gryllosblog   Gryllo's (aka Ian Lewis') blog. All things to do with travel, wildlife especially birds, history, architecture and anything else that interests me.

From Poole we drove to Rhayader in mid Wales, on to north Wales with a detour eastwards to Oswestry. From here we drove west to Snowdonia and Anglesey before continuing along the north coast of Wales to Liverpool. The rest of the journey, Liverpool, Lancashire, Leeds, Derbyshire and Essex will be the subject of the next post.

We stayed overnight in the pretty town of Rhayader.

The main reason for visiting was to see the famous Red Kite feeding station at Gigrin Farm

When I started birding in the 70s the Red Kite could only be found in mid Wales and there were only a few tens of pairs. Protection plus natural crossbreeding with the introduced populations of England (producing a wider gene pool) have all helped their in recovery, but the provision of meat scraps at Gigrin Farm in the core of their range must have helped too. Each afternoon over 300 Kites arrive to be fed.

The following summary is copied from the RSPBs website: In the UK the red kite was a valued scavenger during the Middle Ages that helped keep streets clean and was protected by a royal decree; killing a kite attracted capital punishment. However, by the 16th century a bounty was placed on its head and, in common with many other birds of prey, it was relentlessly persecuted as ‘vermin’. The persecution continued through the following centuries largely by game keepers, who wrongly accused them of taking game. As the kite became rarer, it became a target for taxidermists and egg collectors, whose actions hastened the species towards extinction. Consequently, the red kite became extinct in England in 1871 and in Scotland in 1879. By 1903 when protection efforts started, only a handful of pairs were left in remote parts of central Wales. The small remnant population survived the persecution in the old oakwoods in the undisturbed upland valleys of mid-Wales, but despite extensive efforts, the numbers remained extremely low. The tightest genetic bottle-neck came in the 1930s. Even though several pairs survived, DNA analysis has since discovered that the entire Welsh population was derived from a single female bird. The population did not exceed 20 pairs until the 1960’s, when it started slowly to increase. There were many reasons for the slow recovery. The population inhabited an area where the climatic conditions and poor food availability depressed breeding success and prevented the birds from expanding their range. Until about 1950 when protection measures were starting to take effect, illegal poisoning, egg collecting and shooting of adults for taxidermy were severely affecting the population. During the 1950s the rabbit myxomatosis outbreak devastated a main food supply of the kites. This was followed by poor breeding success in the early 1960s, thought to be caused by effects of organochlorine pesticides. It was for a long time believed that the lack of genetic variability caused by the bottle-neck had resulted in the low reproductive rate. However, once the species had successfully spread to more productive land at lower altitudes, it became obvious that this was almost entirely due to poor habitat conditions. By the mid-1990s there were over 100 breeding pairs in Wales, and 350-400 pairs by 2003. Due to the low rate of chick production the Welsh population appeared to be unable to spread out of Wales to recolonise its former range. The re-introduction programme run by RSPB, Natural England and Scottish Natural Heritage, with support and sponsorship from many other bodies, started in 1989 and has helped to establish red kites in several areas of England and Scotland, and their range and numbers are slowly expanding. Consequently, the red kite’s future as a British breeding species is now much brighter

Dead on 3pm a tractor appears with the meat and the birds swoop down for their share. Visitors watch from nearby hides.

Extremely agile, the Kites can snatch the food whilst on the wing.

A number of Common Buzzards also attend but they have to feed on the ground and watch warily lest the Kites pinch their dinner.

Here a Buzzard tries to fend of a Kite swooping down after its share of the meat.

There was a stunning ‘leucisitc’ individual, not an albino as some claimed as it wasn’t pure white and had dark not pink eyes. Most of the Welsh birds are not wing tagged but this individual is. it would be interesting to know where it originated from.

Whilst in the Rhayader area we also did some birding at Gilfach reserve ….

