Monday 30 April 2007

April

One of the dryest and warmest Aprils on record. The month started with an East wind, and ended the same, although we were by this time in North Wales, staying in Barmouth on the Mawddach Estuary. If April is usually a month of contrasts, with the weather uncertain, but the warmth of Summer promised towards the end, this year this was not the case. Looking through my notes, each time we were out, it was warm, and out of the wind, hot. The one weekend we weren't on the moor or out and about, we were on the South Coast for a wedding in Bognor Regis, and the weather there was beautiful. On the moor, Lark song and Meadow Pipits everywhere. In the woodlands, the leaf break not complete, and spotting birds that much easier.

Sunday 1 April
Sun and showers; strong East wind

Upper Walkham Valley: Jack Snipe (put up right under my feet); Golden Plover (two small flocks c.50 each near the Tinner's Hut; then a flock c.200 at first in the air then on the ground at Holming Beam Bottom); Merlin; Meadow Pippets and Larks in the air and on the ground.

Good Friday 6 April Sunny, with heat haze and mist in the distance

Bellever Woods:
a Cuckoo flew into the woods across the road from the moor, .
Great Trowlesworthy Tor: owl pellets
Shavercombe Brook: put up a Buzzard; Kestrel hovering high over Shavercombe Tor and five mallard (2 pairs and a singleton male) flying along and around ~ the singleton male returned to the Plym.

Lark song everywhere, Meadow Pipits and Larks across the Moor.

Easter Monday 9 April Sunny, hazy in the distance

Beardown Woods: glimpsed a badger just below the leat
Under Crow Tor: four Wheatears (3m., 1f.)
Upper West Dart Valley: Buzzards (several pairs)
Below Crockern Tor: Wheatears

Lark song everywhere,
Meadow Pipits and Larks across the Moor.

Friday 13 April

Hennock Reservoirs: Swallows taking flies off the surface

Saturday 14 April Very warm, hazy sun clearing

Yarner Woods: Greater Spotted Woodpeckers (one on the nest in a dead tree); Pied Flycatchers (2 m.); Blue, Coal, Great and Long-tailed Tits; Nuthatches; Tree Creepers; Chiff Chaff; Blackcap; Buzzards high overhead; Song Thrush killing a snail; Robins; Holly Blue and Brimstone butterflies; Deer ( one in the distance in front of the hide; two more in the woods, one so close we saw (and heard) it barking.

Saturday 28 April Very warm and bright sun

Mawddach Estuary: Common Terns almost hovering over the stream in the strong East wind, very occasionally dropping for a fish.

Sunday 29 April Hot and sunny; haze in the distance

Aberdaron: Whimbrel (35+) in a field just outside Aberdaron, with a solitary Bar Tailed Godwit in among them, standing out because of his very red breast. On the beach, Herring and Black Backed Gulls, Oystercatchers and Common Terns.
Gwyddel (the furthest point on the Lleyn Peninsula): a pair of Choughs, a Kestrel; Wheatears and Larks
Foryd Bay: tide out and a mixed bag, Oystercatchers, Whimbrel, Curlew, Shelduck, Mute Swans; Goldfinches in the hedgerows, a Linnet, and Buzzards high overhead.

Monday 30 April Hot and sunny

Cwm Cau (Cader Idris): Ravens, Cuckoos (a pair at the start of the climb up through the oak woods on the Minffordd Path, and a singleton Cuckoo on the way down. All three not just heard but seen).
Craig yr Aderyn (Bird Rock): Cormorants (10+: the location is famous as the furthest place from the sea that Cormorants nest), a pair of Choughs. Two miles back, Red Kites (3) and Crows mobbing them.
Gwastadgoed Beach: Oystercatchers

and throughout the day Meadow Pipits and Larks, Crows and Buzzards



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