I haven’t been able to work in the Valley this month, not that there has been much to do, but it is nice to walk the Valley in its nakedness.  As I have said before, the Valley looks much bigger with all the undergrowth resting, you can see parts that haven’t been seen for a long time and it gives the Valley a new dimension.

They Seek Them There!!

Hello, I wish you a Happy New Year,

Well this year really has started with a bang hasn't it, snow everywhere.Very nice for a week, it makes you feel you have just stepped out of a Christmas card.

We got our sapling and planted it at the date and time stated.

If you havent heard of this, you are too late to take part in the biggest tree planting occation this year. But don't let it stop you from planting a tree at any time, it all goes to making our planet greener.

The tree we decided to plant was a birch, because I find that they realy do well in this part of Wales.

HH.

Hello,

When I was thinking about this month’s blog, I thought there wasn’t much to tell you.  It does seem to be a very quiet time.  So I set to and made a list, so here goes.

First was my delight in seeing a Dipper, the first sighting this year.  I look forward to seeing it again and again and seeing it later with a mate.  It’s a very secretive bird and I usually see it earlyish in the morning as I go to enter the valley.  I see it hopping from stone to stone in the river.

I have some very bad news today. I went to check on our little flock of sheep this morning to see if all was well. As I entered the first meadow the sheep were not there, so I carried on into the other meadows and found them in the third.

I counted them and counted them again. Each time I counted I could only come up with 16 instead of the 17 that should be there. I went searching around the meadows and even into the hedges.

Hello,

Since I last talked to you autumn has really kicked in.  The blackberries are over and the sloes have started to wrinkle.  The fungi is multiplying, only the other day, as I was chasing over the humpback bridge, I saw two very small pearl like fungi on the wood.  They were like shiny, white pearl drops – quite beautiful.

I noticed the Nuthatch is back, feeding on the peanuts again.  I haven't seen it since early summer.  There is only one at the moment, but I did see two at one time.

Also, in the meadows the fungi are starting to come through, so when you pay us a visit see how many you can find in the valley and meadows.

Now that we have our new website and can each add our own updates, I thought I would keep a regular Blog here because there's always something new to see in the Valley and around the estate. It would be lovely to hear from, and perhaps meet, more of the Mill visitors enjoying our scenery and wildlife. Hopefully readers will find my blog posts of interest and maybe even be inspired to call in and enjoy the estate as much as I do.

So for my first entry I thought I'd tell you a little about myself and my work at Nant-y-Coy: I moved to Wales with my husband David and Barney my collie-cross-labrador in 2006. It wasn't long before I visited Nant-y-Coy and walked the valley and the meadows - then up to the Treffgarne Rocks.

On my return to the Mill, I decided to walk back through the meadows and valley again! I just felt I had to spend more time in this beautiful place.