A walk down the canal

Date:  2 June 2020 (Day 2 of #30DaysWild 2020)

Location:  Jersey Canal, Briton Ferry
Weather:  Sunny, warm...beautiful :)

Today was the first time I ventured out for a walk since lock-down. I feel ashamed as I have a beautiful canal less than 5 minutes from my home and only today I went down there.

Today was also the first time Dan could come around and sit in the garden since lock-down. It was such a great feeling being outdoors among nature. The canal as changed a lot since I was last there. The paths have been resurfaced and even the dirt path towards Neath is now paved. 

We took the path towards the old Wern works and it wasn't long before we spotted our first bird: The moorhen, she was with two chicks walking among the lily pads (that were flowering and look splendid).

Moorhen

Moorhen chick

We walked a bit further and spotted the swans with their 2 week old cygnets. they were really close to the bank and we were unable to see or get good pictures of them, so we decided to keep walking and hoped we would get better views on the way back. We did spot some domestic ducks, mallard and more juvenile moorhens. Plus some horses grooming each other!

Domestic ducks

Female Mallard with juvenile Moorhen

Horses grooming each other

After we walked past the horses I looked back and took a shot of the canal..it truly is a beautiful place. Our next stop was the big rock (nb: trying to find out some history regarding this rock, is it there for a reason? let me know), I always look in here to see if there is any fish or tadpoles.

The beautiful canal

The large rock...why is it here? Is it some sort of sundial or just decorative?

It was nice to see none of the foliage had been cut back so time to explore for bugs...I didn't see many butterflies just a Small Blue and a Meadow Brown. I did see a few dragonflies and damselflies, but couldn't get a pic of either. I also spotted a ladybird larvae on some brambles. 

Small Blue Butterfly

Meadow Brown Butterfly

Seven spotted ladybird larvae

Interesting rock face

Just before the end of the canal is the old Wern Works. There were a few deliberate entrances so I managed to get a pic of the colourful graffiti inside. In March there had been an illegal rave in there where more than 200 people joined together for an all-night rave. You can read the article here: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/briton-ferry-rave-wern-works-17845656

The old Wern factory

The canal pretty much ends here so we turned around and walked back. We was so happy to see the swans were now on the bank and you could see the parents and 7 cygnets clearly. We never brought any food, but it wasn't long before someone arrived and they all made a beeline to her for their supper :)

Check out this video too: https://www.facebook.com/SandraEvansArt/videos/256752082243500/

So this was pretty much the end of our first walk in three months. It was lovely to be out, exploring and taking photos of what we find. I am hoping to pop down once a week to see how the swans are getting on :)

A visit to WWT Slimbridge

Date:  20 August 2017

Location:  WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, GL2 7BT
Weather:  Dull, humid & showery

On our way back from Birdfair we decided to stop in WWT Slimbridge to see if we could tick off some more birds for our #My200BirdYear and a chance to see the cranes. 

When we visit WWT centres we tend to skip the captive bird sections and head straight to the hides (we do enjoy the exotic birds, we just prefer seeing the wild ones). Our first stop was the South Lake Hide. Here we spotted Cormorants, Greylag & Canada Geese, Mallard, Coot, Gadwall, Common Tern and a Buzzard in the trees in the back of the scrape.

Cormorants on the fence & Gadwall in the water

Extreme closeup! Female mallard sitting right outside the hide

Common Tern

Buzzard

Some great birds, but nothing new to tick of the list. So we headed to the next hide: The Hogarth Hide, here things were about to get very exciting! There were lots of birds on the scrape; Black Tailed Godwit, Lapwing, Black headed gull and a single Ringed Plover. Excitingly, there were several birds we hadn't spotted before; Ruff, Little Stint, Green Sandpiper and Snipe!

Black Tailed Godwit

A pair of Snipe

Ruff

This awesome pic features: Ruff, Little Stint & Ringed Plover

Green Sandpiper
(this pic was taken from a different hide where there was also Green Sandpipers)

What an amazing sight and already four new birds on my #My200BirdYear making it up to 131! The Little Stint cause a bit of a stir though with the WWT guys confirming it was one, but some birders disagreed and thought it might be something a bit rarer. Please let me know your thoughts.

From here we continued our stroll around the park, but unfortunately we only saw one more new bird and that was the Barnacle Goose. We sat in both the Kingfisher and Zeiss hide for ages, desperately trying to get a glimpse of the cranes (this is where we spotted them last time) - but nope, no sign of them today. We did however see another buzzard in a tree joined by a wood pigeon, which I thought was a bit risky lol :)

Talking of Wood Pigeons, we did witness some very strange behaviour of a juvenile and parent. The juvenile was very demanding and at one point put its whole beak in the parent's mouth! It then jumped on top of the parent to the point where the parent flew away from it...

Barnacle Geese from the Zeiss Hide

Buzzard and woody sharing a tree!

Juvenile Wood Pigeon feeding from parent

Outside the Zeiss hide was a beautiful red dragonfly which I think is a Common Darter and lots of Long Tailed Tits were flying in and out of the trees. Unfortunately the weather began to change and it started to rain. We made our way down to the Holden Tower (the other side of the reserve) for one more chance to see the cranes.

Common Darter Dragonfly 

Last October we had brilliant views of the cranes from this hide (see below photo). Unfortunately we spent over an hour in the hide waiting for a glimpse but it wasn't to be. The rain was getting heavier and the only ones who braved it were some goldfinches and linnets. 

Cranes from October 2016

Male Linnet

Juvenile Linnet

Our second visit to Slimbridge was brilliant - unfortunately we didn't see the Cranes, but we saw lots of other great birds (including snipes...which are awesome!). The weather was disappointing too and would love to go back when the sun is shining - maybe a trip in October, that's when I saw the cranes last year.

WWT Slimbridge