News

Susan and I were out walking this morning in glorious spring-like weather. It was still chilly in the shade but out in the sunshine it was gloriously warm. As we walked back down off the hillside we disturbed a Green Woodpecker that was digging into ant hills on a steep banking and as usual if flew off immediately, they are so spooky. Yesterday I heard the Green Woodpecker's smaller cousin, the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, singing from the other side of the valley, that was a rare sound because they are like gold dust around here. I was carrying a bit of landscape kit and a small tripod with me just in case we came across anything nice. I'm glad I did because as we were walking through a small wooded area we came across the fabulous sight of thousands of Snowdrops, one of our favourite flowers. Who doesn't like these superb little flowers?

Along with Crocus they are real heralds of spring.



The sun's rays shone through the trees giving a dappling effect to the whole wood and I could see one little group of Snowdrops up against an old delapidated stone wall, long fallen into disrepair, but nevertheless augmenting the scene.



I took a few quick shots before we moved on but I will be going back soon for another try in this lovely area.

While Susan and I were out walking along a local riverbank yesterday I was carrying my new Canon RF100-500 f7.1 lens. This is a great little compact and lightweight lens and when coupled with my new Canon R5 mirrorless camera it will be a great performer of that I am in no doubt. I was carrying it with a Black Rapid Breathe strap attached to the lens foot and an extra tether fixed to the cameras strap lug – belt and bracers. This is a very comfortable and safe way of carrying this combo and it allows for the very quick deployment of the camera and lens into the shooting position.
We saw male and female Goosanders on the river about thirty yards away and true to form they began to swim away as soon as they saw us. However, because of the quick eye autofocus on the R5 and the combined camera and lens stabilisation systems allowing easy handheld shooting, getting a shot was relatively straightforward.





It really is a new way of getting images for me, a world apart from lugging heavy and awkward kit around.

Short Eared Owls usually hunt for food in the late afternoon but this can make it difficult for photography in terms of light. However, with modern mirrorless cameras high ISO readings are no longer such a problem, enabling relatively clean images to be produced which would previously have been impossible.
In addition if there is still some noise in the images they can be ‘Cleaned up’ with AI software such as Topaz or DXO.
The image below was taken with a Canon DSLR some time ago on a cold winter's afternoon but I have always considered it too noisy to use.

However, with the above mentioned technology it has now become more presentable.




These really are beautiful birds which unfortunately are becoming far less common around the UK. Some years are what are called ‘Vole Years’ where an abundance of these rodents produces a subsequently good breeding season for the owls, thereby increasing their numbers, however, disappointingly these years seem to be getting much more infrequent.
I hope things improve soon!

What a cold spell we have been enduring of late. Everything is frozen, my garden ponds and my elevated bird photography pool are solid. Every morning the birds are queuing up to be fed, the Robins are taking food from the feeders as they were being filled. It is really tough for them during these long winter nights.
Susan and I have been out walking around the local area and there have been some lovely views in the surrounding countryside. Up in a local forestry there have been some severe Hoare frosts.




On the hills the grasslands have been covered in a combination of ice shards and frozen snow - a real winter wonderland.




The Camlais brook which drains Mynydd Illtud a raised area of common land near the village of Libanus in the heart of the Brecon Beacons is frozen solid.



However, it is over for the time being as the rain has set in and as another year draws to a close my attention has now been drawn to the Xmas period. The last presents have been bought, finishing in a very busy Abergavenny yesterday – absolute mayhem in the town’s car parks. The smaller members of our family are full of expectation and it’s great to see them so excited. I have made my Xmas list out and it was posted last week - I hope the postal strike doesn’t affect it!

On a more sombre note though, we all need to spare a thought for the less fortunate amongst us during this time of celebration and happiness and think a little less of ourselves. My thoughts are for those families affected by that dreadful tragedy in Solihull - Xmas will never happen for them again.

Finally I would like to wish all the readers of this Blog and their families a happy and safe Xmas, because basically that’s it from me for 2022.
Normal service will resume in 2023.
Best wisher to all.
Steve

Water Rails are funny little birds, they don’t like to fly, mostly staying hidden in reed-beds making weird noises. Infrequently a birder catches a glimpse of one as it scurries across gaps between reed-beds. Their calls and songs are termed ‘Sharming’ and have been likened to a pig squealing. However, around the bird hide at Llangors Lake in the Brecon Beacons they have been showing more frequently of late.
In winter sometimes they can be either flooded or frozen out of a reed-bed. Which is the case currently I’m not sure. They are quite carnivorous and I have seen them attempting to eat carrion on a number of occasions - once feeding on a long dead Pheasant. They will also fight each other and other species of birds without needing too much encouragement.
I spent a cold hour in the hide at the above site a few days ago and indeed saw up to four Rails - albeit fleetingly. However, one bird showed for a few seconds longer on one occasion and I managed to get a shot.



