Golden sunny autumn days frequently light up the abundant berries and fruit on trees and bushes around the Talyllyn Lake. Kites and buzzards wheeling lazily overhead invoke a sense of serenity. Summer visitors have departed, and early winter thrushes, the redwings and fieldfares, have arrived and are feeding greedily. Flocks of long-tailed tits band together in the trees to feed, and there are tree-creepers, woodpeckers, nuthatches and other woodland birds in evidence. Mergansers may be seen again on the lake, with groups of teal, little grebe and feeding cormorants.

In the Gwent Levels, increasing numbers of wildfowl are arriving for the winter, and as the months progress, Bewick Swan will start to arrive. Groups of tits abound, as do ‘charms’ of goldfinches. But the highlight for both locations has to be the huge roosts of starlings, beginning to collect in a cloud of ‘black fireworks’ in the evening, only to be gone again early in the morning.

Autumn Wildlife and Colour, Mid Wales, 3-night break, arr Saturday 19th October leave Tuesday 22nd October 2013 Based at the Ty’n y Cornel Hotel at Talyllyn, we’ll be seeking out some of the early winter arrivals on the lake and in hedgerows, exploring some of the local woodland and streams, and looking in the estuaries for new arrivals. The starlings on Aberystwyth pier might just be starting their breathtaking displays, and we may have a chance to hear about some of the surprising science going on in Aberystwyth linked to the natural world.

Autumn in South Wales, 3-night break,   arr Tuesday 8th October / leave Friday 11th October 2013. Based at Brick House on the Gwent Levels, we’ll be seeking out some of the early winter arrivals down by the mouth of the Usk, looking for the raptors hovering over the reens, and exploring other ancient habitats. Then the opportunity to seek out wildfowl on lakes and woodland birds on higher ground, and exploring river valleys.  Then with weather permitting, we may take a late trip to Flatholm Island.