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Early in the morning, three days ago, I went out into my garden to get something from my car. The morning was still with little bird song but suddenly an uncommon bird’s call stopped me in my tracks. I thought ‘What on earth is that’? And then it dawned on me that it was a Common Quail singing from the winter barley field below my garden.
Common by name but not by nature, these highly elusive migrants from the continent usually arrive in June in small numbers and around here they are rarely heard and even less rarely seen! The last bird heard was about eight years ago, so an unusual event for this area. I telephoned the county bird recorder who lives locally and on his arrival we both heard the bird singing clearly. However, we both realised with a dose of reality that although it was very nice to hear this rare bird, a sighting was totally unrealistic because Quail are notoriously difficult to see, spending all of their time hidden in typically, a barley crop.
The following day Susan and I were out in the garden and it was obvious to us that this Quail was singing outside the barley field where I first heard it. It was very close to our house and with the chance of a probable once in a lifetime sighting on the cards I again telephoned the county recorder and another of our birding friends and asked them to come over and walk in the field where the obvious singing was coming from. Frustratingly, while we were waiting for them to arrive the singing was getting progressively quieter and the bird was moving away. When they arrived we all went cautiously into the field where the singing was coming from but there was no sign of the bird and as we approached the barley field perimeter we could all hear the singing coming from just the other side of the fence - the bird had once again retreated back into its favoured habitat – ARRRRGH!!
The following morning I arranged with our good neighbour, the farmer who owns the barley field, for Susan and me to walk the perimeter, in the unlikely event that we would see the Quail. On entering the field we could immediately hear its loud song, and as we got nearer and nearer the song was getting louder. We estimated that we were about ten feet away when everything went quiet. We sat down and just listened, and then from about fifty feet away the singing stated again. As we stood up the Quail flew about thirty yards into the crop, but we were elated, it was a UK life tick for us both and we were contented at just seeing such an elusive bird. We left the field happy with this very rare sighting.
However, it wasn’t over, not by a long shot!
The next day we had been out for a nice walk on a local hillside and we had seen Cuckoo, Yellow Hammer, Redstart and some young Chiffchaffs, so a nice morning out. After unloading my car and going into the house we were having some tea and I said I’d left my binocular case in my car, so I went outside and thirty yards away at the edge of the barley field there is an animal’s drinking trough, and as I looked a bird flew off the edge of the trough and into the field. To my utter astonishment I could see it was the Quail. I realised the bird was looking for water and as I am always on the lookout for photographic opportunities I got a planting tray from the garden shed and I took it down the field and placed it in the long grass near the drinking trough. I filled it with water from a watering can and then returned to my garden to see if it was in a favourable position. When I was happy I then set up my Canon 600 f4 prime lens with a 1.4 converter for maximum reach below the fence line of the field that borders our garden, thereby looking through the wires, and I then placed some camo netting in front for a bit more of a disguise. Susan sat on a garden chair just to the side also looking through the fence and we settled down and just waited – we were about twenty five yards away. This was more in hope than expectation realising how shy these birds are – but if you don’t try you’ll never know!!
About an hour later we could hear the Quail singing loudly again, near to the water trough and I couldn’t believe it as I saw it fly over the barley field fence and land in a tangle of old branches and nettles. It was still singing but we couldn’t see it, this is typical unfortunately. Then I looked on the left of this tangle of wood and grass and I could see the bird looking up the field. I had the camera on silent shooting just in chase, and I took a number of frames of the bird in various poses.









We both had good views of a very elusive subject. Everything then went silent and it disappeared back into the foliage and after about ten minutes had passed we both thought the bird had again retreated back to the barley field. What happened next though was one of the biggest shocks of my birding life, I looked over the top of my lens and I could now see the Quail in the long grass about fifteen feet from my lens - I literally could not believe it!! It had sneaked through the long grass and then made its way up the fence line out of our sight. A horrible feeling swept over me – would it be too close for my lens to focus? - the stuff of nightmares. I pressed the focus button and to my relief it snapped into focus and I shot it at what must have been very close to minimum focussing distance – fifteen feet. Most of the bird was hidden in long grass but I had a great portrait shot of one of the shyest birds around.





