I know what I did last summer...

So it has been expectantly quiet here of late, as I don't have a computer at home, which personally I find freeing, as I don't find myself sat watching late 90's emo band videos at 2 o' clock in the morning in my pants.

But, I have had categorically the best summer I think I can remember...

Residential volunteering at RSPB South Stack was amazing.

I arrived a day early and stayed in the port town of Holyhead Angelesy, I had heard it was a pretty depressing place. The town itself is a little run down and sad and is just a typical port town, somewhere people only come through on route elsewhere.

I had a walk on my first evening after checking in, I walked down to the harbour, it was a nice warm evening and kids were still jumping off the harbour wall into the sea, which was crystal blue and lush.

I sat and had a beer in the marine skerries, aptly I chose a Badger Breweries Poacher's Choice. I sat out on the harbour drinking my beer when I spotted a bird on the water I did not recognise. I grabbed my bins and my trusty book, and identified a Black Guillemot within minutes of sitting down, having a beer, my kind of birding that.


On the walk back  I sat and had dinner at the Harbour Bistro, I sat outside on the decking, had a few Brecon G&Ts, I had goats cheese parcels to start and Veggie Enchiladas for main.

I spotted that they were showing the new planet of the apes at the small newly refurbished cinema just up the hill from my hotel, so I booked a ticket, having only recently seen the first film which I loved.

To my surprise when I arrived there was a massive queue and it was completely sold out as there really is nothing else to do in Holyhead.

The screen was small and packed and the sound was crap, but the film was awesome.

I had a nice sleep, eggs on toast and set off for South Stack.

I met Dave who was to be my roomy for the week, funnily enough he's a former Barry boy himself. We check into our cottage, unpack and have a few hours to explore before induction.

 (all photos Olympus XA2 35mm film)

The site instantly blew me away as we strolled up through the heather and it just opened out to rugged sea cliffs, Chough calling overhead, then we got to the main seabird colony cliff the noise was unreal and there were around 6000 Guillemots and 900 Razorbills on the cliff face. The drop off the edge made my legs go to jelly and I had to step back. Dave on the other hand was straight over the wall taking pictures. We walked to the lighthouse steps and within minutes saw Puffins and Juvenile Peregrine this years chick calling for food.

Over the next few days working in Elin's tower encouraging people to use scopes to get a better view of the wildlife. I saw Gannets out at sea, Porpoise, Seals, Kittiwakes, Chough and more. I talked to people from all over the world about the plight of our seabirds. I roved the site picking up litter and helping people identify birds and insects.

(These are some of my drawings and paintings from the trip)

On my day off I walked upto the Holy Mountain I watched a family of three Peregrines learning food pass behaviour. I summited the Holy mountain which has amazing views of the whole of Angelsey towards snowdonia. 

I followed the coastal path down on my descent towards north stack. I reached  north stack had a mosey around. Then followed the coastal path towards Holyhead. I stopped for lunch saw the peregrine family learning to hunt gulls, one of the juveniles caught a juvenile gull and spiral dived with it trying to stun it, the other peregrines joined in then an adult gull gave an alarm call and loads of gulls emerged. I lost sight as they dived down behind a cliff.

I followed the coast path to breakwater country park. Where I stopped for an ice cream and a Vimto. 

When I got back to the cottage I decided to go for a swim. There was a small secluded cove at the bottom of the lane very rocky and a steep climb down, but I had visited previous evening and there had been a seal fishing in the cove for half an hour. I borrowed dave's sea shoes, as it was very rocky. As soon as I got past the first few rocks there was a 12" plunge pool. Totally secluded no one else around led on my back in the sea in the sun and a red kite sails over not known on Anglesey to my knowledge amazing!

On my last day I visited the lighthouse on the island. On the way down still lots of puffins, razorbills and guillemots around. I climbed to the top of the lighthouse amazing views was also lucky enough to see a pod of porpoises fishing off the headland from the top. 

At the bottom there is an amazing little exhibition of original plates from CF Tunnicliffe's peregrine sketchbook, from south stack 1912. Needless to say I was blown away and would be hunting a copy down as soon as I got back. 

On the bridge on the way back I spotted a large male grey seal in the water quite close. I watched him for a few minutes beautiful, the lady in the bridge toll house informed me he's called Neal the seal and he's been coming back there to feed for four years.

