Not the best day for Photography with fairly thick fog covering most of Pontypool. Was hoping that going further up the mountain I may get above the fog but it was ten times worse. Didn't seem to put the birds off though and luckily for me, I brought my recording gear.
My recording gear is perfect for days like today where visibility is poor and sound becomes a much more reliable way of picking out birds in the fog. Lucky for me I can ID them by sound alone and I picked out some notable birds today as a result of this. I heard Crossbill, Redwing, Fieldfare and a single Curlew flying in the thick fog.. which I would have missed if it wasn't for my parabolic dish.
On the way up the mountain I checked on my local gorse patches to see if the Yellowhammers were back in song and despite being back on their breeding grounds, I only picked out a few calls, no full songs just yet. Not that recording them was even possible today with over 20 off-road vehicles ripping up the coal spoils and creating a racket. Still not sure what I think about the off-road activity there, though for the time being, it doesn't seem to effect the Yellowhammers.
Male Yellowhammer
The British
Something that was quite sad and certainly does effect the Yellowhammers was the burnt Gorse patches. This particular patch did home a Yellowhammer nest last season and its now completely ruined.
Burnt Gorse