Long Wood, Betws Bledrws

A great morning in the warm sunshine with lots of birds making their presence known including summer visitors such as Pied Flycatcher, Tree Pipit, Redstart, Willow Warbler and especially Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps. A Wood Warbler was at the Lampeter end (Coed Olwen) and also in this area a pair of Crossbills and a pair of Marsh Tits. Another pair of Marsh Tits were very visible around the Llangybi end car park when I started the walk earlier. The most unusual sight, for me at least, was a singing Willow Tit. Not far from the car park a very large number of mature conifers came down in the recent bad weather. These have now been largely cleared and the Willow Tit was there. Very recently I was telling Arfon how I'd never seen a Willow Tit in Long Wood despite many visits and never really expected to. So much for that! I was interested in the story of the Lithuanian Starling that Karen found in an old teapot in her garden(17/04). One hopes for a glorious conclusion but beginning to realise I'll probably end up likewise.