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One of the big rarities on the site. Only known from one other site in the county (albeit in enormous abundance there), Marsh helleborine is a speciality of Henllys bog, and seems to have benefitted from recent management to remove tussocks of Molinia caerulea.
GWT 1400 Class 0-4-2T 1473 at Watlington station, on a cold day in April 1960, during the Locomotive Club of Great Britain 'Six Counties Limited' railtour.
The loco was withdrawn in August 1962, and scrapped in September 1963. Four examples have been preserved.
The line - from Princes Risborough - had closed to passengers in 1957, and closed completely at the end of 1960, apart from the section to the cement works at Chinnor, which is now part of the preserved Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway.
Today (2021) the platforms and station building have gone, and the site is largely overgrown, but the 'open' corrugated iron shed on the left still exists:
Restored from a very-unfocussed grainy cyan-colour-shifted original..
Original slide - photographer unknown
I put out another apple for the water voles at Magor marsh today. Frist the magpies flew down to it, and the adult was feeding her newly-fledged chick. They were too wary for a picture.
Then this mad creature appeared. I can only assume that it is some form of aquatic hedgehog!
Who said eating fruit won't make you fat?
Have a Wacky Weekend!
The Great Western Tiers in northern Tasmania.
Elphinstone Road, somewhere south of Bishopsbourne.
From the film archive, Circa 1994.
Bronica S2A, Nikkor P 75mm f/2.8, 1/500th sec at f/8 Ilford HP5 PLUS 400
Rephotographed neg. Fuji X-T1, Micro Nikkor 105mm f/4.
GWT Coombe Hill.
The Pied Wagtail has a grey back and white face with black bib and crown. It is often seen running over the ground pursuing insect prey or 'wagging' its tail rapidly up and down. The species is confiding and frequents urban areas, gathering in large roosts on rooftops and in trees in winter. It has a characteristic "chirrup" call. It is widespread in Britain & Ireland, but is less common on higher ground in winter. (BTO).
My thanks to anyone who clicks or comments. It is much appreciated.
A very small snail, found under a plank at Magor Marsh reserve, The shell is no more than 3-4mm high.
The Green-winged Teal (GWT, Anas carolinensis) is a common and widespread duck which breeds in the northern areas of North America except on the Aleutian Islands. It was considered conspecific with the Common Teal (A. crecca) for some time, and the issue is still being reviewed by the American Ornithologists' Union [1]; based on this the IUCN and BirdLife International (BirdLife International, 2004) do not accept it as a separate species at present. However, nearly all other authorities consider it distinct nowadays, based on behavioral (Laurie-Ahlberg & McKinney 1979), morphological (Livezey, 1991), and molecular (Johnson & Sorenson 1999) evidence (discussed by Sangster et al.., 2002).
This dabbling duck is strongly migratory and winters far south of its breeding range. It is highly gregarious outside of the breeding season and will form large flocks. In flight, the fast, twisting flocks resemble waders.
Today i attended Magor Marsh summer open day, an annual event put on by the Gwent Wildlife Trust, mainly as a children's fun day. I was there as the bug-hunter, but the weather wasn't awfully helpful, and the sun only came out near the end. Still, it was a good day.
One of the other attendees help rehabilitate injured hedgehogs (not the same person as the one who provided the baby hedgehog of the earlier shot with me in it). This one was more or less recovered and was due to be released back into the wild ain a suitable location.
An old photograph from 2016 when the Water Voles at Magor Marsh were a lot more obliging. They've become very shy despite still being present in many of the reens there. They've even spread out as far as the Wetlands Nature Reserve which is great testament to the hard work put in by Gwent Wildlife Trust. This habitat is now threatened by the Governments wishes to build a Motorway, that would destroy Miles of invaluable habitat.
GWT Coombe Hill.
Chunky bunting, found in wetlands with reed beds and scattered bushes; also in farmland and other open areas with bushes and hedges. In the spring and summer, male gives his halting song from a prominent perch, showing off distinctive black-and-white head pattern (pattern muted in winter). Female streaky overall, much like other buntings, with boldly striped head. Compare with very similar Pallas’s Bunting, note rusty shoulders, thicker and more conical bill, dark brownish rump. White outer tail feathers often show in flight. Calls include a quiet, mellow “tsew” and buzzy notes. (eBird).
My thanks to anyone who clicks or comments. It is much appreciated.
Some from March 2021 in this upload. This was a re-spot of the Delta I had previously snapped in 2019, with modifications to the front and rear lights when I saw it here.
Donderdag - Thursday 14 April 2023
Info :
---------------
Registration : OE-FJG
Type : PA-31T1 Cheyenne I
C/N : 31T-8104029
Build : 1981
Owner : GWT Group
Flight : LOAN
Location : EHLE
A Rhingia campestris hoverfly with the characteristic long 'nose' seen in the hedge at New Grove Meadows Gwent Wildlife Trust reserve.
One of two field indistinguishable and rather atypical crab spiders. Tibellus has an elongated body well suited to lying along grass stems for camoflage. They are quite common in marshy grasslands, and in sand dunes.
Older books say T. maritimus is a sand dune species and has more spots than T. oblongus, but this is not reliable, and my experience is that T. maritimus is not the species I find coastally!
I left this one where it was so I don't know which species it is. Seen at Magor Marsh.
Donderdag - Thursday 14 April 2023
Info :
---------------
Registration : OE-FJG
Type : PA-31T1 Cheyenne I
C/N : 31T-8104029
Build : 1981
Owner : GWT Group
Flight : LOAN
Location : EHLE
Under wood at Magor Marsh. Very pleased with how this came out.
Thanks to Frans Janssens for the identification.
A lovely little female, very active and would not sit still to have her picture taken. Henllys Bogg SSSI
After some discussion on Flickr, Lesley, Brackenb, said that she wanted to come to Magor marsh today to see the water voles, and I more or less promised that she would see some.
Naturally they disappeared about half an hour before she arrived. Then they stayed in hiding until she left, whereupon this one emerged within a minute of her departure.
Fickle creatures, water voles.
I was at Beacon Hill, a Gwent Wildlife Trust nature reserve where heathland recreration is in progress. The site was originally heathland before it was planted with commercial conifers in the 1950sm but the conifers were cut down a few years ago. I was to be leading a walk at the site on the weekend, so on Wednesday I was there for the pre-walk look around.
This is my first ever lizard photograph. There is a path to a pool, and I saw the lizard basking on a stump, but it saw me, and disappeared into the heather and gorse. I walked on, and immediately saw a second lizard on another stump. It too disappeared, so I stalked carefully back to the first stump, and my original lizard had returned.
I am really pleasd.
A queen hornet, in this case, seriously investigating a bit of standing dead wood at Henllys Bog nature reserve,.
HBBBT!
Dense bushy plumes of spring growth on a young spruce, probably Norway or Sitka spruce, at Beacon Hill.
This gorgeous babe posed for my camera at Magor Marsh. I don't know who she is (or what species she is), but she had some of the most beautiful eyes that I have ever seen on a lovely damsel.
What a magical moment that was!
(Possibly I need to get out more though)
I spent about half an hour stalking broad bodied chasers around the top pond at Beacon Hill. Every time I got close another one would come by and a fight would ensue. There seemed to be two pairs, one at each end of the pond, with fights over where the boundaries were. They just wouldn't settle.
After 40 minutes, I gave it up as a waste of time, turned around, and there was this chap sat more or less at my feet.
I knew it was going to be a good day at that point.