Sunshine brings allsorts out, Saturday 8th April 2017

What a stunningly beautiful day, the Pembrey reserve looked at it's best for early spring.

Of course not every day is straight forward, and today started off with a complaint from a horse rider that a dog had chased her and her daughters ponies down the beach.....

Then, although nothing to do with the reserve, the local RNLI Lifeboat was called out to assist a yacht in the estuary, a few hours later and the Coastguard helicopter did a round of the bay, the sunshine brings them out.....

Back to the reserve Wildlife was very evident with a pair if Pied Wagtails investigating the information shelter, a wandering Slow Worm, a couple of Field Voles and perhaps best of all a territorial male Lapwing, I wonder what he was up too?

Slow Worm

♂ Lapwing

A telephone call from local birder Adam informed me that he had found a female

BLACK REDSTART,  a first for the site, disappointedly I couldn't relocate it. Bird species 90 of 2017.

♀ Black Redstart (Photo Adam Dare)

♀ Black Redstart (Photo Adam Dare)

A different route to the main parking area, it's not actually meant to be a car park, and what a pile of rubbish, three quarters of a black bag from less than a sq metre; why can't people just take their litter home.

Site fidelity Friday 7th April 2017

With a perfect forecast I was up before the larks this morning and on site at Pembrey Burrows  by 05:45, with a few nets set by 06:15.

The clear skies clouded over to total cover by 06:30 and the slight breeze dropped away, disappointedly the clear skies overnight did not drop any obvious migrants into the reed bed area.

However I did catch a couple of Willow Warblers (Wilwa), the first was very bright and crisp looking and was an unringed bird.

The second bird was already carrying a ring, and upon closer inspection it was one of mine, the bird in question HLH257 was ringed originally in July of 2016 in the same net set as it was retrapped.

When originally ringed it had a wing length of 69mm,, with no recorded weight (the batteries  in the scales had run flat) today it had the same wing length and weighed 8.8g, I think what is remarkable is that this tiny bird left Pembrey last autumn to spend its winter south of the Sahel in tropical Africa, and then journey back again to Pembrey.... truly amazing.

Willow Warbler, HLH257

Its song is something to listen for as a herald of spring and warmer days