…. and at the woodland bordering the river in the Elan Valley. Our main target was Common Redstart and Pied Flycatcher, both of which we saw without difficulty, however we didn’t find the third species that these oak woodlands are famous for – Wood Warbler.

The Elan Valley dams have created a series of huge reservoirs (100,000 megalitres) which provide drinking water for Birmingham.

As we traveled northwards we had no particular route in mind, we just intended to explore various roads that led in the general direction of Lake Vrynwy. However the weather soon turned bad and we found ourselves driving along very narrow, tree-lined lanes. Eventually we arrived at the lake but it was too wet to do much. We climbed out of the valley and onto the moor in the pouring rain. I’m glad we ascended this hill in our car rather than on a bike, like the poor guy in the photo.

As the afternoon progressed the rain eased and by the time we headed back east into England and the town of Oswestry it was almost dry.

In the late evening the sun came out casting a beautiful light over the town.

We came to Oswestry to visit my old friend Soo (she always insists on spelling it this way). We first met when I was at University in about 1971 and have remained in touch ever since. She has lived much of the intervening years in Slough but moved to Oswestry a few years ago to be close to her family.

It was back to bad weather the following day though. After departing Soo’s place we headed back into Wales and the Pontcysyllte aqueduct near Llangollen.

The aqueduct, built in 1805, is the longest and highest aqueduct in Britain and carries the Llangollen canal over the valley of the River Dee. Only wide enough for one narrow boat, it sits 34m above the river.

…. and the view over the unguarded western side is quite scary, not surprisingly Margaret didn’t walk far on the towpath. The now torrential rain can be seen marking the canal’s surface.

By the time we reached the Llanberis Pass in Snowdonia the rain had eased but the mountains were still covered in low cloud. We were not to see the tops of the high peaks during our three-day stay and although we had planned to take the mountain railway to the top of Snowdon, in the end there seemed no point if all we would be able to see was cloud.

After booking into a hotel in Caernarfon for three nights we crossed the Menai Straits to Anglesey. Two road bridges join the island to the mainland, the original Suspension Bridge (above) built by Thomas Telford in 1826 and the Britannia Bridge built by Robert Stephenson in 1846. The latter was originally only for rail but after it was destroyed by fire in 1970 it was rebuilt as a two-tier rail and road bridge.

We headed for the RSPBs South Stack reserve in the north-west corner of the island.

Famous for its huge colonies of Guillemots ….

…. and smaller numbers of Razorbills (there are two Guillemots for comparison towards the bottom of this photo. We also saw a few Puffins and a couple of Choughs.

In nearby Holyhead harbour we found a few breeding Black Guillemots, thanks to my amazing ‘Russian Ring of Fire’ tour in early June this was the 19th auk species I have seen this year.

From Holyhead we headed for the north coast of the island and Cemlyn Bay and its breeding terns. My last visit to this site was 28 years ago on a twitch to see Bridled Tern but today our expectations were much lower. We saw a thousand plus nesting Sandwich Terns and a few tens of Common and Arctics.

The best view was from the adjacent beach where a stream of sand eel bearing terns flew overhead on the way back to the colony, here a Common Tern

…. the longer tailed, all red-billed and greyer bellied Arctic Tern. Also note the differences in the pattern of the trailing edge to the primaries.

And most numerous of all, the larger Sandwich Tern with its black bill with a yellow tip.

On our way back to Caernarfon we had to stop at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch for no other reason than it’s there.

The following day we took a long drive through Snowdonia, again the high passes were wreathed in cloud so we spent little time there. Out first stop was at Swallow Falls near Betws-y-Coed.

The recent heavy rain meant the falls were quite spectacular.

I remember visiting the lake by the nuclear power station at Trawsfynydd with my dad in 1966, it was functioning then, in operation from 1965 – 91, but the plant is still being decommissioned now and the site won’t be totally clear of nuclear material until 2090.

