One of the key differences between gorse and western gorse is the width of the bracteole at the base of the flower, which in gorse is 3-5mm wide, whereas in western gorse it's 0.6mm wide. I was trying to photograph a bracteole today when a red spider mite walked past and proved beyond doubt that this is western gorse!
Looks can be deceiving, these Welsh hills may look as if they wouldn't hold much bird life, yet over the past two days I've seen six hobbies here including a family party of four, with two very young and recently fledged juveniles, two red kites, a ringtail hen harrier and most amazingly today I found a dotterel on top of one the hills! Unfortunately it flew almost as soon as I saw it, calling as it went.
Juvenile hobby.
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