I took a walk in the wild and very wet Berwyn Mountains during the week; you could have been forgiven for thinking it was January rather than heading towards May, what with heavy rain turning into hail then snow and a whiteout on the tops..... a bit testing it has to be said! Apart from the inclement weather conditions we had a great walk on hard open ground at times and the sun did appear on a number of occasions which in turn helped me find a good few decent sightings.
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| male Hen Harrier - Berwyn Mountains |
Raptors were an obvious feature with a male
Hen Harrier being the highlight; but
3 Red Kites, 2 Peregrines, 2 Common Buzzards were spotted too. I found a number of passerine migrants during the walk including a singing male
Redstart, 2 Wheatears, 5 Rock Pipits, Tree Pipit, 5 Swallows, 7 Willow Warblers, 11 Chiff Chaffs, and the best of all a
Ring Ouzel which flew past me during a hail/snow storm up on the tops.
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| Red Kite - Berwyn Mountains |
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| Peregrine - Berwyn Mountains |
The mountains and moors were alive with the sounds of the spring; with Curlews singing and displaying, calling Redshanks, Meadow Pipits with their parachuting song flights, a calling pair of Red Grouse, and Skylarks doing what they do best. Other highlights included a Dipper and at least
300 Palmate Newts in flooded hollows (by far the largest numbers of this species I have ever seen), and uncountable numbers of Toad tadpoles (in the 1000s)! With amphibian numbers like this it would be expected to find Grass Snakes and more likely Adders (due to the habitat) but alas no joy; probably because of the lashing rain!
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| female Palmate Newt - Berwyn Mountains |
A number of interesting archaeological sites could be found on the walk including neolithic stone circles and burial mounds.
