be there.
This made my mind up and I prepared all my gear, made some sandwiches and a flask got up early and Susan and I left a very rainy Brecon Beacons to drive to the Elan Valley. It only took about an hour, and on arriving I was pleased to see quite a good crop of Rowan berries on the trees in the car park. There was no one around, so we quickly set up, I put the Goretex cover over my lens and we got everything into the car. Susan was on the back seat with me in the front passenger seat – the usual setup. The rain was falling steadily and we hoped it would continue for a couple of hours. We didn’t have to wait too long to hear that soft Chuck Chuck of a Ring Ouzel and soon after three or four birds began coming down off the quarry face to feed on the Rowans.
We had great views and I took a few reasonable shots as they flew back and fore amidst the falling rain, but inevitably the odd car came into the car park and the birds retreated back up high on the rocks. The rain started to slacken and we knew this would mean more people and indeed they started to arrive, but it didn’t matter we had achieved what we set out to do. It’s not very often we were thankful for a good old wet Welsh Wednesday, but on this occasion we were!!