Spring is nearly here!

[roselanekoi]

Well winter's not quite done with us. This photo was taken on Bryn Alyn the day after the previous snow had all melted. Thankfully this time the snow was only on the hills and not on the pond, Bryn Alyn's summit is 403m.

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A lovely sunny morning, great to be out walking with the dog.

[roselanekoi]

This stone footbridge over Afon Cwm Llan is a popular location for photographer ascending Snowdon via the nearby Watkin Path, whilst the deep pools above the footbridge are also very popular on hot days in the summer for walkers to cool down in.

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I've visited the lower sections of the Watkin Path on a number of occasions as it's quite picturesque. It's not a route I've used to walk up to the summit of Snowdon however, as the higher sections are quite steep and the path is not the easiest to walk up. As well as the usual slate workings in the area there were also some copper mines in the area.

Summers finally on its way as on May 1st I saw a couple of swallows whilst out walking the dog. I've also heard the cuckoo at two separate locations recently whilst walking the dog in the nearby Clwyidian Hills.

[roselanekoi]

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This photo is of the Afon Mawddach taken in the Coed Y Brenin forest near Dolgellau.

The area was famous for its gold mining after gold was discovered in the area in the 1840's. There have been at least 24 major mines operating over the years with peak gold production occurring in 1904 when 19655 ounces of gold were produced from 23203 tons of quartz ore. The ore was crushed using a water wheel powered machine similar to the one below, the fine dust was then mixed with mercury to extract the gold. Welsh gold was traditionally used for royal wedding rings and was therefore much in demand by the jewellery trade.

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The last mine closed in 1990 and the area is now better know as a mecca for mountain bikers using the forestry roads and trails based around the Coed Y Brenin Visitor Centre. The forest is also frequently used as a stage for the RAC Rally.

[roselanekoi]

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This is Benny my 18 month old springer spaniel. He's been a constant companion on all my walks over the last year. His recall is very good so, unless there are sheep present, it's quite safe to let him off the lead and for every mile I walk he probably runs at least two.

[roselanekoi]

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It looks as though spring is going to be early this year.

The blackthorn bushes are in full blossom, the daffs have been flowering for a couple of weeks now and the frogs have started spawning in my small garden wildlife pond. One word of caution however, on the 25th of March, 2013 I measured 14 inches of snow on my pond covers after it had snowed continuously 2 days so it's a little early just yet to be saying that winter is over.

[roselanekoi]

Well now that spring is here it's time for us to think about our koi, we are a koi club after all.

I've been busy cleaning out the filters ready for coming years koi keeping.

I recently purchased 5 small koi (Tosai) from Quality Nishikigoi in Warrington, Tim has a number of offers on at the moment with 5 koi for £200. As they are going into my heated indoor tank I was able to take them home with me but Tim won't let anyone put them into an unheated outside pond until the weather warms up a bit more.

Here are the 5 koi pictured below.

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The koi are all in the 20cm - 25cm size range and have settled in well, coming up for food when I feed them.