I had a bit of lunch packed up my things and left for the cafe to wait for my cab wishing I was staying and that this was my place of work. Just as I was about to get in my cab the manager came out and said the two new volunteers weren't coming and I could have stayed for another fortnight gutted, but in the words of Arnie "I'll be back"

Hardcore Bird Action

"Images? The same. Ideas? The same. Footage? The same. Sales pitch? The same. They flash before the eyes; to hide."

The lyric pretty much describes how I have been feeling in recent years towards Hardcore. Nothing I hear really grabs me as it did before, maybe I am starting to show my age...

However, upon hearing some friends all from good breeding stock, (see Imbalance, The Horror, That F**king Tank!, Matadors and Magnificent) had formed a new hardcore punk band, I decided to give it a spin.

I wasn't disappointed, needless to say, Young Conservatives debut self titled EP harks back to a time when the lines between the two genres of Hardcore and Punk didn't really exist. 6 tracks all sub three minutes, balls to the wall, HC punk rock & roll. The music is great, but it's the vocals and lyrics that really do it for me. Political, intelligent, yet short, sharp and to the point. I love Andy's voice and I think it's what really gives YC an edge for me. You can hear the EP on bandcamp on the link below and preorder the vinyl too, I cannot wait to see them live.

http://youngconservatives.bandcamp.com/


"What do we stand for, what is it we stand against, why do we stand at all?
What do we believe, what is it we disbelieve, do we believe at all?"



I have also been back to see how the little ringed plovers are doing. I spent half an hour in the elevated hide, with my spiritual shaman Kes, staring at an empty scrape; not seeing anything, but a few gulls having a wash. I did however, spot my first Green Woodpecker.



After leaving the hide, walking along the path, Kes could hear the plovers calling, but couldn't see them, when a chick popped up from behind a verge, on the other side of the fence, merely tree feet in front of us. Followed soon after by an adult, calling and bobbing to one another all the time.




We also saw tiny frog-lets emerging as the rains set in. 

We also saw loads of birds with young chicks out and about. 

Including this Canada Geese creche family, who were soon spooked by some highland cattle grazing which the clearly thought were Bears or some other large predatory beasts.

I also took the opportunity to recapture one of my fave pics ever.

Insert Hardcore band bird puns below...

Crow Mag(pies)

Two little Gems...

Little Ringed Plover

I have been sworn to secrecy over the location, but I managed to see Little Ringed Plover for the first time last week. I also saw Mistle Thrush, Nuthatch, Red Kite, Jay, Coot with the cutest little chicks ever.

I also drew this Wren the other day which I am quite pleased with.

I also had a day volunteering at Hay festival with RSPB I didn't get to see much of the festival as I was busy giving out shots of Black Grouse Whiskey and selling raffle tickets. I did however, see War Horse as he passed right by our stand, I also saw three Red Kites, two Jays and raised £200 for RSPB restoring my well-being.

I am also currently loving the debut album from Helen Chambers - Penny Arcade. Any staunch advocates of the Coach house Acoustic Sessions may remember when she played at my house a while back. 

The album is a belter as expected. My fave track is Caravan, but I also love Paper & Glue. Also she is playing at Le pub Newport on the 13th of this month with Bedford Falls in support. The album is out now on Specialist Subject Records and is definitely my album of the month.

Check it out here: http://specialistsubject.bandcamp.com/album/penny-arcade

 

Here is a video from the aforementioned Helen Chambers Coach house session. I hope Helen doesn't mind me sharing it (backing vocals from Kelly Kemp) 
Get the album and get to the gig eh!

Screaming from beneath the waves...

The other night I finally got to see one of my fave bands ever, Echo & The Bunnymen at Oxford O2. I have always liked them, however, in more recent years I have delved into their early work, and the deeper I delved, the more I adored them. 

I would say their earlier work is the best and I was apprehensive about seeing them live, thinking they wouldn't play that much old material. 

Ocean Rain and Crocodiles are masterpieces in my opinion, I also like the s/t album and I liked the stuff they released in the 90's as that's when I first got into them Nothing ever lasts forever era. 

I hadn't been to the venue before, but I had heard good things from my bro, who had seen Dinosaur Jr. there. We arrived very early, as it was advertised as an early gig, over by 10. 

I've never been one for standing right at the front, but for The Bunnymen after waiting all these years to see them I decided to. So we got to the venue for doors at 6, and got a place right on the barrier, at the front.