Susan also had great views through the fence wire. Then it just disappeared again and later we could hear it taking off and flying back into the barley field - What an experience!!

Please see Latest Images, Common Quail for a few more images.

Also footage of this male bird singing can be seen on the 'video clips' page of this site.

I decided to visit another of my Cuckoo sites two days ago, the weather was showery but that doesn’t bother Cuckoos. People associate them with warm sunny climates and rightly so, but they do ‘tough it out’ when they have to. I have had a lot to do with Cuckoos over the years, watching and photographing them for a long time now. Most people are content to just hear their call in the distance but never get to see the vocalist. That was never enough for me and I have always had a fascination for these enigmatic yet iconic birds that visit us each year for such a brief time. Sometime in late April or early May people realise that they have just heard a Cuckoo, usually in the distance, and a few weeks later they realise they haven’t heard a Cuckoo for a while. By the middle of June the Cuckoos call tends to fall away and all too quickly before we realise it they are gone again, hopefully having successfully laid an egg in an unwitting Meadow Pipit, Dunnock or Reed Warbler’s nest. I hear people saying all the time that they have never seen a Cuckoo, and that’s sad, they should make the effort because they are missing out on seeing a really characterful and often comical bird. The variety of noises they make will surprise anybody that hears it and they are also a very attractive bird to see.
I always make an effort to see Cuckoos every spring because I don’t know how long that privilege will last, because their numbers are dropping and also I won’t be around for ever, so I intend to make the most of it. I make no apology for my fascination with these wonderful birds!
This particular site is one of about six regular sites that I visit every spring and at least half of those sites always have Cuckoos in residence. I could hear a male bird calling on my arrival at this site and I picked him out on a quite prominent dead tree stump. This was a very positive start because Cuckoos are very much creatures of habit and there was a good chance that he would come back to that tree stump at times throughout the day. I waited for him to fly and then I quickly got to a position about fifty feet away under a dense hawthorn bush that was just about level with the tree stump – there’s nothing worse than looking up to take a photograph, apart from the potential silhouetting there’s the poor perspective to take into account. I did a little judicious pruning of the hawthorn to make it more comfortable for me and then settled down and waited.
I knew it would happen sooner or later and all it takes is small birds, usually Meadow Pipits or Chaffinch to mob the Cuckoo and make it fly and hopefully land on its favoured perches. I waited for some time, there’s no alternative, but at last the Cuckoo came flying towards the tree stump, you always know when a Cuckoo is going to perch by the way it flies, it starts to flutter its wings on approach. It landed on the stump and began to ‘Cuckoo’ straight away and I was able to take many shots.








This particular Cuckoo seemed OK with me being sat there, I was subdued colour-wise and very quiet and this is a fundamental - no sudden movements and no noise!! However, the sky was rapidly darkening.







Before too long it started to rain and the rain intensified until there was a huge hailstone storm. The Cuckoo had gone for cover after it got too heavy and I thought that was it for the day. Sometime later when I had emerged from the dense cover of the hawthorn, remarkably he came back to his obviously favourite perch and the photography resumed, now in a rather delightful pale light.





I was in total able to take a multitude of shots of this Cuckoo in various poses and lighting situations, from inky blue, steel grey to a light beige. It was quite a remarkable session with a very confiding bird, and has only served to increase my affection for these wonderful birds.

It was a glorious spring morning yesterday and Susan and I were out walking on a local mountain. We had only seen a few Northern Wheatears, which was nice, but not a lot for this time of year. As we dropped down there were numbers of Orange Tip butterflies on the wing which was lovely to see. Then suddenly something caught Susan’s eye and she said ‘Look a Green Hairstreak’, these gorgeous little butterflies are hardly seen by us in the local area. I was busy getting a lens out of my bag and I said ‘Keep your eye on it’, we needn’t have worried because we then saw another one and then more and more until we estimated there to be between two and three hundred on the wing along a forestry edge. They were even trying to land in Susan’s hair as we stood there just watching a veritable spectacle of nature, never have we seen so many butterflies of one species in such a small area. It really made our day and more than made up for the lack of birds up on the mountain.

