Paul's Blog - All comments and views are my own,

There are several Local Nature Reserves in the county, although my effort is mainly at Pembrey Burrrows. The newest designation, as I've mentioned before is at Morfa Berwig, an interesting reclaimed industrial/brownfield site to the east of Llanelli, and near the WWT centre. The entrance sign waiting for a coat of Linseed oil I spent this morning there, and saw only one other person, it was overcast and quite cool with a steady breeze, there wasn't much to see but a handful of Teal, a Buzzard, Grey Heron, Little Egret and one Common Snipe. Pond a year old, already well used I hadn't bothered with wellies so didn't venture into the fields where I'm certain there would have been more Snipe, in hindsight it may have been interesting to see what sort of numbers there were. Afon Goch, with great Cetti's Warbler habitat on the far bank There are a mixture of habitats on the reserve, with dry/damp Gorse scrub, wet rushy meadows, reed beds,

There is currently tree thinning taking place in Pembrey Country Park, so it was interesting to go along and see the work taking place. The trees being felled are Corsican Pine, planted many years ago, some are a good size, with one in three being cut to open up the forest and allowing the under storey to develop. These days it's down to machinery, rather than a team with chainsaws, to do the job and with 33 trees being felled, snedded and corded in an hour it's a pretty impressive machine. Whilst we were in the park we went and put the Barn Owl box, which had been taken over by Honey bees in the autumn, back into use. There was another stunning sunset after a day of clear blue skies. Thanks to Veronica for today's photographs

It pays to pop out at odd times, this evening I wanted to set the camera trap which meant I had to leave deployment until as late as possible to avoid the wrong type of prying eyes. There were a surprising number of people about, even as the sun had set, however there were nowhere near as many people as there were Jackdaws in the pre roost gathering. How many Jackdaws and Carrion Crows? I estimate there were 700+ birds if anyone wants to count then feel free to let me know the answer, use the comments section. Close up? An update on the camera trap, tomorrow??  

It's such a shame that not all of the visitors to the Pembrey reserve and the eight mile long Cefn Sidan beach, appreciate the site for it's sheer simple beauty. This morning I pulled into one of the car parks, and immediately noticed a van plus an empty trailer parked up, oh and then tyre marks across the sandy path to the beach. I followed the trail and saw that it then veered off across the dunes QUAD BIKES! tell tale signs Sure enough two quad bikes appeared with dad + one and mum + one, totally oblivious to the issue, so what is the issue? The dunes are a LNR, SSSI, and parts are a SAC, the beach is a SSSI, both areas are owned and managed by the local authority, supported by Natural Resources Wales. Forgetting any damage that may be caused, there's the good old Health & Safety concerns, even at 9am there were quite a few walkers, dogs and horse riders on the beach! They went on their way with a clear message ........, ironically it emer