I remember a few years ago, having walked from Grassington with the dog I sat by the side of the river in Malhamdale for my sandwich and watched all three types of wagtail in the same little area - and a dipper, too. In another week or two it could happen again. We have starlings nesting in the corner of the roof and blue tits in the nest box. Spring has certainly started even if it is still frosty some nights.
2 Likes
We have been having very very cold nights and warm, in fact, hot days!!
@ramblingjohn Re-equinox, yes the sun is well over the hill now, hence the melting butter!
1 Like
I was attracted to this fairly non-descript little bird by its song. It is a grasshopper warbler (Troellwr Bach) and seems to be a permanent resident here on the banks of the Tweed.
5 Likes
Blodau gwyllt. Wild flowers.
Suran y coed - wood sorrel.
Llaeth y gaseg - cuckoo flower. One of my favourite wild flowers.
& cacenni y Brenin Alfred - King Alfred’s cakes - making faces!
6 Likes
Why no mention of primrose .- briallu? I am very fond of them! Used to pick a little bunch for a dear old friend’s grave on Gower.
2 Likes
I should have mentioned that the llaeth y gaseg keeps very good company!
1 Like
As we returned from Malltraeth we brought a little piece of Welsh slate with us. And today I have fixed it to the front of our house,
3 Likes
@ramblingjohn I have been watching a recording of 'Natur gudd Cymru" about the great grey shrike, which seems quite small! Iolo calls it Cigydd Mawr which literally means large butcher! I couldn’t find it in any on line Geiriadur!
1 Like
My “big” dictionary, Y Geiriadur Mawr, has it as cigydd llwyd mawr. That’s one of the things I especially like about this dictionary - it has lists of animals, birds, fishes, plants, and fruits in the appendices for both sections of the dictionary (Welsh to English and English to Welsh). The English-to-Welsh side is interesting:
[quote]shrike (red-backed, butcher bird), y cigydd cefnoch.
GREAT GREY, y cygydd llwyd mawr.[/quote]
2 Likes
Oh dear, @Sionned I have to admit I have it but it is big and heavy and bulky and easily damaged by poodle paws, so since I got app for ipad, I hardly look in it! Ddraig ddrwg dwi!
Nawr…rwan…now for something completely different… a gentleman from Washington State asked me about bilingual signs in Scotland. He isn’t on the Forum, so I don’t really have an excuse for the following, but it may interest some to know that their introduction here came with no big hoohaha or petitions and they just gradually appear in more places. Yet although this part of Argyll is where the Dalriada landed from Ireland and where kings were annointed at Dinadre, very few actually seem to speak Gaelic!
That sign is near here and we are very dubious about the rendering of Campbeltown.
We do not have trains here, but have a friend in Ardrossan, where this is to be found:
Note similarity with ‘traeth y de’ for south beach!
Oh and I don’t think Ayrshire is a hotbed of Gaelic!
2 Likes
Oes 'na aur yn yr mynyddoedd - is there gold in the mountains.
Well what surprise can happen when a short break (5 days) is taken to Criccieth.
Sometimes i have wandered around the mountains and so know a few people who do same, imagine my reaction when being shown what someone had picked up beside a trail.
An odd shaped golden nugget (i cannot testify to it’s purity). what i do know is that someone in Australia 3 years ago picked up one weighing over a kilogram.
We know that most surface lumps of gold come from meteorites, and many on here may remember a couple of years ago seeing film of the meteor that came in over Russia, this followed a common pattern of entering the atmosphere at a very high speed and thus heated very quickly to the extent it exploded into many smaller parts. Not to many people know that plenty of folks try to find the site of these meteorites because they are very interesting (and may include lumps of gold).
One other interesting part is that the meteorites often cause a crater as they plunge into the ground at high speed penetrating deep into the soil with some of the material rebounding back out of the hole, so though gold may be found on the surface there is likely to be more underground.
So the nugget above was apparently on the surface close to what i believe was a small crater (read very small), i was not given a precise location for it just a general ‘a few miles in that direction’ description. But i was told that the very small crater indicated the meteors trajectory was from the north. (doubtless the secrecy was because some people intend digging, so i can understand not being given a better set of directions).
Anyway, if what i have been given as facts are true, then a area where parts of the meteor would be spread over would look something like the image below.
Image generated using google maps.
Of course a normal treasure map would have X marks the spot, but here all i can do is provide a gold tinted area of probability.
This does lead me to two possibly useful ideas,
Anyone who corners the market in picks and shovels before news spreads could be onto a financial winner.
And the next wave of bootcampers could be the luckiest ever. (what will they pick up?).
Cheers J.P.
7 Likes
OK, it was April the first so i can understand the above post didn’t go viral (hope Aran has not spent today cornering the pick and shovel market).
I will also point out that the science and facts are credible.
So fingers crossed next time you go to North Wales.
Back to normal Heddiw - today.
Pryf cacwn - Bee-fly.
Marddanhadlen wen - White dead-nettle.
Llygad y dydd - Daisy.
Dant y llew - Common dandelion.
Cheers J.P.
6 Likes
I find it diddorol iawn how some of these terms are mapped one-on-one across languages. “Dandelion“ is of course nothing else than an “englishified“ french dent-de-lion. The german word is Löwenzahn, which is also a word-for-word translation.
2 Likes
You have flowers, and again it is snowing here! This had better be the last time! 
It’s APRIL!
3 Likes
I can only assure you after last years dreary effort this is a real joy.
If the weather continues to improve slightly week on week, pasg - Easter could be something special.
Cheers J.P.
1 Like
To all! I am very sorry I have no picture, but yesterday, washing up at the sink I looked out and saw chwech nico - six goldfinches! Of course they didn’t stay for a picture, for which a certain poodle dog is not without fault! Loud, unprovoked ‘yap’! It is amazing that so small a toy dog can produce such volume!
Copyn alert.
Mae’r derwen blagur’n dechrau agor - the oak buds starting to open.
Copyn gyntaf blyddyn hyn - first spider this year. Copyn hela ar danadl poethion - nursery web spider on stinging nettle. (note it seems to have attached itself to the leaf by two silk threads).
(click on images for full size).
Clychau’r gog wedi dechrau ymddangos - blue bells have started to appear.
Cheers J.P.
5 Likes
Envy! We have marsh marigolds in our ardd wyllt but no primroses yet and certainly no bluebells! Oh, I don’t envy you the copyn mawr!
1 Like
Heddiw - today.
Pryf y tail - Dung fly.
Mantell paun - Peacock.
Llaeth y gaseg - cuckoo flower.
Dau Gwyn blaen oren gyda’i gilydd - two orange tips together. (the male is the upper and just about showing the orange tips which the females don’t have. Both have the cuddlliw - camouflage pattern on the under side of wings).
Cheers J.P.
6 Likes