We normally have Bullfinches in our garden from time to time and some years a pair breed in an old hedge at the top of the garden where it is quiet. This spring, however, it looks like we have two pairs in the garden. Birds are beginning to drink from my elevated pond, (see previous blog), and I hope to get some reflections in drier weather. They are one of our best loved and popular hedgerow birds and you can see why.

Spring is well and truly upon us now, but you wouldn’t think so looking out of the window of my little office at home from where I create this website, because as I write grey skies and rain are dominating. However, it’s going to be short lived according to the met office and warm weather is coming in for the weekend. Here in the Brecon Beacons the enigmatic Cuckoo has once again graced us with its presence and the male bird’s iconic call is reverberating around the uplands. This call is etched into the natural history of our countryside and I wouldn’t like to imagine a spring without it!
A woman emailed me a few weeks ago asking about Cuckoos, because she had heard one calling last year while out walking and thought, (to use her words), ‘it was magical’, and rightly so because a Cuckoo’s call can have an effect on our psyche, it can influence the way people feel when they hear it. Many people have seen a Cuckoo without realising it, they know the call but they don’t know what the bird looks like. One may have fluttered across a road in front of their car and they just don’t equate what they saw with a Cuckoo and many Cuckoos have been mistaken for birds of prey, most commonly Sparrowhawks.
The real prize, however, is getting close to these beautiful birds and you have to be prepared to work hard to do so. Firstly you have to pin down exactly where the birds are calling from and this can involve detailed observation. Once this has been established you have to then finalise what the bird’s favourite perches are and sometimes these perches are totally inaccessible and that could be the end of it for that particular bird. However, if one of the bird’s favourite perches is approachable then it’s a matter of camouflaging yourself nearby in a hide or under a tree with netting etc. etc.
Cuckoos are very street- wise and are extremely wary of people and they are always watching the surrounding countryside from their perches, looking for available opportunities, so they will see you if you try and approach them. They even call and are alert in semi darkness, as I once found out while setting up a hide.
Yesterday I was out very early at one of about six regular sites I know, where Cuckoos will usually be. Typically it is an upland area with sparsely populated trees and bushes overlooking rough grassland where Meadow Pipits nest.
There’s no magic formula – that’s where they will be!
This particular site has a long dry stone wall bordering the rough grassland with a few hawthorn bushes dotted around. I know these birds like to perch in the tops of these hawthorns when the area is quiet. When I arrived I could hear a bird calling nearby but I didn’t have a great deal of time because I was only on a recon mission. My main objective was to look for Dotterel a few miles away up on top of a local hill – which sadly drew a blank again!
I decided to just place a large ‘Bean – Bag’ on top of this wall opposite to where these hawthorn bushes are. I had a lens placed on top of the bag and some ‘Camo’ netting draped over me - it was a long shot, and I knew it, but that’s all I had time for. I had been there for about half an hour and frustratingly the calling Cuckoo was not coming near and I was thinking about calling it a day when another male bird started calling behind me. I decided to wait a bit longer because two birds really are better than one because they can interact and when this happens any scenario can occur. This is because if they get into a territorial spat then they will fly and perch anywhere during these encounters. They become totally preoccupied and can sometimes perch much closer to the lucky observer than they would normally do. This is also the time a fortunate birder/photographer gets to hear the large variety of noises they make, snorts, gasps, croaks etc. these are noises you will never hear from a distance.
Suddenly it all kicked off as the bird from behind me flew into the area of these hawthorns, this immediately galvanized the other calling Cuckoo to come in like a missile. They were buzzing around the hawthorns making those noises and then incredibly one bird landed right in front of me, I focussed the lens and was just about to fire the shutter when a Chaffinch bombed in and forced the Cuckoo off the top of the bush - I like Chaffinches but I cursed that one!! Then the same bird, having escaped the mobbing Chaffinch, perched on the top of another of the hawthorns. This time I fired the shutter and I had him – ‘In the can’ to use motion picture parlance. However, it was only perched there for about five seconds before a Meadow Pipit mobbed it and that was it, you really haven’t got much time with these birds.
In the images below it looks like the Cuckoo is settled but believe me it certainly was not, it’s just that the shutter speed has frozen the action!
I really had a slice of luck getting the shot but there have been many times over the years when it’s gone the other way - so I’ll take it when it comes.

