Cemlyn NWWT Reserve, NW Anglesey

Cemlyn is the place to visit now, better than oakwoods as the bluebells are over and the pied flycatchers have fledged and left the area (the Springwatch ones that died were late broods, the ones in the main nesting period did much better).

Visit Cemlyn to see Sandwich terns flying low over your head to feed their chicks a few yards away, each adult with one sandeel, sprat or young cod in its beak. 1600 pairs make a grand spectacle and it's the only colony in Wales! The NWWT wardens will point out the less numerous common and arctic terns, also the pair of Mediterranean gulls whose eggs have now hatched.

Go any day, or join one of the guided walks (Tuesday & Sunday 2pm up to the end of July).
No charge for visiting or for the walks, but a donation in the NWWT box would be welcome.

Directions are on the NWWT website. The easiest is the A55 route, turn off for Valley (NOT the RAF camp) and at the traffic lights in Valley turn right onto the A5025. After 9 miles, turn left (signed to Jam Factory & Cemlyn). Pass the Jam place, 1km further on keep left until you see the lagoon, then right for the car park.

I'd hoped to include Huw's UTube clip of film from 2010 but he'll have to add that.

Woodpeckers in the Woods – a week later

Walking past there was quite a commotion coming from the woodpecker nest, louder and more insistent than usual. Was this the father insisting the chick took its maiden flight? It was having none of it. Certainly not in the rain.

Meanwhile another young chick overshot the nut feeder and crashed into our kitchen window. Dazed and confused it eventually flew off.

Natur Cymru YouTube Services

Over the past year we have made 16 films to help the Welsh Assembly Government illustrate different ecosystems. What are they? Why are they important to us?

The contributors have all been front line workers, as opposed to media savvy presenters, which makes the films that much more real. You are hearing it from the horses' mouths and without a script. We didn't always have picture postcard weather!

If you would like help in communicating a story, please get in contact. Below is a list of films, some of which were grant funded by CCW (thank you!).

Ynyslas Spit
Rheidol Valley
Dyfi Wetlands - Ynyshir
Dyfi Wetlands - Cors Fochno
Mawddach Estuary
Mussels on the Menai Strait
Cambrian Mountains Initiative
Soil Testing & Slurry 
Soil Testing & Slurry Cymraeg
Salt Marsh
Salt Marsh Cymraeg
Blanket Bog
Blanket Bog Cymraeg
Hay Meadows Elan Valley
Lleyn Heaths
Meirionnydd Oakwoods

Two Bioblitzes in 36 hours!

A Bioblitz is definitely a core activity for Natur Cymru readers, as it’s a concentrated effort over a day to find and identify as many plants and animals as possible on a specific site. Usually experts are drafted in and beginners are encouraged to come along and learn/help. So it should be a fun activity as well as generating lots of records.
Anyway, I went along to Ty Hwll (the Ugly House) on the A5 near Capel Curig for the Snowdonia Society’s Bioblitz on May 20th. My contribution was supposed to be an Owl Walk at dusk; what I actually did was to inspect all the nestboxes in the grounds, accompanied by two ‘beginners’ who had never seen inside a box before! They were delighted to see nests of blue & great tits, pied flycatchers and even a nuthatch nest. After this was over, the bat team were setting up a harp trap (for bats) and switching on their sophisticated bat detectors.
Thirty-six hours later I was on the outskirts of Bangor at my second Bioblitz, held at Eithinog, a 33-acre area of old fields and hedges near Ysgol Friars. The site has recently become an SSSI on account of its grassland fungi, and Gwynedd Council is about to hand it over to North Wales Wildlife Trust. Despite strong winds and heavy showers, nearly all events were well-attended, including a Wild Flower Walk led by our Editor and his wife Joanna (see photo!). Roy Tapping from COFNOD (Local Records Centre) popped in several times to collect records as the groups returned to base. Although Eithinog’s wildlife is unusually well-documented, species will die out and others arrive, so listing must continue indefinitely. At present the site is effectively a Public Open Space. Future management may be more pro-active, but hopefully there will be no shortage of naturalists (from experts to beginners) to continue the programme.

Stray Pigeons

Pigeons might be common elsewhere but it’s a rare sight that we find them perched on our roof. I could see they both had rings. Two of them hung around for most of Saturday, barely moving, soaking up the sunshine. One moved on and the other seemed to be dozing on top of a chimney.

We consulted the racing pigeon website and followed their guide on what to do if you find a stray racing pigeon. The advice in our case was to provide food and water. Sue clambered out of a bedroom window to scatter the corn and place the bowl. That was enough for the pigeon .... he or she was off.

Where were they racing to and from? There were only 106 races listed for the 4^th June on the racing pigeon website!  

Woodpeckers in the Woods

Not the flash of bright colours but the whimpering of hungry chicks, that’s what gave away the nest, about 15 feet up an oak. Precision drilled to fit woodpeckers. I waited a couple of minutes until the parents flew in, first one, then the other delivered the food parcels. Within 5 minutes they were back again. It’s a never ending shuttle at the moment.

Hay 2011

It was great to mix with the good and the great at this year’s Hay Festival. What a wonderful setting for the Inspired by Nature prize-giving ceremony.

Thanks to RSPB Cymru for inviting us into their tent and to WWF Cymru and Tŷ Newydd for sponsoring the competition prizes. To all the competitors, the winners, the judges and Gillian Clarke for presenting the prizes.

Thanks also to BBC Radio Wales for featuring us on the Jamie and Louise programme and the Roy Noble Show. Roy called in to see us .... I think he’d heard about the cake which was the star of the show!