all creatures great and small

Now for my wildlife supplement, courtesy of Vincento and his magic lens

and in case you haven't been paying attention, this is the culmination of our week's wildlife spotting in deepest Pembrokeshire.

You will be pleased to know we kept a tick list (well trained by Bryan).  This is what we spotted.

and here are some of our pics to prove it.

buzzard

and I'm interspersing with optional soundtrack of favourites of mine loosely connected to birds, even if not always the right types ....  click and enjoy the music while you read.

butterfly

one of the cute seals

wren

more of the seal

and another gorgeous one looking at us for ages!

stonechat (male)

about ready for another beautiful song?

kestrel (female)

dunnock

Welsh mountain ponies

linnet

and that has to bring us full circle to My Old Man - in homage to our first spotting of a linnet with Bryan back in Mull 2012

little owl (taken on Ramsay Island)

guillemots

shag juvenile

stonechat male

and stonechat female

and since we've been in a bit of a Liverpool bird scene music wise, here's my favourite bird poem by my favourite poet, who happens to be from Liverpool!  Brian Patten and the wonderful Interruption at the Opera House - I've always loved this one, especially the picture the last verse conjures up.

swallow

wheatear female

whitethroat ??

wren

So I can't resist this final poem, now I've got you in wistful mood.  Adelstrop by Edward Thomas - I especially love the last verse of that too, when all the birds of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire join in the chorus.  Dad once recited it to us all by heart in the backyard of a little cafe in Cumbria, when a lone blackbird was singing his heart out, and it's stayed with me ever since.

final night surprise outside our cottage door - Mr Toad

Welsh word of the day: bara brith = (literally) speckled bread.  But it's much more than that - read more here about the origins of bara brith and let me know if you want my own family recipe.  Along with Audrey's delicious flapjack it sustained us well for our week hiking the Pembrokeshire coast!

All bird labelling was done 'with a little help from my friends' so don't blame the messenger!  But if you do spot any gaffs please let me know in the comments below.

Well this is not the end of the Welsh adventure - there's the journey home on Saturday still to come and more poetry!!  Read about it here.

And don't forget, if you feel you'd like to start the whole week again, it began here