Mawddach Valley

Coedydd Abergwynant

David Anning — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:26:00 GMT

The volunteeers and I were busy removing young conifers from the woods today, in one area they were beginning to shade out the understorey so we caught them just in time. We were surprised not to see any woodcocks today as we spent hours wondering around the undergrowth in the type of habitat they usually like. The highlight of the day must have been when two of our volunteers saw a salmon jumping up the weir, it was well over two foot long. In this part of the wood the hazels, honeysuckle and brambles are particularly thick, a really wild, undesturbed part of the reserve, wonderful.

Coed Garth Gell

David Anning — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:49:00 GMT

A trail check today, which was nice as the threatened rain didn't come and the woods were sheltered from the cold wind. Going around the reserve I saw bullfinches, lesser redpolls, long-tailed tits and a couple of buzzards. Despite searching I could see no wild goats, although I did come across one pile of droppings.

Near the reservoir the contractors have been busy felling invading conifers, the wood looks far more open now and from the top path, one can see the whole of Barmouth Bridge and the clock tower; its been many years since these were visiable from the view point.

Later at Coedydd Abergwynant I was checking the boundary when I flushed a woodcock, there seems to be far fewer around this year than there normally is. By the time I was heading back the light was fading which was a shame as I was really enjoying being about on the reserve.

Mosses and liverworts

David Anning — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:53:27 GMT

Anyone who knows the Mawddach Valley well, is well accustomed to its wet weather. Although this is a burden that we all have to live with, it is also one of the things that makes the area special. In the deep ravines on our reserve, the constant flow of water and thick canopy of trees means that the air is always wet-ideal conditions for mosses and liverworts.

Hiden within the carpets of common species lurk some very rare and specialist species. These rarities make our reserve internationally important and a recent survey of Coedydd Abergwynant has highlighted how special the area is for these small green plants. Species such as Adelanthus decipiens or Radula voluta may not mean much to most naturalists, but to bryologists they are very exciting and show what a special place the Mawddach Valley is.

Not bad for a unsuccessful dragonfly walk...

David Anning — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 15:18:00 GMT

On the Mawddach we are lucky to have several species of dragonflies and damselflies that are regularly seen. With this in mind it seemed a good idea to have a dragonfly walk to showcase these spectacular insects. One thing that we could not predict was the weather, so as our visitors gathered so did the storm clouds. The grey skys and cool wind gave us little chance of seeing anything, but being a RSPB reserve there is always something to see.

Arthog bog looked wonderful with an array of colourful flowers: purple loosestrife, meadowsweet, valarian, water forget-me-not and lesser spearwort all were abundant on the bog. In one ditch there was a large stand of greater spearwort, a rare species in west Wales doing very well after we cleared out the ditch for it earlier in the winter. Spotted flycatcher, lesser redpoll and sedge warbler were all seen too.

As we got back to the car park it began to rain, although we had failed to see any dragonflies at all, it really didn't matter.

Hawfinches

Ross Willis — Thu, 05 May 2011 19:50:00 GMT

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The Hawfinch is an enigmatic bird which, although our largest finch, can elude birdwatchers for years.

The Mawddach valley has a healthy population but it is only been recently realised how widespread they are here.

The key is to understand their behaviour, but most importantly, to learn listen for them. Their call and song however is high pitched and not very loud and they can be easily overlooked.

Curiously for such a retiring creature they will turn up at bird-tables. The following pictures I took near an RSPB woodland at one lucky members lawn.

The small-leaved limes of Abergwynant

Ross Willis — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 19:55:00 GMT

It's a good time of year to learn your trees now as ,conveniently, they all come into leaf at different times.

The Mawddach woodlands are, I think, at their most alluring now with the blackthorn and cherry in flower and the birch nearly in full leaf.

The oak, however, always seems to take an age to unfurl and it's difficult now to imagine how thick and dark the woods will be in a couple of months time.

The tree which is last to flower (and which is the pride of Coedydd Afon Gwynant in particular) is the small leaved lime. This species is a relict of the warm period after the last ice-age and therefore a good indicator of ancient woodland. The Gwynant valley is one of the best sites in Britain for small-leaved lime with many veteran trees centuries old.

It rarely sets seed as the conditions for fertilisation are seldom warm enough. It relies on vegetative propogation where the charachteristic drooping branches root where they reach the ground. Unfortunately, traditional woodland grazing with sheep has made this an unlikely event in the past and there are now few young trees.

Summer visitors

Ross Willis — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:41:00 GMT

On my way to Coed y Parc early today, to survey woodpeckers, I saw this years first pied flycatcher. I don't think I have ever seen one here in March before and with the chiffchaff already here for a week maybe it's yet more evidence for climate change students (or phenologists as I think they are called).