The female Orange Tip Butterfly is much less conspicuous tham the male. We are all used to seeing the male with his bright orange wing tips, (see previous blog post, spring in the Brecon Beacons), this wing pattern serves as a warning to potential predators that Orange Tips are very distasteful to eat because of their bitter mustard oil taste, this mustard taste is accumalated from their food plants in the caterpillar stage. As a result once a bird has tasted an Orange Tip, the experience, it is said, is unlikely to be repeated!
The females only protection, however, is camoflage, and this is very effective when she is at rest, as the delicate moss green and lichen-like markings blend in with plants like Cow Parsley and Garlic Mustard the latter being one of their principal foodplants.



The females fly so infrequently that they don't need warning markers like the males.
She is so beautiful!

We were walking in a local bluebell wood early this morning, outside of the wood there was a bitterly cold wind blowing but in the wood it was much calmer and milder. These glorious little flowers wont be out for much longer because they flowered earlier than usual this year. Another week at best and that will be it for another year, it's a shame this lovely natural spectacle is so short lived.

I was out walking on the Beacons early this morning and I heard three male Cuckoos calling.



So at last they’re arriving at their usual sites. As I approached a large sycamore tree a bird flew out and kept low over the ground, it fluttered along like a Cuckoo and initially that’s what I thought it was. However, as I saw it in my binoculars I could see it was slate blue in colour and very small, too small for a Cuckoo, I realised then that I had spooked a male Merlin - much too late for a photograph but very nice indeed to see what is a very rare raptor. As I walked on I could hear a really raucous noise and suddenly three Jays flew over my head then some more and more again until I counted fifteen birds in total, a very good count of Jays. They all flew off into the distance interacting as they went, quite a spectacle!
As I began to drop down to lower levels, Tree Pipits were singing from the tops of the trees and Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers were all singing on what was a very pleasant morning. Then suddenly I could hear the distinctive ‘Spinning Coin’ song of the Wood Warbler. These are one of my favourite little spring birds, they look so pristine with their snow white and lemon plumage and as I got nearer to the woods I could hear a bird calling and singing. I waited at the woods edge with a lens at the ready and sure enough a bird started to display, darting around the foliage. These little birds don’t stop still for long, but I managed a few quick shots before it disappeared back into the dim light of the woods.
A nice finale to a very pleasant mornings walk.

In this warm weather Damselflies are starting to emerge and this morning Susan noticed what turned out to be a Large Red Damselfly on the flowers at the edge of a very small ornamental pond in our front garden. This little pond is no more than ten gallons in capacity so it just goes to show how a seemingly insignificant little eco system can support lots of insect life - every little helps!!

