Wednesday 29 January 2014

The beast of Powys

High up in the Powys hills I sat alone, with the rain beating down on me and the wind cutting through me. I hadn't seen another person all day and the mist was coming down. In the distance a solitary raven croaked but otherwise there was silence, complete silence. Suddenly I became aware that I wasn't alone. I hardly dared to turn to look, but I knew that there were eyes watching me......



Through the mist I could see the shadow of a creature maybe, or was it just a rock? Then the mist cleared slightly and there could be no doubt. I was alone in the wilderness with a demon eyed, frothy mouthed monster and there could be no escape. It let out a blood curdling "baaaaa" and I fell to my knees in terror. In that moment I knew that the legends were true. I was face to face with a Torwen.


Torwen, a sheep tick for me. Well, to be absolutely accurate, it's not really a tick, because Torwens are a "race" of Badger Face Welsh Mountain sheep, which I have seen before, but you know me, I'll tick anything! UK sheep life list = 5.

Badger Face Welsh Mountain. Is there a nicer type of sheep? The observant reader will notice that Torwens are the reverse of this (the nominate race??). However, this BFWM is different to any I've seen before because it has a dark band on it's back; perhaps it's a hybrid! (tick)


It's surprising what you see when you sit still for four hours! This was one of two foxes that passed by.






Disappointing, disappointing. This was meant to be an award winning photo of a red kite, with the sun catching it perfectly and a dark background behind. Instead it's a sad, out of focus also ran. This bird circled around me several times, probably waiting for me to die.


A false dawn. The sun trying to fool me into thinking it was going to be a nice day.....

2 comments:

  1. Nice one Colin, that was both amusing and informative. I guess you had a good day in spite of the weather.
    All the best Gordon.

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  2. You had me worried Col.
    Cheers Rob

    ReplyDelete