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Written by Pip
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Tuesday, 18 May 2010 22:03 |
Owls
The young owls are out of their nest box. Two of them were in my woodshed and fluttered out onto the track. I knew mum was watching me but thought I'd better put them into a tree. As I bent to pick one up I received a hard blow on the back of my head which drew blood and made me stumble forward. I left them alone after that, with a mum as protective as she is they should be ok.
Other young out of the nest are the dippers under the bridge. The adults have already started relining the nest so maybe they're going to use it for a second brood.
Pied flycatchers are using box 4 at the otter hide, this is a favourite with the bird photographers. Another favourite has been a family of crossbills that have been foraging in the scots pines around the farmyard for the last two days.
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Written by Julian
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Monday, 19 April 2010 16:13 |
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Peacock and green-veined white butterflies are to be found hugging the sunny areas along the railway track where they are feasting on nectar from willow flowers. A large day flying moth on the edge of Yr Wyloer was spotted but as Gilfach has not warmed up there is little insect life as yet. The celandines are showing along the river bank. About 50 sheep have returned to graze the meadows. Good to see many more people visiting and enjoying the reserve during the Easter holidays. |
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Written by Pip
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Saturday, 17 April 2010 20:08 |
Today we had our first glimpse of a newly hatched tawny owl peeping out from under its mothers feathers. The other highlight of the day was Gilfachs first pied flycatcher of the year, a female in the farmyard. I took a walk through the oakwood and discovered a smart looking male, the first of many. The grey wagtails on the river have had to start again, their newly finished nest has been pulled out by some predator. This happened last year too but they always manage to rear a brood.
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Written by Pip
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Thursday, 08 April 2010 21:00 |
Signs of Spring
At last it's beginning to feel like Spring. Our tawny owl is sitting on three eggs and yesterday I found a blackbirds nest with three eggs. The grey wagtails are back on the river and the weasel that we haven't seen for many months is hunting in the garden wall of the longhouse again. But for me, best of all, after a glorious sunny day today, a cock redstart was calling from the top of the beech tree.
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Written by Pip
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Thursday, 01 April 2010 21:00 |
CAMERAS
What a pleasant surprise we had when the bird box cameras were switched on the other day. A tawny owl in the big box and a part built nest in one of the smaller boxes. All on the new large plasma screen in the visitor centre.
We can't see the eggs in the tawny owl box but she's almost certainly incubating. Three is the usual clutch size and incubation takes about a month. Then the young will be in the nest for a few weeks so we should have some wonderful viewing.
The nest in the small box hasn't advanced in the last few days so it may have been abandoned or perhaps it's just too wet outside for collecting nest material. I'm not sure what species is building it, as at the moment it's only composed of a few dried grass stems but it can only be either a titmouse, nuthatch or tree creeper. Our other hole nesters haven't arrived yet.
Maybe someone will spot the mystery builder over the Easter Weekend.
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Written by Pip
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Tuesday, 16 March 2010 21:53 |
Early birds.
The dippers are building their nest under the bridge again. Watching from the otter hide it's interesting to see how they dunk each beakful of moss several times in the river. This is to get it well soaked so that they can plaster it against a vertical surface. It's a bit like slapping a wet rag against a wall and making it stick there.
The early ravens should be on eggs by now but the Gilfach pair didn't seem to be about, until yesterday, when I saw one land on the old nest site.Perhaps they're just a bit later starting their nuptials.
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Gilfach Blog