The weather is kind and the resident woodland birds are starting to claim territories. Along with the bird song there are a lot of territorial scuffles breaking out and yes, eventually, the woodpeckers gave themselves away.

Of the three species you could expect only the great spot is widespread here, with the lesser spotted now increasingly difficult to find. The green woodpecker hasn't been re;iably seen on the Mawddach for a few years now, but this winter I have had two good reports. They are unmistakeable whether heard or seen and the only likely confusion is that they are often mistaken for a golden oriole.

Perhaps these birds were forced here by the extreme winter weather and may drift homewards. I hope they find enough ants to tempt them to stay and fill our valleys once again with their eccentric yaffling call.

winter survivors

Ross Willis — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:36:00 GMT

The ghostly screech of a male barn owl, given on the darkest of nights is a memorable sound. This is a bird which often cannot survive a protracted cold spell so you can imagine my pleasure on hearing two calling simultaneously on a still foggy night at Coed Afon Gwynant recently.

This could mean two territories in the valley, which is interesting, as over the years their traditional nesting places; barns and outbuildings have been steadily converted. However, when needs must will use clefts in a rocky cliff or maybe an ivy covered tree.

I am reasonably sure where one pair will nest this year as there is still a remote barn in the valley that they have used in the past and, as the owner has no intention of selling up, they are safe for now.

It is good to use the word crepuscular now and then; although generally nocturnal and capable of catching prey by hearing alone the Barn owl has superb binocular vision and often hunts at dawn and dusk, when most people will encounter them as they pass, wraith-like, over marsh and fen.

Goshawk

David Anning — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:31:00 GMT

After weeks of being rained off the volunteers and I made it to Coed Garth Gell to poison some more Rhododendron.

Todays work was particularly satisfying. The area we were working upon had been treated several years ago and the dead remains of Rhododendron bushes were everywhere. Growing through these skeletons were young heather and bilberry plants re-establishing theirselves after years of being shaded by these vile weeds. We were just finishing off the few Rhododendron plants that had persisted, although everywhere we looked small Rhododdendron seedlings were sprouting up, it will not be long until we have to come back again!

One of the rewards for spending time outside is the chance of seeing something unusual. Todays treat was a huge female goshawk circling over us while we had lunch; an absolutely beautiful bird! By the reservoir the water was full of frog spawn and mating toads, no wonder the heron was also in attendance!

Woodpeckers

David Anning — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:25:00 GMT

The Mawddach Valley has always boasted having all three species of woodpecker. However, in recent years seeing them all has become harder and harder.

Although the great-spotted is ever present and seems to be going from strength to strength, the other two species, lesser-spotted and green, have become far harder to find. Therefore to hear of a report of a green woodpecker next to the reserve boundary just after Christmas was very exciting, the first to be seen around here for several years. To add to the excitement, today while clearing some birch at Coed Garth Gell with the volunteers a lesser-spotted woodpecker began to call. Although we know that this species is on our reserve, they usually escape detection and so any sighting is welcome.

For anyone who wants to see lesser-spotted woodpeckers (it's a regularly asked question) I would recommend visiting any of the Mawddach woodlands, including Coed Garth Gell, in late March to early April. If you are lucky you will hear their 'pe pe pe pe...' call which sounds a bit like a birds of prey. However, beware, nuthatches also do a good impression!

New Year resolutions

David Anning — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 16:29:00 GMT

As it is a brand new year it is traditional to make a few resolutions (it is also traditional to break them after a week or so but let's not go there).

So, if I had to make some New Years resolutions for the Mawddach what would they be? I think definately, I will spend more time on the blog, but that's not exactly what I am getting at, what would I do to make the Mawddach even better this year?

I think that spending more time killing Rhododendron would be time well spent, over the past two years we have been clearing it with a new vigour but there is always room for improvement.

I would also like to make more woodland rides for wild flowers and butterflies and to clear some of the birch away from the bog at the top of Coed Garth Gell. We have so much wildlife on the reserve, but it is really good when visitors can see it close at hand, encouraging wildlife on the visitor trail is really worthwhile.

Finally it would be great if more people came to the reserve, to help we are running several events over the summer including a dragonfly walk at Arthog Bog on 8th July and a walk around Coed Garth Gell on 19 August. Please put them in your diaries now, it would be great to see you!

The return of the dormouse!

David Anning — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 13:31:00 GMT

Although not widely know, the RSPB owns a small wood just outside Dolgellau. It's main claim to fame is a small population of dormice; just one of three populations in the whole of the Snowdonia National Park.

Although there are old records from the wood and more recently a few half chewed hazel nuts that may have been eaten by a dormouse have been found, the evidence of dormice being here has been scant to say the least. Although we have over 70 nest boxes especially put up for them successive visits have always found no sign of any dormice at all. It is fair to say that these dormice were fast becoming a thing of myth until today.

