Talk and Walk, Saturday 7th April 2017

-
I gave an illustrated talk on Friday evening to the Wales Wildlife Watch group which seemed to go well to an attentive and inquisitive audience.

Today in overcast and showery conditions saw the first guided event of the season, a beach walk on Cefn Sidan between CE51 and CE52, a group of 19 including 6 little ones was a good size. With so  much emphasis on the benefits to be gained from "getting outside" and enjoying the countryside and coast, some may be interested to know that todays walk of just over 2 miles (measured on a map), all the ups and downs of the dunes, contributed around 5000 steps to the daily target of 10000!



The walk thorough the reserve revealed a few things but with the season seemingly a few weeks behind we didn't have more than a few flowering plants in bloom, a torpid SLOW WORM raised some interest.

Once on the beach it was clear that the easterly wind of the last few days had covered the older tide lines with sand so we worked the lower beach with a decent array of creatures and shells.


working through the key for Shark egg-cases,
we decided we had a Blonde Ray case

With buckets filled with shells, crab casts, Sea Potatoes and seaweeds the little ones set about creating a "fish"



Some great feedback from the participants makes it all worthwhile.



Comments

  1. Unknown8 April 2018 at 00:21

    Looks like a very interesting day. We would have liked to attend but were not able to, maybe next time.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Tern of events Sunday 7th April

-
Image
  Prynhawn da pawb,  I hope you have all weathered storm Kathleen. It's been a heck of a week personally,  I'm hoping this coming week will be better. Well storm Kathleen is the last weather event we need but sadly any meagre control we may have had over our climate has long run out. On a brighter note though a phone call from the county bird recorder set me off to Sandy Water Park, (SWP) where 13 Arctic Terns, 2  Little Gulls and a mixed flock of 2-300+ mostly Sand Martins and a few Swallows were playing in the wind. Little Gull If you're up to speed with the last few months then you will know that we have installed bird nesting rafts on SWP and at Ffynnon Helyg near Pwll, with a view of hopefully attracting  Common Terns to nest !!. OK its a coincidence but a nice one Earlier in the week a Little Ringed Plover was seen flying over the SWP raft, what's that saying, build and they will come! Lots of migrant birds have now arrived and we have some great places to seek th
Read more

SLOW WORM fest..

-
Image
  Croseo pawb,  Another busy week which has kept me on my toes, as usual, I've dealt with fish poaching, illegal vehicle intrusion, and odd things going on with a "Badger Sett". The relevant authorities are dealing with the poaching and vehicle issues whilst I have investigated the "goings on". Nothing of concern as there is no Badger sett just an outlier burrow probably an old boar Badger or one of last years youngsters pushed out from the main sett, quite common at this time of year when the sow badgers will be giving birth. Our amazing volunteers have been out and about, today they were at Morfa Berwig LNR, where I joined them this afternoon for their first reptile survey of the year, a very productive survey with 16 refugia to check and a total of 22  Slow worms, five Grass snakes, although two were out basking away from the refugia and just one Common Lizard. One refugia had seven Slow worms in a loose ball under it an incredible sight, another had Slow w
Read more

Carmarthenshire - Did you Know?

-
Image
  Well its ages since I've found time to write a blog post apologies for that but here we go with some interesting facts and personal thoughts about Carmarthenshire wildlife, and a bit further afield. Did you know: That we have a County plant, Whorled Caraway, Carum verticullatum ; found in typical Rhos pasture a feature of the Carmarthenshire landscape though often under threat from changes in agricultural practices Did you Know: That there are 311 species of birds recorded as being seen in the county, a respectable figure by an measure, amongst the rarities are Blue-winged Teal, a species from North America, Black Stork an European species which itself has a limited range. Having a decent stretch of well watched coastline the county is well placed for observers to document the seasonal arrival and departures of migrating birds such as Northern Wheatear, Swift, Willow Warbler, the Carmarthenshire Bird Club is a very welcoming bunch of like minded individuals and its well worth joi
Read more