23/06/2021-The cottage, the Dingle and Newborough Forest again
After some down time in the cottage this morning looking after Missy, whilst my Mum and her husband did the Puffin Island trip we did yesterday - where I enjoyed hearing Goldfinch and Song Thrush and seeing a lovely Rabbit very closely as well as moth and crane fly in the cottage and garden and reflected on the incredible and packed few days we’ve had so far, as well as some very different views with the mountains of Snowdonia obscured and light rain falling - we had a look at the Dingle. I took the first three pictures in this photoset of the moth just before bed in the early hours, a view and a Rabbit.
The Dingle was a great local nature reserve and it was really good to speak to more brilliant people today, maybe more local than recent days whilst it’s obviously been fantastic to speak to so many varied and diverse people all week. It was a lovely walk on a boardwalk and path through bits of woodland and rural landscape with streams and a pond babbling along nicely. It was beautiful. I took the fourth, seventh and eighth pictures in this photoset of views here today. I liked seeing a lot of flowers again, lots of red campion, cow parsley, buttercup, Welsh poppy fittingly for being in Wales I took the fifth picture in this photoset of this, valerian, white clover, wood avens, yellow iris as it was quite a riverine habitat these covering the landscape nicely in places and some smashing foxgloves again with nice scenes of one with raindrops on and one tangled with something else I do like seeing raindrops on flowers a great wild moment to observe which I used for #30DaysWild today on Twitter a species that obviously we see a lot of at home in the New Forest and similar that we’ve never been away somewhere before and just seen absolutely everywhere as we have done so this has been really special.
In this area that looked much like somewhere might at home I forgot myself for a minute when seeing a squirrel skulk about in trees and I said oh there’s a squirrel. Of course, it could only be one squirrel here the Red Squirrel that we saw so brilliantly to start the holiday on Saturday at Newborough Forest as opposed to the grey that it could only be at home, which if here the Red Squirrels would not be. I relished a chance to have a second bite of the cherry with this one of my favourite mammals today and really enjoyed seeing this red furred icon of a species walk to just above us in the trees in a known feeding area for them. I got the sixth picture in this photoset of this beautiful mammal. It was exceptional to see one again. After the joy of this walking out into a clearing we got a great view of a smashing male Blackcap, the first I have seen for a while.
We then decided to have another look at Newborough Forest, it was a place I had become very fond of already with the magic of the Red Squirrel encounter and more on the pleasant walk on the first night. I took the ninth picture in this photoset of trees here. Like Saturday night here it was great to see a minute frog, Chaffinches and flowers/plants including buttercup, herb-Robert, red campion as shown in the tenth and final picture I took today in this photoset everywhere and broom the two looking beautiful together again as they did on Saturday with bird’s-foot trefoil a nice surprise too. It was great to see a Robin as well.
And on the way it was lovely to see an Oystercatcher and Little Egret around an estuary area the later an extraordinary 16th of my 31 favourite birds I have seen this week this has been a fun list to build up and I’ve felt so lucky seeing them all, Anglesey and wider North Wales is the perfect base with a mix of habitats to see a lot of my favourites. This evening both male and female Blackbird visited the cottage garding and it was exciting to see them and Rabbit together at certain points. Another very enjoyable day away.
Wildlife Sightings Summary: (The Dingle) One of my favourite mammals the Red Squirrel, Robin, Wren well, Blackbird, Blackcap, lots of Black-headed Gulls, noisy Herring Gull and Woodpigeon well. (Newborough Forest) Robin, Chaffinch and frog.