Garth inVader

Okay, enough pontificating about Egrets and Vice Presidents - time for some birding.

Garth Woods near the village of Ffynnongroyw (a name to make the terminally unfunny Jonathan Ross quake with fear) is an excellent area of ramshackle woodland and farmland, hitherto unknown to me until early spring this year, when I paid my inaugural visit - a trip that produced Marsh Tit and Wood Warbler.

Heeding the advice of Oracle Kirkwood I set off cloaked in a cocoon of cagoule, as showers - heavy ones at that - were forecast.

The circular walk - that is well signposted - is approximately 3 miles long, beginning with a fairly steep ascent into the coed. As I enter the wood most of the commoner woodland species can be heard going about their business. Blackbirds are particularly abundant; it is easy to forget that dense woodland is their true domain - the rich sonorous song is ideally suited to carrying through thick vegetation.

The route is rather diamond shaped and the top section passes through arable fields and grazing pastures. Two Yellowhammers are singing from opposite ends of a thick, unkempt hedge that divides a lush area of grass from a section of bare soil.

Above, two Buzzards are 'pyaring' imploringly to one another as they drift higher on a developing thermal. A rather tatty looking Raven charges across the sky and starts to mob the raptors. In turn, they chase the corvid off, but success is only achieved when they opt to work in tandem.

The final section of the walk returns to wooded area that hides a small brook running through its midst. From an area of shrubbery a series of loud 'cheks' alerts me to a Garden Warbler, but brief glimpses of its silhouette are all I am granted.

Moving into an area of mature oak trees I hear a male Pied Flycatcher. Fantastic! Locating the bird is difficult, although I do find a male Siskin whilst searching for it in the canopy. Thankfully, a nice tasty morsel flies too close to the Flycatcher and it darts out from its hiding place to pluck the insect from the air. It doesn't return to its original perch, but chooses instead to sit in full view on dead branch whilst it consumes the snack.

Coed Garth does it again!

Until later.