Hello and welcome to my outdoors blog!

Hello all,

Welcome! This blog will be an online diary for all my outdoors exploits! Hope you enjoy, and if you currently prefer a play-station to a Pine Tree, maybe this site will get you looking outside the front door for fulfilment and enjoyment................Stu

Saturday 17th July 2010

Well i was a bit tight for time today so i headed down to North Gower (the

real Gower), parked in Llanrhidian

and headed on one of my favourite walks - down through Cwm Ivy Woods, down to Whiteford Burrows and back along the marsh. Today i had my brand new Canon 450D SLR with me, so was experimenting a bit. Hopefully youll enjoy some of the shots.

Cwm Ivy woods are an ancient woodland on north gower, easily access via a number of paths from Llanmadoc. An additional 5 hectares were donated to the Welsh wildlife trust in the 1960s by a local lady called Betty Church. Today it was sunny and not too humid, and i headed off down a new path that id found. I finally arrived at the main marsh track. Whiteford Burrows is a site of special scientific interest, and in terms of birdlife, this place is hard to beat. Buzzards (Latin:Buteo Buteo) are common and there are a number of nests in Hambury Woods and Hills tor and youd be seriously unlucky not to see them soar on any day in this

area.

What's great about whitford is the diversity of landscapes, one minute you're in an Oak woodland, then reedbeds, marsh, sand dunes and pine forest. As such it attracts such a range of wildlife. Particularly common in these parts are grey heron which you normally see ambling in slo-mo (if youve seen a heron walk you know what i mean!!) around the marshes. Grouse are pretty common too, with

their unique call. This time of year the dunes are popular for lapwings that nest in the dunes. I camped wild down here two years ago and its really quite an eerie place at night. Wild ponies gallop through the dunes in the early hours so make sure you pitch in amongst the pine trees if youre planning a night out, as being trampled to death may spoil your weekend.

Having circled the marsh, i headed back up the original path and tried to photograph some swifts that were zipping around wildly in the fields. Youve got to love these birds, its as though theyve just discovered they can fly and just love every minute of being in the air. Trying to snap them is nigh on impossible though. Despite going for a fast shutter speed, they are just too quick and never stop for breath!! I did however catch one shot of a swift annoying a horse, forcing it to gallop downhill away from quick-winged irritant!!!

After sitting in a nettle patch desperately trying to capture the swifts, i headed back to Llanmadoc, for a well deserved pint in the Britannia Inn. This part of Gower really is the best. While Rhossili, Port Eynon and Oxwich are all beautiful, nothing beats the raw untamed nature of the north. If your like me and enjoy getting away from the madding crowds, then north Gower offers peace, solitude, serenity and array of amazing wildlife. No two visits are the same. Next report will probably be on a visit to Tresaith in mid-wales, on a sea kayaking weekend. Later...Stu