I may go back if this cold weather persists.

I was back up on the moor this morning with Susan and we witnessed another lovely scene where the Usk valley was again filled with mist. It was thicker than yesterday,(see previous blog), because there was no sun shining to thin the mist out. Nevertheless every morning is different because it's a really dynamic scene up there with the landscape changing by the minute.



We walked out across the moor this morning to look back at the valley and to try and shoot a panorama. I find panoramas are best shot by zooming in as little as possible, because then you have more scope to save most of the image when the inevitable cropping takes place.

Three shot panorama.


Too narrow a shot could mean that you have lost important parts of the final

Another scene with a three shot panorama.

Getting down level greatly alters the perspective of a scene, this pool looks like a large lake but it's in fact no more than ten yards across.

The mists we are experiencing these last few mornings are not all bad news, because while they are undeniably bad news for drivers they are not bad news for a landscape photographer.
If you are able to get to an elevated vantage point you are in with a chance of seeing a ‘Cloud Inversion’. These scenes where the mist hangs down low in the valley with the higher points showing in sunlight can be very photogenic.
This morning I was up on Llangynidr moor in the Brecon Beacons looking down the Usk valley at one such scene.

First thing the cloud was really dense.



However, as the morning unfolded it became more broken, which is ideal. Elevations showed through and were bathed in sunlight.



A lovely scene on a glorious December morning!

Large amounts of rain has fallen throughout November in the Brecon Beacons and this has thankfully raised reservoir levels again. This was much needed rain after a very dry summer but some people have inevitably suffered from flooding. Trees have also been blown down by very strong winds – saturated ground and these winds are a deadly combination. This week is forecasted to be reasonably dry and this is welcome because the land is really sodden and difficult for local farmers. Near to where I live is the village of Talybont on Usk which is a very popular holiday destination for people who are visiting the Brecon Beacons.
The River Usk a well-known river flows past the village and one of its tributaries the River Caerfanell, which flows down a valley which is called ‘The Glyn’ by locals, meets the River Usk here. Glyn is just welsh for valley. In the higher reaches of the Caerfanell there are a series of picturesque waterfalls and these are quite attractive because there is a significant drop in elevation from right up on the mountainside down to the valley floor. It is infinitely more peacful at this location compared to the vastly over-crowded Ystradfellte waterfalls. Adnittedly they are more spectacular but they have been ruined by hordes of people descending on them from all over the country in a similar fashion to the rest of the Beacons.



Today I drove the five or so miles up the valley to where the river passes under a bridge and where you can park a vehicle, from there it’s about a 500 yd. walk up river to the falls. Wellingtons are essential here especially after the recent inclement weather. There was no one around, just as I like it and the river as I expected was in full flow.



A light drizzle fell as I walked up and I saw very little autumn colour left on the now quite bare trees. It was difficult to imagine that this river in its present state totally dries up in the summer during most years.



Compositions are limited here in these conditions because it can be quite dangerous to get right down to river level and experiment with different shots. This is because if you slipped and fell in it would be quite difficult to get out because the falls are quite steep and even the strongest swimmer would be hurled against the large boulders by the power of the water.



I managed a few shots in between sheltering my kit from quite nasty little showers but it was quite a pleasant hour watching the power of nature thunder down the hillside.

Susan and I were out walking on Friday in an area of unimproved grassland looking for Waxcaps. It’s the time of year that they can appear in numbers in this type of environment and they didn’t disappoint because one particular area of about two hundred yards square was absolutely littered with these colourful mushrooms.

Varieties included;

Snowy


Golden


Parrot


Meadow


Scarlet


All in some numbers - a sight to behold.

There was also a huge amount of Witches Butter fungi.


Literally hundreds of examples all over the Gorse wood.

However, just before we were about to call it a day we decided to just examine one more area and I’m so glad we did because as we walked through, seeing all of the above mushrooms, which was lovely, I looked behind some bracken and there on its own was a beautiful and very rare.

Pink Waxcap.


What a find! We were stunned by this glorious specimen. This mushroom is also called ‘The Ballerina’ because of its shape, it’s so beautiful and delicate and I couldn’t wait to take a photograph. After this nothing else mattered but unbelievably we found another three, it was beyond our wildest expectations.