Over the last week the juvenile Sparrowhawk that is visiting our garden on a regular basis, (see previous blogs), has been resting underneath a Cotoneaster shrub during the heat of the day. A few days ago I decided to try and capture him on video. I don’t have a dedicated video camera so I used the video feature on my canon 5D Mk IV camera to try and get some footage.
I could see the branch that he was perching on regularly, so I set the camera and lens up about 18 inches away, on a small wooden box covered with some camo netting.
There are some inherent problems with filming like this, principally because I had to try and predict what part of the branch he would perch on, focus on that point and then switch off the autofocus to stop the lens possibly hunting around to focus, thereby getting blurred images or even spooking him with the noise of the focussing motor. Also, because of EU regulations, (ARRRGH!!!), top end stills cameras that have video functions are classified as video cameras, thereby, falling under the film industries taxation laws. This means in short that if your camera is able to take videos longer than 30mins then it is liable for tax. This would cost the manufacturers of these cameras money, which would be passed on to the customer, thereby increasing prices and impacting on sales.
As a result of the above, I had to reset the filming sequence, because it had stopped every 30mins and hope that the bird didn’t arrive when I was doing so. More frustratingly, it is not possible currently on Canon DSLR cameras to trigger the video function remotely, because you have to press a button to lock the mirror up before you can take a video.
I went through this procedure a few times until luckily I managed to record him on the branch, he is not ideally framed but that was all I had. On the day I filmed him he sat under the Cotoneaster for two hours but the camera had switched itself off after 30mins. Very annoying, but that’s wildlife and that’s EU regulations.
In the heat of the day he became progressively sleepier – please see video below.

https://youtu.be/Z2PySTmy7zY

In February this year we had a very mild spell of weather here in the Brecon Beacons, then we experienced a few weeks of really vicious, wet and windy weather in March, which brought damage and tragically, some fatalities. Trees were blown down and areas of the country were flooded badly which were the causes of the aforementioned tragedies. The water levels are now thankfully receding on the rivers, but Llangors Lake will take about another month to get back to normal, if we have no more heavy rain.
Wildlife, however, just like the rest of us has to get on with it and as the Daffodils start to die back the grassy areas around the Beacons and indeed my garden, are now covered with masses of Lesser Celandine and Primrose. The woods are full of Wood Anemone and Ladies Smock is now appearing with the Forget –Me - Not, a few early Bluebells are also showing through in sheltered places.
I have spent a few hours down at Llangors Lake over the last week and there are signs of spring appearing, Cetti’s Warblers are becoming more vocal - these are such a difficult bird to photograph!



Great Crested Grebes are performing their courting rituals, frustratingly at a distance.



A Mandarin Duck at the north end of the lake is looking particularly colourful.



Wrens are singing from everywhere – such a noisy - but still endearing little bird!



While all these birds have probably been in the area all year round, they liven up, as indeed we all do, as the weather improves.
Arriving over the last week or two Ring Ouzels are back on territory in very small numbers at Craig Cerrig Gleisiad in the Beacons, lovely to hear a male singing last week very early on a bitterly cold morning. There are Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps singing everywhere, along with a few Willow Warblers. Sand Martins and Swallows are now flying and one or two Common Redstarts are just arriving, while the Blue Tits in our garden tentatively explore the nest boxes.
However, there is one sign of spring that I like to look for in particular and that is the Orange Tip butterfly. This small but beautiful insect is the first butterfly to emerge from a pupa/chrysalis in spring, as opposed to other early spring flying butterflies such as Peacock, that have over-wintered as adults. Today Susan and I saw five of these little gems, it was lovely to see them flying around the bramble patches near Llangors Lake.



Another lovely Butterfly which is just taking to the wing is the Green Veined White,
and like the Orange tip, at this time of year, these butterflies have also emerged from an overwintering pupa/chrysalis.



Let’s hope we have a nice spring and summer again this year!

Nature of the Brecon Beacons.
By Kevin Walker
Last Saturday saw the release of the above book and I’m pleased to say that all the bird images featured were supplies by me. This is a very wide ranging and informative book covering most things you are likely to encounter on your walks in the Brecon Beacons. Kevin runs a local walking business featuring navigation and hill skills and also private guiding.
This is the third book that has featured my images of birds in the Brecon Beacons.
It’s nice to see my images in publication, especially highlighting the area where I live.

