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The Dulais, south Ceredigion
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Not a poetry post!
I don’t keep a regular journal record of my daily ‘lockdown
walks’, I usually just post a photo or two of a scene or plant, but today’s was
one I feel the need to record. Today’s photos were unremarkable, but the walk
was not, nor were the sitings of many birds and animals.
I live on the side of a hill above the little valley of Cwm
Dulais in south Ceredigion. There are other Dulais valleys in Wales, notably
the one just north of Neath, which features a number of former coal mining
communities along its course.
‘My’ Dulais is a small tributary of the Teifi. It starts
life just south of Sarnau travels a few miles, mostly through farmland from
north to south to join the Ceri (a stunningly beautiful valley) near Brongest. The Ceri then travels on to join
the Teifi at Cwm Cou, near Newcastle Emlyn. The farms on this route mostly
raise sheep, and there are beef cattle and some dairy. Fields tend to be small
sizes and there are many good hedgerows.
During lockdown my daily walks all begin and end at home, so
the Dulais has become an important part of my life. Whichever circular route I
take I usually cross this stream it at least twice. Today, I went a little further
downstream than usual, making a longer route. It’s a quiet Sunday, not too
cold, just a breeze from the north west, sunshine coming through thin cloud now
and again.
I met a few other walkers, a couple of runners, a woman
riding a horse, a car or two, but mostly I saw farmstock, birds and other
wildlife, which is the main reason I wanted to make this record. I hope I can
remember them all:
In farm fields and yards I saw
many sheep (I heard early lambs but didn’t get a sight of them), some horses,
donkeys, llama or alpaca (not sure which), goats.
Wild animals I saw included:
Heron, long-tailed tits, many blackbirds, robins and other garden-type
birds, such as bluetit and chaffinch. They are starting to get their colours
ready for spring. I saw a couple of red
kite, heard buzzards call.
We know there are foxes, badgers and otters around this
valley too. And in the summer I watched a dipper by the bridge at lower Dulais.
But the true star of my two-hour walk today was a goldcrest.
I’d never seen one up close before and as soon as I spotted it flitting about
in the woody hedge I stood as still as I could in the lane. It came very close,
flew towards me a couple of times, then settled on a nearby branch and we
looked at each other. He was only a yard away from me. A tiny bird with stunning
markings, and a moment I will never forget.
I know I am lucky to live here in beautiful countryside. By
paying close attention to the area within a two or three mile radius of home I
have discovered so much that I would not have seen before, but for lockdown, even though I have lived here for many years.
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Goldcrest (regulus regulus)
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| Early morning mist in the valley |
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