Walking on, half stunned by these finds, I stopped in my tracks and right in front of me was a Violet Coral fungus.

Remarkable resemblence to Coral.



We were totally in awe now, this is one of the rarest grassland fungi in the UK, it’s very uncommon indeed, (if it was a bird it would be a mega), but there it was and with incredulity I could see more, in total twelve, this was now the other side of ridiculous. I took more images of this probably once in a lifetime experience, what a day, which started out as a casual walk and ended up finding two superb fungi – you just never know and that’s what makes it all worthwhile!!

On Tuesday evening this week I received a text from an old mate of mine which said ‘They are in the quarry’. This message would have seemed somewhat cryptic to everybody except me, because I knew exactly what he meant. The passage Ring Ouzels that come down through Mid-Wales every year in late October had arrived and were in one of the locations that they always favour. The northern Torquatus’ race of Ring Ouzel has been in steep decline in the UK for many years and this decline is of great concern, rightly so. The word Torquatus is based on the Latin word Torquis, meaning collar. I read that their decline is something like 50% over the last forty years. They do breed in very small numbers in the Brecon Beacons but it’s much harder to photograph them there because they favour a remote mountain habitat. In addition because of their current ‘Red List’ status I just keep away from potential breeding areas. They winter in the mountains of North Africa, principally Morocco and Tunisia returning to the UK in March. I used to try and photograph them when they first ‘came in’ to the Brecon Beacons when they perched in trees.



However, I've given up on this some time ago.

In essence a photographer doesn’t get many opportunities to get close up shots of these lovely birds, so I had to react quickly. This was 19.00 so I dropped everything, put my camera batteries on charge, got all my kit together, made some sandwiches and arranged my outdoor clothes ready for the following morning. Luckily I had put fuel in the vehicle that day or I would have had to do that as well.
I can't stand scrabbling around early in the morning before I leave to try and photograph wildlife – I like planning!
The weather forecast was for rain the following day which was ideal for us because hopefully it would deter people from being out and causing the inevitable disturbance.
The following morning Susan and I were up by 05.15, it was dark, rain was falling and a blustery wind blew – perfect! We left the Brecon Beacons at 06.00, the rain had now eased a bit and incredibly the stars were showing in the sky - such unpredictable weather. However, this did not last because as we drove along the A470 road towards the town of Builth Wells the rain returned with a vengeance, the wind intensified and we met really heavy commercial traffic in the form of huge lorries which thundered past continually throwing up spray and fallen leaves and in addition many other cars were also coming from the same direction so there was no respite from dazzling headlights for the whole journey along this stretch of road. We were really surprised by the volume of traffic.
After we passed through Builth Wells and continued on to the town of Rhayader the gateway to the Elan Valley dams, thankfully the traffic eased but the rain and wind continued. We finally reached our destination at 07.00 after a bit of a tortuous journey.



Typical Elan Valley habitat.

It was just starting to break light which was good timing so we had a cup of coffee and settled down and waited. Thankfully there were no other cars around because this is always a fear for me that someone may have parked in an awkward position making things difficult or even ruining the morning because I knew we didn’t have much time, perhaps two hours before people and dogs inevitably arrived. It wasn’t long before we could hear that tell-tale ‘Chuk Chuk’ of a Ring Ouzel and as it got lighter around 07.30 we could see up to ten birds flying around the rocks above the Rowan trees where they have historically fed – this was a really good count of these elusive birds.
Heavy showers and a blustery wind persisted and I had to protect my lens with a ‘Goretex’ cover. There was sufficient light to take a few shots by this time, albeit with a high ISO. Fortunately, unlike in the past with Digital SLR cameras, modern mirrorless cameras, such as the Canon R5 I am now using, don’t have a problem with high ISO ratings. Another huge advantage is that they are totally silent which is perfect when dealing with shy and wary subjects. Another, to use modern parlance, ‘Game Changer’, is the animal eye tracking feature on these cameras which locks onto your subject’s eye and focuses immediately and stays focused even when the subject moves. This results in a much higher percentage of sharp shots.

Suddenly a single bird came down.



These birds wait until one bird makes a move to feed and when they see there’s no danger they all descend to gobble up the soft Rowan berries. In a flash there were half a dozen birds feeding in the Rowan trees, adult males and females and first winter birds.







What a glorious sight to see these often elusive birds up close and even better in front of my lens.
I have theorised for some time that this site in the Elan Valley is one of, if not the best place to photograph Ring Ouzels in the UK. The autumn colours of the turning Rowan leaves along with the Ring Ouzel’s beautiful plumage make a really lovely combination.