We decided to visit the Forest of Dean yesterday to take advantage of this sublime spell of winter weather. Our first stop was Parkend Church to see if we could locate any Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers - and along one of the forestry tracks we could hear one drumming softly but we couldn’t see where - but that’s about par for the course with these enigmatic little birds. Also in this location Crossbills have been coming down to drink from some road – side puddles, but these puddles are now virtually dry. There was a man sat in his car there with a Camo jacket on and a lens, obviously waiting for these birds to hopefully come down to drink. Amusingly, in the very warm sunshine he was fast asleep and when we returned about an hour later he was still asleep. I hope no birds came down because he would have missed them. I say amusingly, because it has happened to me previously, especially when things are quiet. I was trying to photograph a Cuckoo one morning some years ago in similar weather and I had fallen asleep in my hide and when I woke up there was the Cuckoo on a branch of a tree a few feet away just staring at me.
In Parkend, in the woodland opposite the cricket pitch in Crown Lane Hawfinches can sometimes be seen, but this is a very noisy area and there is always disturbance from dog walkers, traffic and worst of all so-called birders and photographers who get out of their cars to try and see the Hawfinches. This behaviour inevitably spooks these very flighty birds and results in nobody seeing them. We parked under the trees and saw one male bird that was still in winter plumage but the light under there was quite frankly abysmal, and there was no real chance of a decent photograph because of these dire lighting conditions. This situation was compounded when a ‘photographer’ walked right up to this woodland and produced a picnic chair and sat down with his tripod and camera obviously with the intention of photographing Hawfinches – LOL – No Chance!! We decided to leave, reminded why we hate this location.
We then visited the New Fancy View lookout just up the road from Parkend, to see if there were any Goshawks displaying and there were only two very distant birds seen. New Fancy view is not what it was, even a few years ago. We can remember numbers of Crossbills landing in the tops of the pine trees and Hawfinches flying across the tree tops regularly. Yesterday there was hardly any bird song there and virtually no raptors in the air anywhere – in weather like this you would think birds would be out displaying and singing but I suppose it’s just a reflection of the way things are these days.
However, there was one saving grace in terms of wildlife – on the walk back down from New Fancy View, on the grassy banking by the side of the track, we came across some Adders – three in total – all males. I managed some shots as they warmed – up in the leaf litter. Seeing these lovely snakes always brings to mind just how small they are, and how they are easily missed most of the time as people walk by.

These snakes are recognizeable by their individual head patterns by people who monitor them.











Despite the lack of birds it was still an absolute pleasure to be out walking around on such a glorious day.

I always thought it would be nice to have a pond where I could take photographs of birds reflected in the water but this is easier said than done. There are various problems, the main one being that you have to get down to eye level in order to do this. This means either lying on the floor for hours or digging a large pit – neither of these alternatives really appealed to me.
Then a few days ago it dawned on me – why couldn’t I raise a small pond up in the air. Ridiculous you may think, but no, not quite as it may seem!
I had a plan in mind:
As I have mentioned previously, I have already constructed a bird photography hide in my little wildlife garden, so firstly I knocked some treated roof battens into the ground about twenty feet away from the hide, then I attached some braces, also made with treated wood to stabilize them. I cut them off to the height I thought was appropriate and put a spirit level across them to make sure they were dead level. I had already bought a plastic octagonal tray that builders use to mix cement, it is about one metre around, I bought it on ebay for £15.00. I placed this tray on a piece of chipboard that I had and drew around it leaving about two inches to spare. I cut out the shape of the tray using a jigsaw and covered the exposed areas with some spare roofing felt that I had kept, I don’t throw things away! I then attached this platform onto the top of the roof battens and again checked for level. I placed the tray on top of the platform and then filled it right to the top with water and checked the view from my hide to make sure it was right for reflections. When I was satisfied I fixed the platform solidly to the battens to prevent any strong winds dislodging it and then also screwed the tray onto the platform. I placed some pieces of wood with Ivy wrapped around them into the tray to act as props.
For the first two days the birds completely ignored this construction and that’s the way they are with anything new – so no problem.
However, today they started to drink from the tray and as I hoped they were reflected in the water, as I intended. I will have to re – arrange the props from time to time, but the beauty of this is that I can put whatever props I like in the water – stones or wood, wrapped with flowers, berries, blossom etc. etc. I’m quite pleased with the way it’s started off – it’s cost me £30 and a little bit of work but I think it’s worth it because as the weather gets warmer and water becomes a priority for birds to drink there will be a lot more candidates for a reflection.

