Saturday 27th August 2016

Early start pays off.....

Well it wasn't that early really, on site for 06:00 and just two nets set in the Sea Buckthorn/Gorse scrub near the information shelter., with a distinct nip in the air and a real autumnal feeling.

A steady run of birds including, Willow Warbler, Dunnock, Blackcap and Whitethroat, with the star bird of the session being a Pied Flycatcher, not only the first ringed at Pembrey Burrows, but the first I have ever ringed.

Common Whitethroat

Pied Flycatcher, aged on a combination of features

but middle tertial clinched the age as a 3, hatched
this year (hard to see in the photo's)

This bird was different to the bird I saw on Wednesday, which after discussing the photo with a friend was most likely and adult bird, while today's was definitely a bird of the year BTO code 3.

Pied Flycatcher

With Wednesday's bird being the first for the site and then today a second I wonder how many of this under recorded, (away from its breeding woods) summer migrant pass along the coast.

Pied Flycatcher

Wednesday 24th August 2016

You just never know what will turn up.....

I was just pottering along in the van this morning thinking about the day ahead when it occurred to me that there were quite a few birds in the scrub along the track to the information shelter.....

Then a bird flitted into view and landed in front of the van  and flew straight back up into the bushes, it took a few seconds for it to register that the bird was in fact a Pied Flycatcher, a ♀ type and a cracking record for the reserve.

Pied Flycatcher, record shot

The rest of the day was spent with the "Wednesday Crew" doing a range of tasks that seemed to involve a fair bit of dog poo!!!!, as well as rummaging through refuse skips for useful objects like an old bath.... (water trough for cattle).

On the wildlife front a Barn Owl box with a Honey Bees colony in residence was a startling sight, just as well we didn't have a ladder to check the box.

The sight of two quad bikes emerging over the top of the dunes brought smiles, (of course we were smiling not the idiots on the quads)....there is never a dull  moment in the countryside..

19th - 21st August 2016

A taste of autumn....

The past few days have seen a real good mix of weather, culminating in a day and night of gales with wind speeds at Pembrey of 63mph, and yes its still August.

The Carmarthenshire Bird Club event on Thursday saw 21 members enjoy a mixed bag of waders and gulls but only low numbers of terns, Sandwich Terns being the only species seen

Amongst the waders the surprise was 6 or 8 Bar-tailed Godwits, also present were over 4000 Oystercatchers, 84 Ringed Plover, a handful of Dunlin and Knot. A Common Sandpiper was new for the reserve 2016 bird list.

Gulls were present in good numbers with Black-headed the most abundant, Herring, Lesser and Greater Black-backed, Common and Mediterranean all in reasonable numbers, A couple of Gannets offshore, and a Fulmar which came in very close off the estuary completed the seabirds.

Black-headed Gull

Land birds included  2 Northern Wheatear, Linnets, Stonechat, Rock Pipits and Pied Wagtails, and an adult and juvenile Peregrine.

Stonechat ♂

On Friday I was joined by eight people for another look at the high tide, a similar range of birds were seen, but Black-tailed Godwit was new however the highlight was undoubtedly a Kittiwake first found by Veronica.

Saturday saw a good friend, Nick, come and stayed for the weekend and despite the less than seasonal weather we ventured out and were treated to a Spoonbill fly in to the main creek in the marsh. This brought the reserve 2016 bird list to a credible 110 species.

After a break for food we went back out around 18:00hrs and found little different on the tide, however a large dark Skua species was found mid channel but in the conditions a firm identity was difficult.

Sunday saw better conditions and a visit to Pembrey Old Harbour turned up a couple more Northern Wheatear, and best of all the Spoonbill was seen flying into the pond/marsh of Field 2

Eurasian Spoonbill (this is one of my personal library photos)