I took many shots and a bonus was a flock of ten Bullfinches, another one of my favourite birds also feeding on the Berries, they were not swallowing the berries whole like the Ouzels but squeezing the berry until the flesh was exposed then allowing the flesh to drop to the ground while retaining and eating the small seed inside.



It was now 09.00 and the inevitable cars started to arrive with children and dogs and it was now time to leave. We packed up and took a leisurely drive around the rest of the dams until we reached the far end where the river Elan enters the first of the dams.
In a little car park I was packing my kit away ready for the journey home when Susan said ‘Steve, Ring Ouzel in the Rowan tree right beside the car park’. Without wishing to sound like Victor Meldrew, I couldn’t believe it! I hurried back into the car and as I looked across the moorland on the other side or the river I could now see a flock of Ring Ouzels flying towards us and they landed right in the Rowan tree twenty five feet away.







Ten Ring Ouzels, now I really couldn’t believe it!! To use a colloquialism I took a shed load of images in what was a lovely setting and as a bonus a few Fieldfares and Redwings also came in to the tree – Utopia!





However, more people started to arrive and I’m afraid there’s no escape from disturbance in the Elan Valley, but I didn’t care because to use motion picture parlance, ‘They were in the can’.
What an end to the day!!

More images in Latest Images - Ring Ouzels.

A short youtube video of these Ring Ouzels.

https://youtu.be/gNPRuEu3XLc

Many mushrooms are innocuous and people will never be aware that they exist, some are edible and are foraged, and many are inedible because they do not taste nice or will poison you to varying degrees. However, there are some that are just plain deadly.
This time of the year growing on almost any damp grassy area is a truly deadly mushroom. There are a number of these deadly poisonous mushrooms in the UK and some people may have heard of the infamous ‘Death Cap’ and rightly so because it, along with the ‘Destroying Angel’ is responsible for most of the ‘Mushroom Deaths’ in the western world. These both contain extremely deadly Amatoxins that will kill you very quickly by destroying your liver. These Mushrooms along with others such as ‘Funeral Bell’, ‘Devil’s Bolete’ and ‘Deadly Webcap’ to name but a few are very dangerous indeed, and they didn’t pull these names out of a hat, they are named so for a very good reason.
The Mushroom I refer to is the Brown Roll Rim – it doesn’t sound as bad as the above mentioned Fungi.





However, this is a seriously poisonous mushroom that in some ways is more dangerous. Foragers know you can’t eat the Death Caps of this world and consequently leave them alone but in some countries in Eastern Europe Brown Roll Rim has been considered edible after boiling and throwing the water away each time. This can be a serious mistake because although repeated boiling removes most of the toxins and people can indeed eat the mushrooms after, later science reveals that this process does not remove a powerful antigen in the mushroom, which builds up after repeated ingestion and can then initiate an auto immune response in the human body which causes your own immune system to attack your red blood cells leading to what is called - Immuno Haematological Anaemia, and it’s as bad as it sounds.



Notice how different they appear as they mature - very dangerous to assume anything!



This condition can result in a very nasty death indeed, and it also has a variable time frame insomuch as it can effect some people much quicker than others.

In 1944, the distinguished German mycologist Julius Schaeffer, died after eating a succession of dishes containing Brown Roll Rim. He is thought to be the only professional mycologist to have died of fungus poisoning.







We saw these Mushrooms growing in profusion on the grass verge right outside a much visited local facility with people passing within ten feet of these little beauties, all blissfully unaware of their deadly potential – isn’t nature wonderful!

Yesterday Susan and I went looking for Fungi in a local conifer plantation – it’s that time of year. The best time to look is after a couple of days of rain, so we were hopeful of finding some photographable subjects and indeed we came across some lovely displays of the.

‘Poisonous’ Sulphur Tuft mushrooms on rotting tree stumps.





In order to save walking around with equipment unnecessarily, we always carry binoculars because this helps you to see across the woodland floor. However, nothing could have prepared us for the spectacle which appeared before us - hundreds of Chanterelle mushrooms in groups of up to fifty, and probably in total over a thousand throughout the woods.





This was a veritable natural wonder and a pleasure to behold.



If these mushrooms had been true Chanterelles they would have been worth a fortune, but unfortunately true Chanterelles, a highly prized, delicious and very expensive mushroom, appear in mid to late summer and grow in primarily deciduous woodlands. These were in fact False Chanterelles and are not edible because they can give people bad gastric problems and some people have experienced hallucinatory episodes after consumption.
On casual observation it is easy to confuse these two species but with closer inspection, (which is highly recommended), there are marked differences between the two, principally colour, gills or the lack of and distinctive odour.



