Sea watch event Saturday 23rd September 2017

The last of the programme of events for Spring/Summer 2017, saw a hardy few gather to stare out into Carmarthen Bay on an overcast damp morning with a steady south to south east wind blowing.

There was little variety but decent numbers of expected birds for the time of year, 

Gannets stole the show with well over 100 feeding off Burry Holm, accompanied by again over 100 Kittiwakes and at least two Arctic Skuas which could be seen harassing the gulls.

Arctic Skua

Kittiwake

Other species included, bar tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Sanderling, Oystercatchers, Common and Black headed Gull.

Bar tailed Godwit

Keep checking for details of any autumn/winter event, with autumn now officially here, it's certainly all change on the bird front, so expect to start seeing/hearing wintering duck; Teal, Wigeon, and Pintail on the marsh, along with Snipe and possibly Jack Snipe.

Strandline Beetle last survey of 2017 Thursday 21st September 2017

Well I'm planning that todays survey will be the last of 2017, but lets wait and see.

Only one section was left to do today, the eastern end of Cefn Sidan in the nature reserve, sadly not one beetle was found, given that there was very little surface debris I wasn't surprised still it was disappointing.

On a slightly brighter note there was hardly any plastic on that stretch of beach.

What was lacking in beetles was made up for by the large flocks of Goldfinches and Linnets, busily feeding on the fast seeding dune plants, as well as amongst the strandline.

A great afternoon to be out, even though it was supposed to be a "day off"!.

The survey area, divided by the red lines, green dots show best areas for Standline Beetle, full report will be in the annual review

Sycthing Wednesday 20th September 2017

In conjunction with Bumblebee Conservation our little team of volunteers the local BCT officer, Sinead, and Simeon our conservation officer, took part in a training session on Scything.

A happy team

I am a bit of a convert having seen Veronica swishing through our Snipe refuge area a few weeks ago.

Paul Thornton from the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales facilitated in a simple straightforward way.

Listen up!

The scythes are all brand new from Scythe Cymru near Carmarthen and are nothing like the tool I first used over 30 years ago, which had a blade of bonded cast iron and was so heavy it put me off the utopic idea of "mowing a meadow".

We covered the assembly, personalisation, honing (sharpening) and techniques involved before lunch then we got stuck in to some easy sward before tackling what Paul described as "not the best sward to learn on" but we soon developed a technique which worked and delivered results.

The tough Sward

At the end of the session everyone was impressed by the quantity of "arisings" that needed to be raked up and removed.

a few bales worth of arisings

Morfa Berwig Ringing Tuesday 19th September 2017

I dream't of perfect catching conditions today, overcast through the night, dry no wind and an over cast morning. instead clear skies overnight and this morning at least there was no breeze!! but it was cold with a heavy dew.

Using just a few nets there were a few birds to ring, dominated by Blackcaps and Chiffchaff, plus a family party of  five Bullfinch, starring birds were a Cettis Warbler and an immature male Sparrowhawk.

I have never caught a Sparrowhawk before and after much deliberation on my part eventually the bird was aged and sexed correctly, (should have taken the correct text book with me).

Cettis Warbler

Sparrowhawk

The importance of the weather conditions cannot be underestimated, had it been overcast during the night or in the hours before dawn it is likely that night time migrants like Blackcaps would have been more inclined to slow down their migration, a clear night gives them perfect conditions to just keep going until first light.....

Monday 18th September 2017

The on going management of the Sea Buckthorn stepped up a pace today, with commencement of the autumn spraying programme.

The areas cut late last winter, (2kms) have some regrowth as expected and this is the right time to spray a glysophate weedkiller, as the plant begins to shut down for the winter drawing its energy back into the root system; thus absorbing the chemical much more efficiently. 

The team will probably be on site for about three weeks depending on the weather, you can't spray when its windy!

We were joined this morning by a group of housing officers who had taken up the invite from the councils wellbeing team to get outside in the fresh air and contribute to improving our public spaces....this inevitably means a litter pick which everyone got stuck into.

There wasn't a great deal of plastic today, mostly fishing ropes and cockle bags. We managed a to collect about eight bags sadly all for landfill, no Strandline Beetles were disturbed during the litter pick, I kept a very close eye on proceedings.

Another day of big skies over Carmarthen bay with Saundersfoot glinting in the distance, opps no photo!

Feel like autumn, Sunday 17th September 2017

After a forced, (ill health), absence of 10 days it was good to be back at Pembrey Burrows on a crisp clear morning.

Even in such a short period of time the season has moved on with many flowers now well past their best, and a change over in the birds; noticeable today was the steady stream of Swallows, Sand Martins, and House Martins moving along the coast, and the increase in vocal Skylarks.

With many plants setting seeds a flock of around 25 Linnets were making the most of the glut of seeds on the marsh, although the sight of a Greater Spotted Woodpecker over the marsh was unusual.

Linnet

With vandalism of the fences in the past few weeks, and following several escapes, the cattle are a little mixed up, trying to get a proper count was nigh on impossible today, I'll try again tomorrow.

Veronica and daughter were doing the final butterfly survey of the season, I joined them for a little while before leaving them to finish off, butterflies were a bit thin on the ground but I had earlier seen a Silver Y moth on the marsh.

Silver Y

A period of better weather and some big tides should be interesting in what they bring to the reserve.

Next Event is Saturday 23rd September at 8am, a sea watch!