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
Thursday 2 July 2015 I'm starting with this beautiful Welsh poppy which I caught right at the end of the day at Y Parrog, hence the lovely light on it. But more later . . .
Dare I say, that despite an early shower (and our only one of the week) and a bit of morning cloud, it soon turned out to be yet again a fabulously hot sunny day!!
and this time our route was taking us over to Strumble Head
until we reached the headland and the sun broke through
Time for a rest before venturing to the lookout below
which it turns out was an old WWII observation point for submarines
and is now a brilliant bird watching hide - from where we spent a happy half hour watching an enormous jelly fish swimming around - must have been a few metres long - but still too far down for a good photo.
So after our rest, it was off again along the glorious coast
until we found a little inlet full of seals - more later when I showcase Vince's close-ups - but you can probably just see my greyish elongated dot in the water near the shore to the left!
and again, flowers abounding
Leaving the coast, we picked up our cars and headed back up to Newport
because we all had the urge to sample the amazing Canteen nosh and if you read their Tripadvisor reviews, you'll see we weren't the only fans!
and here we all are
I like to think the junior school child who drew this for the Post Office window had also spotted our jelly fish!!
And so, before we trundled back to Llanrhian, Mike and I decided to explore Y Parrog - the lovely little quay at Newport.
and as you can see - utterly charming
even though my shadow got in the way!
and this was looking towards the estuary where we'd walked the other evening when the tide was out!
So we walked around the quay
and past the old fisherman's and sea captains houses of yore
to get a different perspective on the harbour
then we spotted this confusing set of signs - just why were there two routes? . .
ah ha - yes ........... best take the high road today!!
Next we drove back to LLanrhian with a quick whisk to watch the last of the sun going down at Portgain
which was quite beautiful
and suddenly it was the end of another wonderful day and an all too quick creeping nearer to the end of this magical week. Welsh word of the day: mynydd = mountain And if you'd like to read on to Friday's adventures then please click here (or if you want to go back and start at the beginning of this holiday - then click here to go back)