Both examples of False Chanterelle.



Overall just remember if they are in a conifer woodland in the autumn then they are most likely to be the inedible false species which should not be consumed.

This however, made no difference to a glorious panorama that would brighten up any woodland. We walked on through a mixture of habitats through lovely settings with the sun’s dappled rays illuminating the woodland floor and pleasingly in total silence, which is a rare commodity in today’s world. We stopped to examine and photograph a number of species as we made our way through but then totally unexpectedly we came across a mushroom we always like to see.

The Fly Agaric.



They brightens up any walk and although these mushrooms have a very close mycorrhizal relationship with Birch trees as we found, they are also discovered in conifer plantations. These lovely mushrooms look like they are straight out of a children’s book of fairy stories.









I was only too happy to take a few shots as they rounded off the morning perfectly.

Walking in a local wood this week the first signs of Fungi are starting to appear, it’s been so dry up until last week but the recent rains have started to rejuvenate the land - and boy did it need it. These long dry spells are no good for the ground or the rivers, in particular the River Usk was clogged up with algae but the rains have now washed it all away. When walking in the wood we came across the first vestiges of Oyster.



Also Blusher mushrooms.



Let’s hope it’s going to be a good fungi season.

When we returned home I could see some white objects in the field that backs on to our garden, so after hopping over the fence I could see that they were edible Field Mushrooms and what a display there was. We couldn’t begin to pick them all so we filled a basket and left the smaller ones for another day.
Now that our Runner beans have finished and the plants have been composted we turned out attention to apples. We have picked about a hundred Cooking Apples from our tree and the Pear tree in the garden is laden with fruit this year.

Edible Field Mushroons – Agaricus campestris
These are most delicious and are much tastier than the cultivated supermarket mushrooms.
Lightly fried in a little Olive Oil with a pinch of fresh garlic is just perfect for us – Yum Yum!



Please be careful when picking mushrooms - not all are edible and some are deadly!!

This week I invited a fellow photographer and friend to spend an hour or two with me on the banks of the River Usk in the Brecon Beacons. I had set up a few perches in an area where I had seen Kingfishers previously. We got under the cover of a large sheet of Camo netting strung roughly between some fallen branches. It was a very makeshift affair but it would allow us to observe life on the river.
It was still dark when we met near the banks of the river and just breaking dawn as we got under cover. We could hear Kingfishers ‘Peeping’ in the gloom, because as usual they are about very early. Unfortunately, (not for me as I have literally hundreds of Kingfisher images), but for him because he is yet to get a really close up, the Kingfishers didn’t play ball and were only seen briefly up river. However, that’s wildlife photography and we both fully understand and accept this. Dippers though were showing very well, at times some ten feet away from us, allowing for some decent shots.







It’s not always about one bird and I’m quite sure with persistence he will get the Kingfisher photographs he wants.
As time wore on we decided that it wasn’t going to be a ‘Kingfisher’ morning and we decided to pack up, but just as we were going to exit the Camo netting we could see, quite unbelievably, what looked like a Pigeon swimming down river. This obviously wasn’t normal behaviour and rightly so because we then caught a flash of a raptor across the river. I thought it was a Sparrowhawk that I had seen a few days previously but as it looped back around and perched in a dead tree we could now see it was a Juvenile Peregrine. The mystery of the Pigeon trying to swim became clearer, it had been hit by the Peregrine and landed in the river and was fighting for its life against drowning. We quickly took a shot of the Peregrine before it flew off.



It had obviously assessed it could no longer access the Pigeon and left.

We watched as, what we could now see was a Racing Pigeon, make land and scramble under the trees to escape its attacker.



Bloodied but still alert.

I tried to catch it but the terrain was too awkward and the bird still had good wing movement. We took some photos and relayed the info on the bird’s rings to the relevant database in the hope some local Pigeon fancier might be able to retrieve it. Quite an eventful end to a quiet morning on the river.

Shadows and highlights can sometimes be a big problem for a photographer. However, other times they can work in their favour and I outlined a method I use for deliberately underexposing an image to create drama in a previous blog featuring a Little Egret. By underexposing the image the already dark background took on a black appearance and with a White bird like the Egret it accentuated the subject because of its bright plumage.



Yesterday I saw a Woodpigeon fly under some dense overhanging Willows on the River Usk in an effort to escape the relentless sun. A huge slice of luck for me was the sheer coincidence of beams of sunlight shining through a gap in the Willows that were illuminating the Pigeon. This allowed me to again underexpose the scene, thereby darkening the background. I was able to do this with the Egret because it was a snowy white bird and it could take the underexposure. However, I needed the sunbeams to do the same thing with the Pigeon otherwise it would have darkened the subject too much.



