Alfred Russel Wallace

Saturday 1st to Saturday 22nd August 2015
Wallace memorial at Llanbadoc church
I took a wrong turning on my trip to the Brecon Beacons a couple of weeks ago (where the A40 stealthily becomes the A449 at Raglan) and ended up going through the lovely little town of Usk in order to get back on track. So I returned to explore Usk further with Linda on Saturday, and also visited the nearby hamlet of Llanbadoc. Llanbadcoc is the birthplace of Alfred Russel Wallace, who lived here until the age of five. He was born in Kensington House in 1823, and although the house itself is largely hidden by trees, there is a memorial to Wallace at the nearby church to the "Co-discoverer with Charles Darwin of the process of evolution by natural selection".
Kensington House
 I spotted a couple of Orthopteroids near the church:
Speckled Bush-cricket at Llanbadoc near Usk 22/8/15
Meadow Grasshopper at Llanbadoc near Usk 22/8/15
And a Southern Hawker in Usk town:
Southern Hawker at Usk 22/8/15
And I didn't know there were any windmills in Wales:
The nineteenth century Llancayo Windmill, near Usk
I spotted this Harvestman in the garden on Saturday, I think it is of the species Opilio canestrinii (Red Harvestman) - so far one agreement on iSpot.
Harvestman sp. in garden 22/8/15

On a recent day out in Avebury, Wiltshire, I still couldn't find any Tree Sparrows where I used to, but this juvenile Spotted Flycatcher in the churchyard was nice:
Spotted Flycatcher juvenile at Avebury church 15/8/15
Spotted Flycatcher juvenile at Avebury church 15/8/15
Spotted Flycatcher juvenile at Avebury church 15/8/15
As was this Painted Lady between Windmill Hill and the village:
Painted Lady, Avebury, 15/8/15

I spent a great few days camping in the Brecon Beacons recently with Mr M. senior. I love the scenery here and saw a few nice birds too, including several Whinchats and Redstarts including this one:
Redstart - first-winter male near Pencelli, Powys 6/8/15
 And a couple of photos taken from the top of Pen y Fan
Crybyn from Pen y Van
Corn Du from Pen y Van

And some photos from 1st August:
Male Ruff at WWT Slimbridge 1/8/15
A different male Ruff at WWT 1/8/15
Essex Skipper - seen on a butterfly survey at Clarke's Farm, Hardwicke 1/8/15

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