An early start and a drive-through McD's made sure we were up at Craig Cerrig Gleisiad for about 8.00 AM; not too bad for a bank holiday Sunday! We had two species to tick off in particular, Redstart and Pied Flycatcher. A quick detour to the wooded area opposite the lay-by near the youth hostel threw up a male and female Pied Flycatcher nesting in a small tree hole within ten minutes of looking for them. We watched the pair for about fifteen minutes before deciding to leave them to their nesting duties. 
Craig Cerrig Gleisiad
A Tree Pipit was displaying by flying up into the air and singing on it's parachuting descent back to the top of nearby trees at the bottom of the reserve. The sun started to come out and the valley was filled with bird song. We racked up some good species, among the myriads of Meadow Pipits were Stonechat, Winchat, Raven, Buzzard and Willow Warbler.
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| Wheatear (F) |
We took a path up around the bottom of the steep face, and around back left across the top, all the while keeping a look out for the Ring Ouzels that have been sighted there. We had no such luck with that, but two other birders we ran into on the way back said they had seen just the one near the bottom. We also found this little guy on the path on the way up -
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| A shrewd customer. |
Stunning views greeted us at the top and there were nice views of Pen-y-Fan from different angles to the norm.
Back at the car park after a steep descent I finally spotted this little beauty out of the corner of my eye -
A well deserved carvery at The Claude followed when we returned home!
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