Kate Williamson of the National Park helped us visit all of our dormice boxes to see if any had been used, within five-minutes of checking we struck gold (well oak leaves to be precise). One of the boxes had an old wood mouse nest in it, however, underneath the tangle of oak leaves that the wood mouse had left, the nest became more intregately woven with slithers of honeysuckle bark. Clearly (to dormouse expert Kate at least) this was the work of a dormouse. Obviously the wood mouse had evicted the dormouse before adding it's own nest.

However, things were to get better as in an neighbouring box there was a fresh dormouse nest with green hazel leaves that must have been put there very recently.

Over the course of the next hour three more dormice nests were found but alas no dormice. Many of the boxes had been used by wood mice and some contained old bird nests, in some there were pygmy shrews, unbelievably small rodents about the size of a brazil nut!

We started to wonder if we would actually see a dormouse at all until Kate, on her sixth attempt parted a woven dormouse nest and there, to everyones delight, was a dormouse. Luckily Kate had taken the box down and was examining it in a clear plastic bag as the dormouse leapt from the nest and darted around the bag like a ginger blur, only stopping momentarily for us to admire it's bushy tail and bulging black eyes. After examining it the box was put back and the dormouse returned to it's home.

Hardly believing our luck we carried on and over the next hour our luck only improved with more dormice nests and even more dormice to go with them. Eventually we had nine confirmed nests containing six dormice.

Leaving the wood we could hardly believe what we had just seen, six dormice, more than had been seen than over the past twenty-years! Why had dormice been so hard to find before? Did we miss them? Had this year been especially good for them? Had we all had a mass hallucination? Perhaps we will never know.

Another wet day on the Mawddach!

David Anning — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:26:00 GMT

It's really good to be in the woods when it's raining, all the colours are far more vivid, especially the bilberries which also have plump, tasty berries now.

Todays outting was to check on the new path diversion that takes the trail away from two dangerous trees. A couple of winters ago one large tree fell against another and they are both beginning to lean over now. We had thought about chopping the trees down but it was such an interesting sight we decided it was best to divert the path around the problem instead.

I could not help but to have a quick look at last winters ride management as well. The ride was full of birds, however, much of the regeneration from the sawn birch stumps had been nibbled by goats, the oaks seem to have fared better. Hopefully the goats should have headed up the mountain behind the reserve now, so we might get a bit more growth before the winter.

Catapillars everywhere!

David Anning — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:55:00 GMT

What a fantastic day! The volunteers and I went around checking nest boxes again, it's always a treat to see how our birds are doing.

This year pied flycatchers seem to be doing very well with more pairs than usual and with large broods. At the moment most birds have small young but others are getting quite large and will be out of the nest by early next week.

The parent birds are busy carrying beakfuls of insects to the nests to feed their young, they are so busy that they seem oblivious to passers by and give fantastic views. But enjoy it while you can, by the second week in June the young will have fledged and they all will be in the oak canopy, hidden from view.

A walk in the woods at this time of year usually results in one becoming covered by catapillars, thousands of moth catapillars cover the leaves and hang on threads of silk from the canopy. Some people hate this, but I love it, it means the wood is alive and there is plenty of bird food.

Some years there are so many catapillars they strip the leaves from the oaks and roam across the forest floor looking for food, it is truely amazing to see this; a little known wildlife spectacle. Unfortunately such plagues are becoming more infrequent, this is possibly a result of climate change, but it is of concern, without this annual bloom of insect life the birds we love so much would have a hard time.

Therefore the next time you visit the Mawddach be thankful if you leave the reserve with your hair full of catapillars!

All a flutter on the Mawddach

David Anning — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:16:00 GMT

The sun is shining, birds are singing and the Coed Garth Gell reserve is looking at it's best. What more incentive do you need to go for a nice walk in the woods?

Maybe the chance of seeing some really gorgeous butterflies? Within the wood, speckled wood butterflies flutter in the dappled shade of the trees, landing on oak leaves to show-off their checker board patterned wings. However, it is in the clearings and on the heath that most of our butterflies hang out.

The brown butterflies, meadow brown and ringlet will be on the wing in the next few weeks but their smaller relative the small heath is flying already, watch out for a small, dull orange butterfly darting off from in front of your feet.

For the sharp eyed observer, the green harstreak is a treat. It sits still on the tops of gorse and bilberry bushes until any other insect flies through it's territory, then it launches itself into the air and chases the intruder away energetically. It is quite confiding and when it is sat, it shows off it's emerald green wings, coloured just like the bilberry bushes where it often perches.

If you are lucky you may see a fritillary butterfly. Two species are on the reserve, the dark-green and small pearled-bordered. Both look superficially the same, and often they don't give you a chance to admire them as they are active butterflies, flying purposly through the glades that they prefer, looking for violets where they will lay their eggs.

Why not come along and see if you can spot them?