Here's the first reflection, a Siskin.



The background will always be dark which is good because it accentuates the subjects but the best images will be taken on calm days to maximise refections.
I can also have wider images, depending on what birds perch on the tray.

The juvenile Sparrowhawk that is visiting our garden is getting outrageously bold because he doesn’t care about anybody, especially us. I was watching him through a window of our house as he was perched on the front garden fence and I could see the postman coming down the lane in his van. I thought that he was sure to fly as the van passed below him about ten feet away, but he just looked at the post van with distain and carried on sitting on the fence.
Sometime later he appeared at the back of the house chasing birds around the shrubs and he landed on a small wooden fence which is a border to a gravelled area. I thought I’d open the back door a small bit to test him out and he didn’t blink an eye, so I opened it wide and stepped forward until I was literally about six feet away from him. I expected him to surely fly off, but no he just stayed there looking at me, so I raised my camera with my Sigma 150 – 600 zoom lens attached which I had carried out just in case. A big prime lens would have been no use at all, he was just too close. I fired off a few shots and he just posed there with no fear whatsoever, I couldn’t believe it, then after a while he got bored and he continued chasing the birds again – I was astounded by him!
I don’t think this brazen attitude will continue as he becomes more street – wise, but I’m making the most of it while it lasts!!

We have had a Juvenile Sparrowhawk visiting our garden for some time and I’m not sure whether it’s a male or female. It’s difficult to tell at this stage but it looks quite small so perhaps it’s a male. If it is he’s getting very confident and last week he perched in a small apple tree right by the side of me. He is still perching on the garden fence as in a previous blog when I shot him on a very wet day. Yesterday he was there again only this time he was dry, I thought that because he was so wet last time he couldn’t be bothered to fly away and this time he would be more wary. However, it’s obvious now that he doesn’t care about me watching him and I took more shots as he just perched there looking at me with distain. It will be interesting, if he continues to visit us, to see whether I am right about him?

Yesterday Susan and I went for a drive and a walk around the area, with the aim of getting a few shots of the recent snow. We attempted to get up onto Mynydd Illtud but failed miserably because the road leading up there was a sheet of impassable ice. We then decided to drive along the A470 Brecon to Merthyr Tydfil road – big mistake!! I should know better, the scene which unfolded before us could only be described as madness. Literally hundreds of parked cars lined the road and all the layby’s were also rammed with vehicles. The Storey Arms car park was jam - packed and the newly constructed Pont Y Daf car park was also ‘chock a block’. Lines of people, reminiscent of ‘Marching Ants’ were going up and down the mountain in their quest to reach the summit of Pen y Fan. I had no doubt the Neuadd car park in the next valley was also rammed full. I cannot understand why everybody has to walk up to Pen Y Fan and nowhere else, they must have a ‘Lemming’ mentality. I fear my days of walking in that area are finished because the last thing I want to do is walk in a queue!

Fifty years ago, when I was just a kid my mates and I used to ride our bikes from Merthyr up the A470 road to the Storey Arms, it seemed like an epic adventure, traffic was light and the road was much more undulating. There were no car parks then, Storey Arms had a small pull – in for lorry drivers who wanted to get something to eat in the café there. We used to have a much anticipated hot pie and a cup of tea before we made the return journey to Merthyr, which was much easier because it was mostly downhill. When I started to walk the Beacons forty five years ago, in the aforementioned Neuadd valley you could park your vehicle outside the old water treatment works and walk from there, it was always very quiet. I could walk for three or four hours and not see anyone and there would still be no other cars parked where I had left mine. If you came across anyone walking, then odds – on you would know them because there was only a small core of walkers who did the Beacons regularly. I remember three old blokes who I used to see, they were getting on for seventy then, and one of them used to use a walking stick and if the mist was down really thickly you couldn’t see anything but I could hear the ‘Tap - Tap’ of his stick and I knew who it was without seeing them - they must be long gone now, also disappeared into the mists of time.
Those old mountain walkers, if they were alive today would be amazed at the current scene.

