Saving the beetle part 2 Friday 24th February 2017

Well Storm Doris has left us relatively unscathed, there has been no damage caused on the reserve, in fact she has done some good with a lot of drift wood now exposed on the beach as well as a few new inundations of sand into the embryo dunes, all making more habitat available to The Strandline Beetle when they emerge from hibernation.

Top, a new area of sand blow inundation

Below,  a lot of drift wood has appeared after the storm

As well as relying on nature I have posted the Welsh Governments advice notice regarding the beetle and driftwood on our beaches; it's worth remembering of course that Cefn Sidan Beach has the full protection as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

We can but try!

With a huge improvement in the weather today I saw or rather heard my first queen Bumblebee, (she flew into the side window of the van). It was probably a White-tailed Bumblebee Bombus  lucorum, (thanks Barry)

First Bumblebee of the year, The White-tailed Bumblebee.

Saving the "beetle" Wednesday 22nd February 2017

What a better way to spend my birthday than being out in the damp drizzle that was Pembrey Burrows LNR.

Wednesday = volunteer day, the day when our little team meet to spend the day being useful, doing all those conservation management jobs that just would probably not get done, most days I am on my own so having other like-minded folk to talk too makes a change, cattle are not great conversationalists!!!!!

My previous posts have highlighted the plight of "The Strandline Beetle", today we made great progress in the mitigation plan to attempt to slow their decline.

The idea is to place 1m long logs with chainsaw cuts made along the length to provide a safe cwtch for the beetle to hide in.

First cut down your tree and cut it to length

Gather your logs

Cut the cwtch

The finished logs, waiting to be positioned in the spring

Its too soon to put the logs on the beach/embryo dunes but when we do I'll post an update.