Talgarth, Powys

Three Dippers and a Grey Wagtail on the river in the centre of the village today. The Dippers in particular were a great sight. At least one of them was singing, possibly the first time I've ever heard this, and then three of them chased each other along the river and right past me.
Back in September 2006, I was walking around Eccleston Mere, near the south west corner, when I heard a call which I thought at first was Grey Wagtail, but it didn't seem quite right, perhaps a little too harsh for that species. I was amazed to see a Dipper fly past me calling, and then it headed off down the stream, never to be seen again. One of the most amazing sights I've ever seen at the mere. It was a call which at the time I didn't associate with Dipper, or perhaps it was the unexpected circumstances of that day back in 2006, but these birds today were making exactly the same call.


Talgarth.

I was on a GIS training course yesterday and today. Geographic Information Systems are used to digitally map all kinds of things these days from areas at risk from sea level rises, to supermarket home delivery areas, to hotspots for various illnesses, to geological features, to crime hotspots, to virtually anything you can imagine. I've used GIS to map plant communities with Phase 1 Habitat surveys and to map bird flight lines. The course I went on was MapInfo, which I'll be using a lot this year, but I've also used ArcMap. They're both very similar packages. The Image below was produced in ArcMap and is a Phase 1 habitat survey of the area around Eccleston Mere, which I produced as an assignment for my MSc.