Sometimes you have to take advantage of your lucky breaks

I have been making the most of this glorious weather by getting up very early almost every morning over the last ten days. I can’t sleep much anyway, so there’s little point in just lying there half-awake waiting for a perceived civilised time to get up. I have been attempting to photograph birds on the River Usk which currently is at the lowest level I can remember, you can with care walk across in places just wearing wellingtons and indeed this is what I have been doing. I have crossed the river a few times, even in the dark, to get to better vantage points. I must stress though that unless you are confident then it’s best to avoid doing this, especially if you are alone. I know from experience the deeper parts of the river which are still over wellington height and I also use two sticks to probe the river bed for uneven stones because you can still overbalance quite easily. You’re unlikely to drown if you fall over but you would still be very wet indeed and possibly get injured, and your expensive and fragile photographic equipment could be ruined. The Usk is relatively warm where the river is shallow but there are still some eight foot deep pools which look inviting but remain very cold and could surprise unwary people, and this is inevitably what happens when accidents occur every year around the country in spells of warm weather.
Last week I crossed the river in the darkness to access an area where I had watched Kingfishers fishing regularly. It was a bit of a struggle but I was all set up under cover before first light full of expectation that a bird would land on my perches. It didn’t happen, the Kingfishers were there, four of them, two adults and two juveniles, but they completely ignored my perches and fished all morning from overhanging Willows. This was a big disappointment but it’s a regular feature of wildlife photography and that’s the way it is – move on and try again. Persistence is a fundamental element in successful wildlife watching, without it you will never achieve anything.
Fast forward to two days ago, previously I had observed the same birds in another area, so up again at 04.00 –Yawn! Under cover by 05.00 and here they come again, this time very briefly landing on my perch placed in the river in my concrete flower pot, (see previous blogs). However, they were still favouring some overhanging Willows near my artificial perch. I had some shots.







Kingfishers frequently fish off semi-submerged rocks in a river but also dive from heights of twenty five feet, contradicting how many people think they operate. They can spot a small fish from ten yards away using their polarizing vision- remarkable!



However, I had to leave by 10.00 because by then my portable hide had become hotter than Satan’s underpants and was quite frankly unbearable.
After these observations I decided to do something about the situation with the Willows if I was to get any close-up shots. Yesterday at 10.00 after doing some shopping I went down to the river and walked under said Willows, which was just about possible in wellingtons. Now I could see why the birds were fishing from there, below was a crystal clear pool wherein which many little fish were swimming, small fish like the river edges because there they can avoid the larger fish who eat them. The life of a small fish is fraught with danger, it’s either typically a Brown Trout or a Kingfisher hunting you.
I had brought a loppers and pruning saw with me and I proceeded to cut some 'fallen' branches to size, this may seem drastic but my experience with branches is that the nicest looking branch is always the wrong shape and you can’t do anything about it. I worked for about an hour and a half looking for the right branches and then fitting then sympathetically into the Willows environment. As I’ve mentioned previously never alter the birds feeding situation, it’s nothing to you but it matters to them. We get our food easily, but if we had to dive into a river every time we were hungry we would have a different perspective. I was sweating like a dray horse by the time I’d finished, (not a pleasant thought, and one I would discourage the readers of this blog from dwelling on).
These new perches raised my expectation levels for the following morning and after stopping to look at a magnificent full and golden moon over the Beacons I was again on the river and under cover by 05.00. It was a glorious morning and again I could hear the tell-tale ‘Peep’ of a Kingfisher, they are also early risers. As I sat there just watching the river - a scene of blissful tranquillity, with its soft bubbling water tumbling over rounded pebbles fashioned over millennia, I Felt really uplifted. There’s nothing like first light, it’s good for the soul. I could also hear the ‘Yaffle’ of a Green Woodpecker and slowly but surely the other incumbents of the river.

Dippers






These birds must be the most waterproof around, they never look wet.

Grey Wagtail feeding right outside my hide.



Also the visiting Little Egret appeared.



Chiffchaffs and a Spotted Flycatcher flitted around the trees and Brown Trout rose out of the water taking the early morning insects.

By now it was 06.00 and the daylight was illuminating the willows, suddenly there was a male Kingfisher on one of my perches.








A vertical branch I had propped up with river stones which was overlooking the previously mentioned pool.