Apologies for the digression, Susan and I couldn’t wait to escape the mayhem and we slowly drove our way back to Brecon. I have had a shot in mind for some time now and it was from just outside Llanhamlach Church with the Beacons in the background.



We pulled in near the church and after some thought on the best position I finally came up with a shot. It was now a very cold scene with a bitter breeze blowing so I took a few shots and we headed for home.

I didn’t think I would see the Great Grey Shrike outside my kitchen window again, I thought it was definitely a one - off. However, a fortnight to the day here it was again, in exactly the same bush! I’ve never known a Grey Shrike to be near our house before and to have it return is just incredible to see.
It stayed for one and a half days and now it’s disappeared again, I would love to know where it’s going - it’s intriguing. I can’t complain though, because just to see one of these elusive birds outside your house is some garden tick, there’s not many people who have Great Grey Shrike on their garden list!
I wonder if it will return again – I sincerely hope so!





Also a bonus for us of a female Kestrel at last light - what next?

There hasn’t been a significant Waxwing irruption this winter and therefore it was a surprise to hear of seven birds feeding on mistletoe berries in a local town about seven miles from where I live.
There have been many reports from Scotland and northern England but that’s not unusual because they’re there every year. The norm is that it has to be a really big irruption before any are seen in this area. However, I was cautiously optimistic because there had been one or two birds reported in mid-Wales and also twelve in Hereford, just over the border.
These local birds were first spotted by a visiting birder on his way back home from this area, purely by chance, as is the norm.
Unfortunately these birds were feeding on mistletoe berries in some apple trees outside a primary school and judiciously I waited for the morning’s activities to subside and the children to go into school because you really can’t be too careful these days. Even if it is obvious what you are doing there is still an element in today’s society that will complain just for the sake of it.
When I arrived there was no one there and I could immediately see seven birds in the apple trees, there was no activity in the playground, so I filled my boots. Waxwings are easy to photograph because they are so confiding and it’s just a matter of isolating a bird or two for a photograph. Frustratingly there are very few red berries at the site so a colourful shot is not possible but it’s always a treat to see these special birds.



For more images see; Latest Images, Waxwings in the Brecon Beacons.

I was out at first light yesterday up on Buckland Hill, this hill is situated above a village near to where I live. It was quite cold with a chilly breeze blowing and fortunately I was not there long because I had timed it to just capture the sunrise. However, there was too much cloud for a colourful sunrise but there was some ‘Drama’ in the early morning sky. The sun appeared above Mynydd Llangattwg, below which are some of the most extensive cave systems in the UK. Having said that, caving is definitely not my cup of tea, I’m OK up to a point, but when you have to really squeeeeeze yourself through very small dark places then that’s it for me - I prefer fresh air and big open skies!
In the picture below you can see from the left, ‘Sugarloaf’ mountain, then Myarth in the centre and finally the sunrise above Mynydd Llangattwg on the right.



This morning I was up early again and up on top of Mynydd Llangynidr to try a different viewpoint for a sunrise. Disappointingly, nothing materialised despite the early morning looking promising. It was bitterly cold with a heavy frost and to be honest I was glad to come back home. When I arrived back home I cooked some breakfast to warm me up and afterwards when I was washing the dishes in my kitchen and I just casually looked across the field and I could see a light grey bird in the hedge row. I thought ‘What’s that?’ so I reached for my old Swift binoculars that I keep on the window sill, precisely for situations like this. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, there was a Great Grey Shrike perched there looking across the field.



I called Susan to see it, nearly dropping a plate as I did so – I ran upstairs to get a lens and I opened a bedroom window and took a few low quality hand held shots before it flew out of sight. Susan and I saw it again briefly later, but then it disappeared.



It was without doubt the rarest bird we have seen from our kitchen.