Support was from Black Submarine, which feature Nick McCabe and Si Jones formerly of the Verve. I already had the album which I like, they didn't disappoint they are very very 90s sounding though. They buzzed through a set of tracks from the album. They are very bass driven and sound like a less dancey Lamb, elements of Portishead too. The venue was pretty empty though which didn't create much atmosphere due to  the early start.

The Bunnymen kept us waiting and I wouldn't have expected anything else. About half an hour after the stage time, by now the venue was pretty packed. The lights went down, a choral piece kicked in loud.... The unmistakable sillohette of Ian McCulloch Swaggered to centre stage, through the smoke and blue glow.

The opened with the title track from the new record Meteorites the sound was pretty massive, they then kicked in to one of my fave tracks from Ocean Rain Nocturnal Me it sounded banging. They rattled through a set containing some of my fave tracks, Mac was struggling all the way through with a sore throat he was drinking honey, yet smoking an electric fag and caning the red. He had a bit of banter with the crowd, when a few Man City chants came over. 

I personally thought they sounded great and loved every minute they had to restart one song a few times as he wasn't happy that people were talking and in the end scratched it all together.






Stand out tracks included: My Kingdom, The Cutter, Killing Moon and they closed the set with Ocean Rain, probably my favourite which I had given up hope of them playing by encore two.

"All hands on deck at dawn, 
Sailing to sadder shores, 
Your port in my heavy storms, 
Harbours the blackest thoughts."

50 with one blow...

I recently visited the Ham wall and Shapwick Heath reserves with my spiritual shaman Kestrel. Although, I don't usually keep a track of how many species I see in a day, only keeping track of new species seen, I thought it would be fun to count how many I saw in a day, on this occasion.

I have got increasingly better, at identification on my own, including calls. However, having someone like Kes, who is a seasoned pro certainly makes it easier. We set out onto the Ham wall reserve fairly early, we were very lucky, as within a five minute walk from the road, we saw my first Bittern in flight, which circled right over us. 



As the sun came out, St. Marks and Hairy Dragonflies emerged, Kes said this was a good sign we would see Hobbies today. We saw a male and female Marsh Harrier displaying, which is an excellent sign, as they haven't nested at the Ham Wall site yet to date. 

From the first hide we saw Heron nests with young, Great Crested Grebe, Great White Egret (the only site where they nest in the UK) We could also hear Marsh Frogs calling all around. However, they are notoriously difficult to see. On the way to the second hide Kes pointed out a Swan on her nest and we also witnessed her turning the eggs. I also saw my first ever Reed Bunting.

 

From the second hide we saw a second Bittern fly overhead and land in the reeds nearby where it was possibly nesting.

As we left the hide and followed the path Kes spotted a Hobby overhead catching and eating St. Marks fly and Hairy Dragonfly on the wing. This was another first for me and within a matter of minutes there were three all over the same patch.

As the sun came out, it was also a good day for butterflies we saw Orange-tip, Speckled wood, Green veined, Brimstone, Burnett Moth, Common white, Cabbage white as well as Blue tailed and Common blue Damselfly.

As we strolled from Ham Wall to nearby Shapwick Heath we saw Cetti's Warbler, Reed Warbler, White Throat, Dunnock, Black Cap, we also saw at least four more Great White Egrets on the wing over the reserve.

On the Scrape at Shapwick Heath a great place to see Waders, there were Black tailed Godwit, Gadwall, Mallard, Pochard and Kes also managed to spot two Ringed Plover, another first for me.

At the first hide on Shapwick (Meare Heath) as we sheltered from the rain with a whiskey tea, with a few of the kind of birders I avoid (real tree camo, gigantic cameras trying to compensate for something) the others informed us there hadn't really been much around today. 

Within about ten minutes two Great White Egrets swooped in to land on the water and started catching fish right there. Whilst fixated on these I heard someone call "Otter!" A dog Otter, another first for me was swimming right towards the Egrets, it sort of sized them up, saw how big they were, changed its mind and swam off. As the Otter left, so did the Egrets one by one. No sooner had they gone than a Hobby flew in, lovely full view. within two minutes a Bittern flew in from the opposite direction, next a Kingfisher darted past. Just when we thought we couldn't get any luckier a male and female Marsh Harrier started displaying in the distance. All of the reserves most famous species in a matter of minutes.

We left and we walked to the Noah's lake hide, where we saw three different types of gull and some wigeon.