What a nice feeling of success, not only for me but the bird had an extra perch which it obviously liked. I took a few shots of him in various poses before he flew away. Several times Kingfishers came to fish on a variety of my perches.







Also fishing from the Willows.



I was able to take some reasonable shots. The previous day’s work had certainly paid off but by 10.00 the inevitable heat had started to build again, and if anything it was even hotter. As soon as the birds had disappeared up river I took the opportunity to pack my kit away and leave for home – a stunning morning on the river bank.

See video link below.

https://youtu.be/kWz1pTXiols

Yesterday morning I was up at 03.30 in readiness for a morning down on the River Usk in the Brecon Beacons. I had all my kit packed into my car the night before as per usual - no time for messing about that early. I only had one shredded wheat, (I wasn’t up to two that early), washed down with a small tea before I left. Outside there was a fine drizzle but that didn’t matter to me, my portable hide is waterproof and I have ‘Goretex’ covers for my kit. Driving this early the roads are empty, or so I thought, because suddenly there was a Tawny Owl sat on the road right in front of me – I braked hard to avoid hitting it and it flew up over my now stationary car and away into the trees – close call that one! Further on as I approached a local pub which is on the roadside I could now see a Barn Owl perched on the pub sign, it flew off as I approached giving good views. I began to wonder what I was going to see next.
I made my way down to the river in darkness where I erected my hide under some overhanging Willows this gives me cover and more shelter if it rains. I really like being on the river bank this early because you get to see and hear the wild life waking up. There was no bird sound whatsoever, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before the Kingfishers in particular would become active. They are about before it gets light, you can hear them calling to each other. I made sure I had everything under cover before settling down in my comfortable hide. True to form within ten minutes I could hear them ‘Peeping’ as they started to fly around, they can’t fish this early but they are nevertheless still active. A big plus for me is that there is no fishing allowed on the Usk at the moment because of the low water, so the chance of disturbance is minimal.
As daylight started to build and I could see the water eight Goosanders came idling up river and I took a few shots as they drifted past unaware of me.



I must have been well hidden because they are very wary birds. As the morning unfolded a Grey Heron walked right passed me.



Another extremely nervous bird oblivious to my hide. I had placed my hide looking at another group of Willows about thirty feet away, because a few days ago I had watched some Kingfishers perching underneath these willow branches and diving into a pool underneath. These birds like overhanging foliage, it shades the water allowing them to see the fish and in addition Kingfishers have polarizing vision so it makes their fishing even more effective.
I had also erected another perch there by tying a fallen branch to the others overhanging, not only for me to see the birds for a photo but for the birds to have better access to the water. After an hour three birds were flying around the area, two being chased by one. I guessed this was a parent bird trying to drive two youngsters away to find their own territory. Kingfishers are not good parents and are quite selfish. Then my planning paid off and an adult perched right on my new perch.



Notice the bird's orange feet denoting an adult, they will in time turn red.
Deliberately underexposed for effect.

I must have done something right. (You have to be careful you do not under any circumstances effect their routine by disturbing their fishing area). I took a few shots before it flew off again chasing the two youngsters. However, these young birds were persistent because now there was one of them sitting on my perch.



Smokey markings to the breast and dull smokey coloured feet - Juvenile.
Again deliberately underexposed for effect.

I took a few more shots before the chase started again.

I decided to leave them to it and when they had flown down river I exited my hide and moved it to another location where I had watched a Little Egret feeding earlier in the week. I knew where it would be, in the shallows underneath some dense overhanging Willows. I thought it would make a decent photo because the water under there looks black and with a snowy white bird like an Egret it would make a nice contrast. I could see the bird feeding about a hundred yards away but I knew it would be coming back because that’s what it had been doing all week - I have been watching it! I set my hide up again and waited, sure enough here it comes slowly but surely down to its favoured area of Willows. I waited until it was underneath and then I deliberately under exposed the shot to exemplify the black water and maintain the white colour of the bird.



This underexposing is a technique I often employ in this type of situation.
This Egret is standing in water although it doesn't look like it.

I waited for it to walk down river before I got out of my hide and eventually packed up. It turned out to be a very pleasant couple of hours with no one else around which is a bonus.

Details of the trip is now available in the Trip Report section.

When in the Brecon Beacons we have extended dry periods and the local reservoirs decrease in depth, little glimpses of history are sometimes revealed. One such piece of history is an old bridge named Pont Y Daf, (translated as ‘Bridge on or over the River Taf), which is normally submerged beneath the waters of the Llwyn Onn reservoir.



