Saturday 23rd July 2016

Carmarthenshire Bird Club Guided Walk

Postponed from last Saturday due to the weather, today saw 16 club members join me for a great mornings walk across the reserve at Pembrey.

Billed a butterflies and birds, I threw in a few dragonflies and, of course, plants.

I didn't take any photo's (too busy talking) but we saw a decent variety of butterflies as well as dragonflies, including Migrant Hawker, Emperor, Common Darter along with Common Bluet and Blue-tailed damselfly.

It was a real pleasure to take out such a nice bunch of likeminded people onto "my" patch; given the time of year birds were thin on the ground but we managed to see some of the regulars including Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Linnet, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, some very distant Dunlin and three Sandwich Terns.

Meadow Pipit

Friday 22nd July 2016

SEA? Sea? sea?

That's today's theme all things sea, well mostly!,

After the repairs to the roof of the information shelter aka, Paul's hut!, I gave a quick coat of Ronseal to the weather exposed sides, that should hold it for a few months....

Patched and painted!!

As the morning became warmer and less humid I set off to do a recce for the bird club guided walk tomorrow, thankfully its Butterflies, Dragonflies and Birds, cos there ain't many birds about, having said that a small flock of Dunlin on the beach was noteworthy.

The salt marsh is looking amazing with swathes of Sea Lavender in full bloom.

Common Sea Lavender, Limonium vulgare

With a good mix of Butterflies on the wing it bodes well for tomorrow, with Small Blue, Grayling, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Marbled White, and Dark green Fritillary all seen on the walk to the beach.

Because we are one of the few dune systems in Wales to have embryonic dunes, we have a nice selection of "pioneer" plants, such as Sand Couch, Prickly Saltwort, and Sea Rocket, these pioneers are able to strike roots almost at the high water mark setting in motion the stabilisation and building of a dynamic dune system.

Sand Couch, Elytrigia juncea

Prickly Saltwort, Salsola kali

Sea Rocket, Cakile maritime

There are also a few more plants in bloom with a "sea" theme, such as  Spurge sp, and Sea-holly.

Sea-holly, Eryngium maritimum

Spurge sp, Eurphobia spp, (because I didn't pay attention to the plant!)

Wednesday 20th July 2016

You scratch my back I'll scratch yours......!

Today was cooler than yesterday, which was the hottest July day since 2006, the garden weather station touched 33'c with little or no breeze....

At Morfa Berwig LNR for a bit of path clearing and the installation of a "new" seat at the eastern end of the reserve.

The seat is not new, in many senses as the uprights are made of recycled plastic,

the seat was a tree and the whole thing was originally at another location where it was neglected and not used.

Work in progress

Ready for use...

There are now a nice selection of ponies on site for conservation grazing, they are making an instant impact and will soon have the vegetation under control.

You scratch my back....

After lunch we went back to "my" patch at Pembrey Burrows LNR and, at last, repaired the roof of the shelter, hopefully the weather will be kinder to the building this autumn and winter.

At last