Majestic Snowdonia

The splendour of Snowdonia ... an Introduction

I have just spent a week or so enjoying the delights of Snowdonia from the magnificent mountain tops, to the Cwms and hanging valleys remnants left as the ice retreated after the last ice age to the vast sandy estuaries and cliffs that form the North Wales coastline. All offer a wide variety of wild life habitats.

This is a place I have a long appreciation of from our early family holidays we had both enjoying the beach often looking at Puffin Island with the sun setting over it after having spent a day exploring the mountains on foot. discovering Snowdonias hidden haunts as we followed walks from various points on the railway.

In future postings i will be looking at some of these places such as Cwm Ogwen at the head of the Nant Francon Valley and surrounded by the peaks of the Glyers, the Devils Kitchen a famous landmark for walkers and climbers is the centre of a anti-cycline fold in these ancient rocks

Postings will spot light a variety of settings which offer a variety of flora and fauna

Below can be seen Aber Falls, the falls locate the position of a hanging valley, formed in the glacial period.

In contrast will be the spot light on coastal features, the picture to the left shows Eider Duck on rocks at high tide at Aber Ogwen which lies directly across the Menai Straits from Beaumaris where I was to take a boat trip out to view the sea birds nesting on Puffin Island.

The mysterious Island, of Puffin Island, laying off of Eastern Anglesey: two contrasting views as seen from Aber Ogwen as the tide goes out and from the head of Great Orme as the feral goats munch grass.

The variety of terrains offers the opportunity to see and watch a large variety of birds from the many sea birds who make nest in the rocky cliffs on the promontories that make up this coastline to the birds that prey that live of the mammals that this terrain offer, from Osprey who hunt fish from the vast waters to the Buzzard who eats rodents and small animals. On many of my mountainside walks I was to see pairs of Buzzard, as shown in the water colour above painted on location on a footpath leading up from Rowen Youth Hostel where I was camping, with fox gloves growing between the rocks as the fields with their stone wall surrounds gave way to views across the Conwy Valley to Llanwrst and beyond. On the hillsides were to be found many small flocks of crows who could be often seen mobbing the much bigger Buzzard! Little did I know that I was going to have my own encounter with these birds ... stay tuned to hear and see more!!!

I will also be continuing to follow the birds to be found in Cardiff as I return.

... Comparing how young birds find their way and are parented

Under the willow ... life as young Great Crested Grebe

At times the coots have been arch rivals but other than the odd time when the parent grebe senses danger and sends out her warning call, opening wide her beak and extending her crest the two families seem to share the willow as it offers safety tor both from predators. But at times of trouble the coot family return to their nest, but the Grebes abandoned their nest long ago and the place of security for the young grebe is in the feathers of the parents back. Grebes never go ashore the closest they do so is to go on their floating nests while incubating the eggs.

The Grebe seems to be a very shy bird and hides and cowers away but I have of people saying the parent will attack predators with fury, but it is not something i have witnessed.

In comparison the coots are quite social sticking together as a group, while the grebe is left with her chick sheltering and male seems to return to feed or to escort his family to a different place of shelter and safety.

The young grebe seems to spend much time in the protection of the parents back, but maybe it is not so surprising they have already lost two chicks, one since Saturday. The survival of chicks was far better last summer.

Life on the back ... what a life!

When it is snack time for the young grebe

The second parent either seems to come with food caught from diving or as was this case took the family out into the open water so I was able to get the photos below.

The young Starling also has to call out and follow the parent who catches relevant bits which is then put straight into the open beak of the young bird.



















While the signets idle about in the water before returning to the bank while the cob with his feathers puffed up goes off in pursuit of any other swans that dare to come to close ..... even across the other side of the lake!!

It may seem to be the ugly duckling in its own eyes but the signet seems to have a confident start although like others they are open to predators particularly in their first week. This pair who have been rearing for a number of years now at Roath seem to work well in partnership keeping a close eye on their Young and their territory!

On occasions the resident black swans, a non native to these waters it has been said attack the young mute signets. I have not seen this but seeing their aggressiveness towards the mute swan in other situations ... see other earlier posting, I can quite believe it!.

Take another Bird that starts life in South Wales

Quite by Contrast the Storm Petrel, which in some ways is not dis-similar to the grebe in that it remains on water other than coming ashore to nest and lay eggs. The storm petrel comes to remote locations off the British and Scandinavian coast for this purpose, including the South Wales coast. The young storm petrel then has to find its own way migrating back to the waters off South Africa for the winter.

A project ran by Cardiff University and A Rosha Portugal has been studying the migration patterns of this small seabird and looking to link changes in weight and diet to see if it correlates to changes in temperature and thus ultimately climate change.

The work is carried out at night on cliffs on the Algarve Coast of Portugal, where the birds are caught in nets, first ringed and then weights and feces samples taken (if the birds cooperate) before being released again.

I volunteered on one of the teams last year. The project is currently on location at the Algarve just now. From all accounts it appears they are getting few birds coming into the nets which must be making the nights sitting anticipating the birds coming in long and tedious.

You can watch the projects progress by going to: http://stormies-online.blogspot.com/

This was a water colour painting I created as I anticipated working on the project with the stormies coming into the nets as a result of playing recordings of their bird song.

Roath Park ... bird actiivity as the Morning Dawns

Sharing a special time with the Birds ... when the park is relatively quiet.

These summer days the park gets much use from all quarters, and even the lake itself does not offer much refuge for the wildlife as punters take to the water in many forms of boat!

Here the young signets are curiously followed by a boat !

While on Bank Holiday Monday birds try to find a quieter spot as a festival goes on in Wardown Park in Luton.

Thus this morning I got up before dawn, cycling to the park at about 4.30am to see what goes on while most of us sleep!

I was initially surprised to find the number of Coots who were roosting on the bank alongside the swans, normally these birds are predominately on the water!

Prior to the sun rising some of the most active movements were with the geese with their goslings. Most years the council control the numbers but this year there seem to be many more families of gosling being reared in the park than previous years. One wonders if this is deliberate?

As the sun rose many of the Canada Geese flew from the island onto the lake. and as i walked round I saw the one Canada goose family with their one gosling swim across from the island.

While most of the park birds were busy making the most of the quiet, the gulls went about going through all the rubbish and spreading bags and rubbish ad hock around the bins.

Starlings were busy collecting swan feathers to line their nests in the eves of neighbouring houses.

It was fascinating watching the pair of Grebe in the area of the lake round the lighthouse where all the grebe on the lake come to fish, with the one carrying the young chicks which had been born the week before, while the other hunted fish to bring to those she carried on her back. The above painting was made at a country park in Blaenau Gwent a fortnight ago when i spotted the young grebes with their distinct black and white plumage being fed in a similar way. It was very interesting to observe a pair of Grebes still going through the full mating ritual so distinct to the grebe down at Cardiff Bay wetlands only the previous evening! One can only wonder if altitude plays apart or if is pure coincidence ... could it be that the Grebe migrate towards the coast in search of suitable sites to build their nest?

The one successful pen and cob were to be found with their four signets on the lake side. The pen was shielding them initially under her wing, but soon began preening her wing to reveal her young family that had begun hatching a week ago.

The pen soon stretched her wings before she was joined by the cob as she led the happy family group into the lake.

At just before eight o'clock, as I made to return home for breakfast the adult grebes were making the most of the quiet waters to teach their young to be confident in the water as the two chicks could be seen diving.

It is amazing to see how adaptable birds can be to live alongside and accomodate human activities, as many of our decreasing areas of wetland will experience similar pressures.