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

With the warm weather continuing the horseflies were a real pest this morning so I beat a hasty retreat from the centre of the reserve, no point in being insect food and getting all swollen....  I picked up the litter from CE53 car park and filled a black bag with a selection of rubbish including some suspicious empty packets with a very "earthy" smell, cannabis! so with a combination of drugs, and drink, (judging by the cans and bottles also picked up) the idiots then must have driven home! I was cheered up, after depositing the rubbish and recycling, to visit a confidential site and find THREE well grown healthy BARN OWL chicks they just need a few more weeks of peace and quiet before being ready to venture out on their own. Barn Owls are a schedule 1 protected species, during breeding the breeding site enjoys the same protection afforded by the law. Barn Owl chick (library photo)

Tuesday evening saw me starting the autumn ringing at Pembrey LNR, with a modest catch of Sedge warblers, Swallows and Pied Wagtails, I also put the moth trap out which saw me at the reserve at 4am this morning closing down and collecting the meagre selection of moths. With a total of 19 moths of 11 species it wasn't the best nights trapping but there were a few nice moths to show for it, including another Reddish Light Arches, Garden tiger and Scarce Footman. Garden Tiger Scarce footman Being Wednesday there were a few jobs to be done, repairing stiles and fences!, whilst stopped for lunch we noticed an enormous (25mm long) "horsefly" bothering the cattle, it turned out to be the Dark Giant Horsefly, Tabanus sudeticus , they prefer ponies and cattle but will bite humans and have been known to induce anaphylactic shock in susceptible people. The "standard" horseflies were biting well when we went into the reedbeds to clear the ringing rid