Working on the Morrey Salmon images such as the one of a Blackbirds nest taken in April 1912 it became clear that there was a lot of untapped information in the diaries that the National Museum of Wales had stored as part of the Collection
However on initial review it became clear that what the Museum had stored as Morrey Salmon's diaries were actually Geoffrey Ingram's and the Salmon diaries were missing.
Luckily a number of the Salmon diaries have been located by the family and have been passed to the project team and are now being transcribed (the handwriting is difficult) and we have the following from this time 102 years ago
|
Sunday 2nd
March 1913 |
6.4am. HNS
& HMS. Port Talbot to Porthcawl. |
|
Saturday 8th
March |
5.45am. HMS.
Radyr Quarry & Wood. Found
beginning of 1 Thrushes nest and another half finished & partly
lined. Wren not started under old
tree. Heard Goldcrest. Saw Redwing & Bullfinch. |
This suggests that he went to the first location with someone else (it could be one of his brothers or Herbert Short) and the second location himself. His entries are very brief
Compare that with the following by Geoffrey Ingram who kept a fascinating detailed diary of bird sightings and behaviour at this same time
March 2nd 1913
Watched a Missle Thrush mobbing a pair of Jackdaws in the grounds of Roath Court. The birds wished to alight on a beech tree that the Thrush had evidently selected as a nesting site 7 it was very amusing to watch is chasing the poor Doves from pillar to post
March 5th 1913
Started out by myself at 6.10 A.M. for the Wild Park. Thrushes, Blackbirds, Robins & Hedge Sparrows singing as I cycled up. A number of Duck on the lake mostly Mallards & Tufted although I heard a Wigeons whistle several times. Chaffinches & Wren singing as I entered the Wild Gardens Had a look through the wood & around the South-east end but found no signs of any nest. Saw a Magpie & heard a Green Woodpecker. Also saw a pair of Long Tailed Tits two or three Moorhens Great Tits, Blue Tits, & heard the Bullfinches. Nice clear morning & very mild Marsh Mallows, Daisy’s & Primroses in bloom & leaves appearing on Hawthorn, Honeysuckle, Field Rose & a number of other Trees & Shrubs
All of their records went into the Cardiff Naturalists Bird reports and subsequently into the County Avifaunas and we owe these pioneers a huge debt of gratitude for their work which we can now use to see how the city and climate have changed over the intervening 102 years
Note the spelling of Mistle thrush, this is how it was recorded in his early dairies, the more usual modern spelling was adopted later
Picture now copyright National Museum of Wales, used under CNS licence
