Snowdonia: above Aber Falls

Saturday 5 July
Fine weather returned after Friday's wind and rain, allowing me to explore the mountains on the north side of Snowdonia, walking up past spectacular Aber Falls, then following the stream up through a broad valley to the Carneddau ridge.  By afternoon the wind dropped and cloud dispersed, offering great views of Anglesey and mountains of Snowdonia.

view towards Anglesey including Puffin Island

Snowdonia mountain range

Birds of prey were frequently overhead, mostly buzzards but also a family group of kestrels, sparrowhawk and red kite.  Beside the stream tiny grey wagtail chicks looked rather vulnerable out in the open - they must have left the nest this morning, virtually no tail feathers yet grown!

bog asphodel

Higher up in the mountains, a party of five choughs flew overhead, likely a family party, calling evocatively. Ravens sat on crags at the top, ruling the roost.

Bog asphodel is just coming into bloom, one of my favourite flowers.  Parsley ferns added a dash of lime green to the rocky slopes and slate scree, with just a few delicate and beautiful starry saxifrage plants tucked in amongst them.

parsley fern

starry saxifrage

Descending back down the valley, I encountered a family group of whinchats as well as wheatears.  Nice to see as they are quite scarce in Snowdonia.  The waterfall looked stunning in late afternoon sunlight but by this time I was too exhausted and in need of a cup to tea to stop and unpack the camera.

Welsh Marches: redstarts and foxgloves in the Clun Forest

Stopped off at Churchtown in the Clun Forest where I had seen a splendid show of foxgloves yesterday - this time I had my camera with me and spent an enjoyable half hour trying to capture the scene.

A male redstart posed briefly in the drizzle, then disappeared, allowing me to concentrate on the foxgloves.  Swallows are nesting in the porch of the church too.

Welsh Marches: Clun Forest

Spent today exploring well off the beaten track in deepest Shropshire, right up against the Welsh border. This is Clun Forest, once a royal hunting "forest" full of deer and no doubt rich in other wildlife - long since converted to grassy meadows, conifer plantations and a scattering of arable.

Clun Castle is the starting point: the ruins sit on a grassy hillock next to the Clun river and town, surrounded by much larger hills.  A buzzard and red kite drift overhead whilst numerous house martins and swallows hawk for insects around the ramparts.

Driving up into the hills it is great to see more red kites - gathered around fields where grass is being cut. They drift overhead, not bothered too much as I capture a few pics. These birds are in wing and tail moult and look a bit tatty, note how bleached the old tail feathers look compared to the much darker newly sprouted feathers that are just starting to grow.

Next stop is the Rhos Fiddle Shropshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve, where about a hundred acres of precious wet heathland habitat has been saved from agricultural improvement and is managed by light grazing from a herd of Highland cattle and a few sheep.

Wandering around following sheep paths I first encounter mountain pansies, lots of foxgloves and a family of stonechats.

Skylarks and meadow pipits are common here, with yellowhammers around the farmed edges and a couple of reed buntings are singing in the wetter areas.  To couple of nutrient-rich "flushes" look colourful with ragged robin including quite a few elegant white-flowered plants.

I'm delighted to see half a dozen small pearl-bordered fritillary butterflies nectaring on the blooms.  Sadly, this butterfly is now extinct in Oxfordshire; in the past it was a typical species of coppiced woodland whereb the larval foodplant - dog violet - would have flourished in years immediately after the cutting of a coppice coup.  Little coppcing take place these days and very little suitable habitat remains. 

A hobby adds a bit of drama dashing past hunting for insects. Roving around the countryside it seems that redstarts are in every shelter belt and patch of hawthorns.  

Running along Offa's Dyke in the afternoon, there are some nice remnants of ancient woodland and meadow along the ancient earthwork, yet more redstarts and a couple of jays.  Another wildlife trust site,  Lower Shoreditch Turbary, is quiet for birds and a heavy crop of bilberry provides a welcome fresh fruit snack.

Hook Norton Cutting and Banks SSSI: clouds of marbled white butterflies

Weds 25th June

An evening visit to the limestone grasslands south of Hook Norton was a truly memorable experience - a fine sunny evening, lots of flowers and impressive numbers of butterflies.

path through the restored meadows

I started my exploration at Cow Lane Farm, an access site promoted by Natural England as a country walk.  There is a small pull-in off the lane and a mown grassy path winds across the main field.  As soon as you enter the field, the great variety of colour of the grasses and flowers hits you.  What is really remarkable is that just over twenty years ago this field was under arable cultivation.  Now it looks like one of our best conserved ancient meadows, though the lack of any ant hills is a small clue that it's origin is more recent.  A great job has been done by the landowner Mary Powell and inspiring to see.

pyramidal orchids

Before long, I am drawn to the numerous pyramidal orchids scattered across the field, and chance upon a patch of bee orchids.  Further on a few clustered bellflowers add a dash of purple-blue to the tapestry.

clustered bellflower

Looking across the fence I notice literally clouds of marbled white butterflies lifting from the tussocky grass and greater knapweed in the adjoining meadow.

marbled whites on greater knapweed

marbled white

marbled white

ringlet

meadow brown

This is the "Banks" part of the SSSI, and the main source of the wildflower seed that had spread so successfully across the new meadow.  This true ancient meadow has a different character and some really special flowers, many typical of limestone grassland - dropwort, rockrose and sainfoin.  It reminds me, in miniature, of childhood rambles on the South Downs of Sussex.

dropwort

In late June I am seeing it just at its peak for flowers, but the interest will continue into late summer when fellwort should be common.

six-spot burnet moth on meadow scabious

After wandering around the meadow, I headed a very short distance up the lane to the railway cutting part of the SSSI.  The sun is quite low by now and there is much less butterfly activity.  The wildlife trust care for the site and have a task on their hands keeping the advancing scrub at bay.

railway cutting part of the SSSI

My next stop is Balscote Quarry nature reserve, where I round off the evening watching curlew coming into roost in the ever dwindling shallows of the main pool.  There are two when I arrive and 8.40, then just after nine, groups of three and two drop in.  In recent days up to 16 have come in to roost.  These birds will have completed breeding and are gathering ahead of their movement to wintering grounds somewhere on the coast.

two of the roosting curlews, late evening