We continued south as far as the pretty town of Dolgellau where we had lunch, then drove on to Barmouth on the coast. I was last here in 1966 when I was 15 on holiday with my parents and brother. I remember the area well even though it was 50 years ago and I could not help but feel sad when I thought of my parents, who are of course, no longer with us.

Heading north from Barmouth we stopped at Harlech Castle.

This would have originally been the site of a huge drawbridge. Any enemy reaching and getting past the portcullis would have had to contend with boiling pitch being tipped on them and a hail of arrows from the rooms above the entrance before them could enter the castle interior.

Built between 1282 and 1289 by Edward I in his invasion of Wales. It was one of a dozen or so castles that Edward ‘Longshanks’ built around Snowdonia to pacify the Welsh. Originally on the coast and supplied by steps that led from a dock to the castle walls, the sea has greatly retreated over the ensuing centuries.

We continued north to the Italian Village at Portmerion. This rather strange collection of buildings was designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 in the style of an Italian village and has been used many times as a set for film and TV series.

Unfortunately it turned wet again whilst we there, so with no chance of catching the train to the top of Snowden we headed back to Caernarfon.

The following was sunny in Caernarfon but thick cloud still covered the peaks. we headed for the old walled town with the intention of exploring the famous castle.

Caernarfon Castle is a much better state of repair than Harlech ….

…. and used in recent centuries as the place for the investiture for the Prince of Wales. Edward Longshanks son, the ineffectual Edward II, was born in the castle. It is said that Edward I presented the infant to the newly defeated Welsh as their prince proclaiming that ‘he doesn’t speak a word of English’.

The castle gave great views over the Menai Straits ….

…. and over the town.

The castle is another of the strongholds built on the order of Edward I but fell to the Welsh forces of Madog ap Llywelyn in 1294 and was besieged by those of Owain Glyndŵr in 1400. Later it was the seat from which the Tudor dynasty was founded and in the English Civil War it was a Royalist stronghold.

Welsh flags were out all over the town as there was a particularly significant football match that night.

…. Wales were playing Portugal in the quarter-finals of the Euro soccer tournament. We have little interest in football but after our pub meal that evening I suggested we go to the bar next door for a drink and watch part of the action but we couldn’t get in due to the crowds. I tried a bigger bar further down the street but there they were queuing to get in the door. The unexpected victory undoubtedly resulted in much local celebration but we were back in our hotel by then.

In the afternoon we headed along the narrow lanes of the Llyn peninsula until we reached the little town of Abadaron.

We drove out to the Arfordir Treftadaeth Penrhyn Llŷn reserve at the tip of the peninsula which gives a great view over to Bardsey Island but it was now very windy and the sunshine was punctuated by intense showers.

Many years ago some of our ringing group had a week-long trip to Bardsey Island to assist with the ringing of seabirds. I was unable to go due to work commitments but I have always wished I could have done. Here is a telephoto shot from the mainland, probably the nearest I will ever get.

From here I saw seven Choughs (above) and a few Gannets.

Another day, another castle, this time at Conwy.

Conwy Castle is another of Edward I’s ring of steel around the Welsh stronghold in the mountains of Snowdonia but this road bridge dates from 1826. On the left is the modern road bridge and on the right the rail bridge.

The castle walls are a breeding ground for Herring Gulls, here two recently fledged young ….

…. and their ever vigilant parent.

Nearby we visited an Elizabethan house ….

…. beautifully restored and giving a fascinating insight into the lives of the better off in those days.

Out visit to Wales concluded with a drive around the Great Orne, a hill that lies beside the sea adjacent to Llandundo.

This hill on a coastal promontory is circumnavigated by a narrow road, however I was unaware that this route was one way and we spent some time trying to find the start. Eventually we ended up driving over the top of the hill and joining the one way system half way round. We stopped for lunch at a café on route but it was so windy that you could hardly stand up. After a few photos we abandoned the area and headed back to England. Our time in northern England and Essex will be the subject of the next post.