Bird Watching in The Brecon Beacons

Feb 16

One of the great joys of spending time in the Brecon Beacons National Park is the abundance of birdlife for everyone to enjoy:-

Lapwings - The lapwing is a ground-nesting bird, with beautiful iridescent green colouring on its back, a rounded wing shape in flight and a crest on its head. It is often called the peewit, because of its distinctive call.

They breed and roost on farmland with spring-sown crops, open damp grasslands or moorlands close to a mixture of arable fields and permanent grasslands. In winter you may see them in ploughed fields and flooded grasslands.

Lapwing populations have suffered catastrophic declines over the last 25 years. The number of breeding pairs fell from around 13,000 in 1970 to under 2000 in 1998. This was due to habitat loss, nests being disturbed or destroyed by ploughing, grazing livestock or country pursuits, depletion of food sources due to chemicals and increased predation by foxes and buzzards.

Little Ringed Plovers – There has been a wonderful increase in the population of little ringed plovers in British waters. First recorded in the UK in 1938, these annual visitors now typically exceed 1000 in number. They visit the Brecon Beacons National Park every spring to breed on the gravel banks of rivers and lakes, especially on the River Wye below Glasbury and on the Usk between Brecon and Talybont. Although these birds are quite resistant to disturbance, we can help them survive if picnickers, swimmers, anglers and canoeists take care to avoid the gravel banks where they nest between March and July.

Nightjars - This secretive, nocturnal bird is a summer visitor to the Brecon Beacons National Park. Its mottled brown and grey feathers keep it concealed on the ground during the day until evening when its distinct churring song may give it away. Nightjars are found on heaths and moors, but more recently they have favoured nesting on areas of recently cleared coniferous plantation. They are becoming more common in Mid Wales, where many conifer plantations have reached harvesting age and are being felled.

There are several organised guided walks to see the birds of the National Park. The next dates are 13th April, 8th May and 29 th

Paul Williams will be your leader for the day. He is a qualified Mountain Leader based in the Brecon Beacons and has a lifelong interest in Ornithology, especially upland species.

He hopes you may see Wheatear, Stonechat, Red Kite, and the Skylark as well as the Peregrine, Ring Ouzel, Cuckoo and a Hobby.

The walk is approx. 12km and will take between 5-6 hours. You will need to bring your usual hill walking kit and a packed lunch