Thread: A few from Wales

Predictably the autumn floods are with us in the Teifi valley and the fields are under water again



The flood was rising on Saturday and I took a walk in the rain to take a look. Watched a shrew swimming to safety then took a look at the margins of the flood which had the attention of a heron and some rooks in the neighbouring field.

The margins were peppered with thousands of beetles trying to escape a watery death accompanied by dozens of predatory pond skaters taking advantage of the feast. Hard to show the big picture but this detail gives an idea of the scale of it.



I remember the day well, the prospect of the semi finals felt like a a mere detail on the way to hammering England and world domination etc. We can all dream

Sunday saw the end of the rain and the end of our run, had to get out of the house and the post match analysis to get over the disappointment, at least it was a beautiful day



As the day went on the sun stayed put and by lunchtime it was pretty warm, a familiar looking fly came looping across the dining room like a little biplane, had to be a stonefly.

Sure enough the stream which borders us, the Nant Morw, then running at 50 and chocolate, had hosted a decent hatch. I counted over thirty stonefly on the back wall and car, the air was full of them.







As ever I can't identify these to species level although I think of them, possibly in error, as Needle Flies. I've seen these hatches in post-flood high water time and again, it seems like a working survival strategy.

Keeping a look out for Ivy Bees I noticed a bee buzzing round the ivy flowers later in the day. On closing up it was unmistakably a bumble bee, still haven't seen one of the new arrivals, anyway, this was a queen bee, a Buff-tailed bumblebee, Bombus terrestris





Nice to see these little gems late in the year, makes up a bit for our dashed hopes!

Hardy little critters those stones flies, seem to love adverse weather conditions, here‘s a couple getting it on in very cold weather!

Nice photos db. Some of the southern streams are still clear so I'm hoping for a bit of grayling fishery if it's not too cold.

Originally Posted by snailer

Hardy little critters those stones flies, seem to love adverse weather conditions, here‘s a couple getting it on in very cold weather!

Cracking photo snailer, obviously Nancy Mitford devotees.

Originally Posted by diawl bach

Cracking photo snailer, obviously Nancy Mitford devotees.

Just don't tell Alfred!

Second all the pictures by you both