WEEK IN WALES

I spent the last few days in South Wales with my good friend Marc Hughes, working near Carmarthen. On the way south, I made a brief stop at Frampton on Severn Boating Lake in Gloucestershire, where I enjoyed excellent views of 11 Little Gulls—a delightful reminder that spring migration is well underway. A Black Swan was also present, adding an unexpected touch of spectacle to the morning.

Frampton on Severn boating lake

It’s great to see these birds migrating; spring has arrived!

A Black Swan was present as well

During our stay in South Wales, Marc and I were treated to superb views of a Goshawk and a Red Kite, along with a variety of migrants including Willow Warblers, Sand Martins, and Swallows. Setting up the moth trap allowed me to add several species to my list, and I also spotted my first Peacock butterfly of the year, along with Water Carpet and Twin-Spotted Quaker moths.

Red Kite

Peacock

Water Carpet

Twin-Spotted Quaker

On my journey home, I stopped at Devil’s Bridge—a place I hadn’t visited since September 19, 1981, when I came with my late father. Standing in the valley, watching Red Kites soar above, was an emotional experience. This site was once the last stronghold of the Red Kite in the British Isles.

The history of the Red Kite in Britain is fascinating. Once common across the country, they were initially protected by law in the early 15th century for their role in cleaning the streets of London. Yet by the 17th and 18th centuries, they were relentlessly persecuted for preying on game birds and, bizarrely, for stealing washing for their nests. In Tenterden, Kent, 432 Red Kites were recorded killed in just 14 years from 1677. By the 19th century, the species survived only in the remote hills of central Wales.

In the 1950s, a committed group of Welsh conservationists formed the Kite Committee, gradually increasing the population from just a dozen pairs to around 100 by the early 1990s. Later, the RSPB and the Nature Conservancy Council initiated the UK Red Kite Project, reintroducing birds from Sweden and Spain to England and Scotland. Today, the Red Kite population is thriving, a testament to decades of careful conservation.

It was a wonderful week in South Wales with Marc, full of spectacular birds and a poignant reminder of the resilience of nature—and of memories that stay with us.