Penderyn Waterfall Walk

After chatting with Phil on Saturday night about where to go Sunday he suggested the falls walk near Penderyn. It's been a while since I did it last and it seemed a good choice. It's alway nice to go local and have a bit of a lie in. We got there just after seven and it was nice to have a walk on a dry sunny day. When we passed the farm there was about half a dozen young Swallows on a wire and it's funny to think in a couple of weeks these birds will on their way to Africa for the first time. When we got out in to the open fields we both saw what we thought was a bird of prey. It flew over the fields and we both thought we have been here before once or twice and has it turned we could clearly see it was a juv cuckoo and one I have not seen for years and been looking for and also a first for Phil. We watched  it sitting on a fence post for a bit before it flew around couple times before flying up in to a tree where it was being fed by a meadow pipit. Also in the area were lots of small birds and it seemed buzzing with life. When we got to the falls it was great to be there with only one other person and great to just in enjoy the peace and quiet of the falls. After we climded the what seemed like the 49 steps it was time for  a well earned coffee break on the bench and Phil said he had been cutting back and had lost 13 pounds. I thought good on him and he emptied his bag and I thought did I hear right and did he mean he spend 13 pounds on the stuff for a sunday walk. It was brilliant and we went through a scotch egg, a pastie and two bags of dounuts and with 5 in each bag it was more like a party. Has we sat there we had a tame robin coming down for food and then a chaffinch, they must have been fed there before. Also present were a family party of spotted flycatchers flying in the trees above us. On getting to the second falls we got the regular Dippers and Grey Wagtails and on looking closer at some Hogweed I found two Speckled Long Horned Beetles, and a very smart little Beetle. When we walked back we had a couple Dragonflies hawking for flies along the forestry edge, there was one Southern and three Common Hawkers and a great end to the walk.