There are two River Tafs the Taf Fawr and Taf Fechan, Great Taf and Little Taf, they both rise in the Brecon Beacons and converge just north of the historic town of Merthyr Tydfil. These little rivers played a fundamental part in the 'Industrial Revolution'. This may seem a broad statement but these waters fed the huge ironworks at Cyfarthfa in Merthyr Tydfil and along with the Dowlais Ironworks also in Merthyr Tydfil were the two biggest in the world!! There was also an abundance of wood and limestone in the surrounding area so all the fundamentals were there to produce Iron. In total there were five ironworks in the town.
A leat was constructed to channel water from the Taf Fawr into the Cyfarthfa ironworks. This consisted of a cast iron sluice gate with a stone weir and parts of the leat were actually cut out of the river’s bedrock, the remainder being walled and buttressed with stone - a remarkable construction which is still visible today. The word Cyfarthfa means ‘place of the barking dogs’
On the 21st February 1804, Merthyr Tydfil witnessed the first ever steam locomotive journey as Richard Trevithick’s ‘Penydarren Locomotive’ travelled down through Pentrebach and on to Abercynon. Trevithick has been largely overlooked as the creator of the World’s first steam locomotive.
This town is where the industrial revolution was fuelled from. Iron from these works provided arms for the Napoleonic wars and Lord Nelson’s famous sea battles. Nelson favoured Cyfarthfa iron for his cannons and he visited the works and the town with Lady Hamilton in 1802 staying at the Crown Hotel, a coaching inn in the town. Rails for the world’s railways were made here. No other welsh town has an industrial heritage anything like Merthyr Tydfil.
The Llwyn Onn reservoir was completed in 1926 and is the lowest and biggest of the three dams in the Taf valley that supply the city of Cardiff with water.
The hamlet of Ynys Y Felin was flooded during the construction and some small remnants of stone walls are still visible during periods of drought. In this little community there were twelve houses, a fulling mill, two inns and a Baptist chapel. All the chapel’s graves were exhumed and the dead reinterred in a new chapel and graveyard nearby.
Pont Y Daf Bridge was the main crossing point of the Taf Fawr during the 19th Century and there is evidence of a crossing here as far back as 1800. This old bridge was the main link to the turnpike road between Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil and also to the village of Penderyn in the west.
The derogatory term "Taffy" for a Welsh person is sometimes erroneously stated to have originated with the river. This may have given rise to a colloquial usage of the term "Taffy" or "Taffs" for people from the Mid Glamorgan Valleys (which form the Taf's northern reaches).
The name actually originates as a corruption of the name Dafydd, with the Oxford English Dictionary describing the origin as "representing a supposed Welsh pronunciation of the given name Davy or David (Welsh Dafydd)" It was common for people in times of war to dehumanise an enemy by ascribing a singular name to them all. It is therefore an equivalent of other historic English pejoratives such as Paddy and Jock.
Today the words Pont Y Daf have been used to name the car park just south of the Storey Arms hostel where thousands of people park their cars to walk up to the very popular Pen Y Fan. I wonder how many of them realise the significance of the little river they cross on their way up the mountain.

Llangors Lake in the Brecon Beacons has a small number of Great Egrets present. These birds hitherto called Great White Egrets up until a few years ago were a real rarity in the UK, they have followed in the footsteps of the Little Egret which was also in its time a rarity. Little Egrets are now commonplace and are no longer talked about so much and the Greats are going the same way. On the Somerset levels they can be found in quite large numbers and are a real success story. These birds found in southern Europe are moving their range further north as our climate warms, similarly are the Glossy Ibis and Cattle Egret. Penduline Tits are also moving north and in time they will become more numerous.
Great Egrets are very shy birds and normally they fly off at the first sign of people but when I was in the car park at Llangasty Church a few days ago a bird landed right in front of me near the reed bed and stayed there for a few minutes. I couldn’t move too much but luckily I had my gear set up and was able to shoot a few frames before it decided to fly off.
I have now switched to a Canon R5 ‘mirrorless’ camera body from my trusty Canon 7D mk2, DSLR, a camera I have had some good results with and am keeping as a backup body. However, the R5 has clear advantages over the 7D mk2 such as much higher frame rates, double the sensor resolution, totally silent shooting and above all the formidable animal eye tracking auto focus which has to be viewed to be believed. The only thing I don’t like are the viewfinders on mirrorless camera, they present an awful synthetic image unlike the totally natural view from a DSLR, but I will have to get used to it. These are the first images taken with the R5 and I am still very much getting used to it so things will improve over time.
After all it really isn’t all about the camera and lens, although quality helps a great deal, it’s about field craft and getting close to wildlife in a responsible way that matters.