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squiz
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Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3071
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6th July 2012
Hiking - Walking: Abereiddy and Forest of Dean Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: rain, rain, rain and then more rain!!! Max Speed: Distance Covered:
Friday 6th July 2012 – walk **** rain, rain, rain and then more
rain!!!
Woke up quite early right by the sea at Abereiddy and decided to get up and
walk to see the Peregrines before it started to rain because the forecast
for today is horrendous! A month’s rain in a day apparently and there
has been lots of flood warnings issued all over the country :( This
weather is getting ridiculous – we are lucky it hasn’t really spoilt
anything we have done. We walked along the cliff top but not round the
edges today but we did see the male and female peregrine on a clump of
rocks. When we got to where the peregrines are there were another couple
already watching. They were really friendly and helpful and he had a 500mm
sigma lens which he liked :) The chick was very alert this morning and
squawking for its breakfast. After a while both the male and female came
back to the nest with a headless bird for the chick – we were mesmerised!
They didn’t stay very long and we think they might even have knocked the
dead bird out of the nest when they left! And I missed the shot of the day
with all three birds on the nest :( must try harder !!! We couldn’t see
it anymore but it might have gone to the back of the nest. The couple said
they would show us where the little owl was in the quarry as they had
already seen it this morning so we walked with them but it wasn’t there
:( Said goodbye to them and walked back passing lots of kids walking with
their backpacks. We realised they were the ones we had seen coasteering
yesterday. We didn’t encounter the old lady again but the birding couple
said they had seen her in Porthgain. Back to the van and drove up to
Strumble head. It had started raining virtually as soon as we left the
beach car park and it got harder as we drove along. It was absolutely
pouring when we got to Strumble so we quickly walked down to the bird hide
which is in an old ww2 lookout. Nothing to be seen today. Decided to get
some miles done quickly so headed for the M4 and got to the Brecon beacons
a lot earlier than we thought. We were quite disappointed with the area we
headed for. There was a reservoir where we had lunch and a canal but
nothing which inspired us to get out in the rain! We went and had a look
at Ross on Wye which again was disappointing because it isn’t on the Wye
at all – it’s about half a mile away – we did find the river but
again not very inspiring. We headed for the Forest of Dean and found a
lovely place called Nagshead Nature Reserve. An RSPCA site. We had a
drink, put our wet gear on and headed into the forest and took the 2.25
mile nature trail. We didn’t see anything but blackbirds and it poured
all the way round but it was nice to be out in the fresh air and it was
lovely. Very muddy – like walking down a stream in places! The gates
were supposed to be shut at 9 but we didn’t leave until 9.15. We took
the view that if the gate was shut we would go back to the car park and
stay there the night but it wasn’t so we left and headed to a lay-by in
the forest a little way away we had noticed on the way in. The Nature
reserve leaflet said that wild boar had returned to the forest after an
absence of 700 years and we joked that we would see one round the corner
– well we didn’t in the reserve but on the road to the lay-by there
they were! There were Mum, Dad and at least 6 babies all over the road!!!
We stopped and I managed to get a photo but a car came along and they ran
to the edge. We moved up to see if we could still see them and laughed as
we saw them scamper off and all the bracken move as they charged up the
hill. What a fantastic end to the day :) We parked up and had good old
spam for tea about 10 p.m.
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