A trip around the Nantymoch reservoir this afternoon in search of Dippers on the tributary streams, produced a nil result. Completely absent from their usual haunts. Similarly there was a dearth of Grey and Pied Wagtails which normally frequent these mountain streams. A few Meadow Pippit were to be seen, a single Skylark, about half a dozen pairs of Wheatear, together with a few Buzzards, Ravens and Crows. A lone Mallard drake and a single Canada Goose on Llyn Nant-y-Cagl indicated that their partners were possibly brooding somewhere out of view.
Is this paucity of birds in the hills and upland this year a reflection on the late season or as a result of poor breeding success over the past few years.? It is too marked a decline to lay at the door of climate change!