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.