Hi Ian
I was interested to read your blog post. Regarding the Kingfishers; A few years back I looked through several years of back copies of the annual report and there were virtually no breeding reports. I once obtained a free "fishing permit" for a couple of seasons from the local angling club. This gave me access to many stretches of the river between Llanfair and Tregaron that are otherwise inaccessible. But no Kingfishers. I wondered whether there is a lack of suitable breeding sites?
Regarding Cwm Doethie; I get the impression that we were walking different stretches. Did you do the circular walk from Soar y Mynydd or maybe walk up from the bottom? I parked at the very top. I titled my post "Doethie Fawr" for convenience but actually only 7 of my Whinchat records were along that upper part of the valley cf. 13 last year, so as you say, quite a lot less than usual perhaps.