Opposite the hide is a viewing platform facing a known Marsh Harrier nest site. Male and female were displaying over the nest site and occasionally coming to rest on bushes in the distance. When one of them flew along the tree line, it disturbed a pair of buzzards one of which was almost entirely white. They then set about having a four way aerial display battle.



One bird we had heard, but had eluded us all day was the Cuckoo. On the walk back past the scrape we stopped to watch a Lapwing trying to fend a Crow away from its nest site. Just as we were about to leave Kes spotted a Cuckoo flying along the back tree line. The Cuckoo (another first for me) then flew straight towards us and right over our heads calling all the time, amazing. Just as we were thinking what an end to the day a second 
Cuckoo darted out chasing the first territoriality.

We ended the day over 50 species, loads of firsts for me, including my Otter. Sat in the Railway Inn with a pint of Gorge Best from the cheddar brewery.

Smelly Tart

A few people have asked for the recipe for my Stilton and Garlic mushroom tart which I just made up, through various social media channels. Although, it's very easy to do it's probably best to put it here and share the link rather than clogging up peoples feed.

As I am almost always cooking for one or two, I always use shop bought pastry, I can make pastry however, it is an absolute ball-ache to do after work for a tart for two.

I buy ready rolled, chilled, fresh, puff pastry.

Recipe

Prep: 10 mins Cooking: 20-25mins

• Cut your pastry to desired size and turn up the edges.
• Cover with a thin layer of soft cheese (I used Laughing cow Emmental for this particular recipe) Also, a smattering of cracked black pepper.
• Meanwhile cut some mushrooms up (I used buttons here as they were in the fridge, but I reckon Chestnut mushrooms would be even better) and finely dice a garlic clove. 
• Put the mushrooms and garlic in a bowl, drizzle with a good glug of olive oil, salt & black pepper and stir to coat.
• Microwave for two mins. (works even better baked in a ramekin in the oven for 15 mins, but here time was of the essence)
• Spoon the mushrooms over the cheese topped pastry and then top generously with finely chopped, good quality Stilton. 
• Bake in the oven for 20-25mins at 200 degrees.
• Enjoy with some fresh steamed veg, pickled beets and roast pots.

South of Boredom

I went for an awesome walk at the weekend. I was hungover as shit after being out to see Pale Angels at Le pub the night before. I've been trying to tick off pieces of the Welsh Coastal Path. At the weekend I did Barry Island to Rhoose Point. 

I set off along the old harbour (the boat graveyard) saw this old wreck called Menace II Society (see movie of same name from the 90s) 

This is Watch tower bay just out towards the knap passed the old harbour, lush when the tide is out.

This is the Watchtower, my dream home, I found out this morning it went under auction last week and sold for £60k, which I would have paid in the blink of an eye, had I had it.

Some awesome distressed type at Cold Knap pumping Station, spoilt by shit graffiti.












A rather unusual but awesome plant on the path, sometimes the patterns in nature blow my tiny mind!

I love the coastal path markers too, however, sometimes they can be a bit tricky to find. This is one of my fave spots as the path climbs up from the Knap towards Porthkerry the views behind are stunning. I saw my first Dunnock on the path today.

Once you get to Porthkerry, after the golden stairs, saw my first Goldcrest on the golden stairs so it will always be a special spot for me; you drop down into Porthkerry Park a stunning park.

I stopped for lunch in Porthkerry park. I had a delicious flask of Festive Chai (note favourite Scrabble Flask) Cheese & Gherkin sangers, crisps, a granny smith apple and a cereal bar. As soon as I sat down for lunch Buzzards started circling overhead.

After Porthkerry as the path heads towards Rhoose there are some stunning views again. At one point there is a stile, leading to a small secluded pebble beach, perfect for naked wild swimming.
















There is also this amazing sign about Bulwarks Camp an ancient Iron Age encampment.

When the path reaches Rhoose point you are officially at the Southern most point of mainland Wales which is amazing. They have reclaimed an old quarry and filled it in and put in some reed beds to attract wildlife. There were Mallards, Swans and a Little Grebe there that day but you can see Linnets, Peregrine, Ravens and Oyster-catchers.

There is a Welsh slate monument in a stone circle with a Celtic symbol to mark it being the Southern most point.

The sign marking the Southern most point of Wales Rhoose Point.

There is then a gap in the cliffs leading to another small secluded beach.

The final marker of the walk. Probably my favourite stretch so far such a nice surprise at the end.