Another early start to watch the sunrise, started even earlier this time so got some beautiful colours in the sky & loch, but no red deer this time. We discovered when we checked the camera trap that the heavy rain during the night had triggered it so loads of photos of rain! Did get a few good shots of the pine marten too, as well as us going to & from the pub & a pair of small mammal (mouse?) eyes on the grain below the feeder! Sadly the planned walk for the day was postponed as one of our party was ill so a couple of us went off to investigate the Singing Sands near Kentra. There was a helicopter flying stuff into the forest on the headland which intrigued us, as did the police ... read more

I woke early and went for a quick potter down to the loch which was beautiful in the morning light but the only willife I saw were small birds (mostly robins), herons & a deer print. On checking the traps we had one bank vole (released again unharmed) - we think we caught the same little chap the next moring so we moved the trap lovcations after that. More excitingly the camera trap had caught footage of the pine marten in the garden!!! We spent Sunday morning visiting Glenborrodale Nature Reserve, a lovely little reserves of woodland & moor. Sadly the red squirrels didn't put in an appearance but it was a lovely walk. Mark's bad back let him come with us but he had to turn back early. We saw lots of deer in the ... read more

So Saturday dawned & we pack up the car to head home. We took the scenic route ober the Black Mountains and stopped to ride the Brecon Mountain Railway before dropping off some cake to my great aunt. Then we had the long drive across England before getting home & unpacking. We did give up & stop for a tasty pub supper before reaching Buckinghamshire! So the honeymoon is over & we can settle down to life together as husband & wife! :)... read more

Woke up to grey cloud & rain so we set of for the wet weather plan of Pemberton’s Chocolate Farm! Nom! Sadly when we got there only the shop was open as the rest was closed for refurbishment (dammit!) but Mark rallied magnificently & bought plenty of chcolate to make up for it. So we then headed over to Llys-y-Frân reservoir for a disappointingly soggy stroll round. The Dam was an impressive sight but the walk became rather monotonous up & down through patchy woodland with limited views, especially when the heavens opened & we got drenched! Annoyingly when we got back the cafe was shut so we headed back towards the cottage for tea & cake. On route as the sun returned so we stopped to poke around Pentre Ifan burial chamber which was very ... read more

Tuesday dawned rather grey so we opted for damp weather Plan A. First we popped over to Castell Henllys. We said hello to the first residents we saw then pottered around the iron age huts & chatted to Roger about how they would have lived there. We then went over to Cilgerran Castle where the sun came out as we wandered up & down the old walls and towers. The view along the gorge from the castle was so fantastic so we decided to try the gorge walk. It was a lovely stroll along through the woods & then back along the river. Annoyingly there had been a land slide washing away the path so instead of walking all the back the way we'd come we decided to off-road it up through the rood. This proved ... read more