Message in a bottle and the miracle of nature Wednesday 4th July 2017

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An overcast morning was in sharp contrast to the last few weeks, slightly cooler and much more bearable.

 Wednesday's are usually volunteer day, but with holidays and a lack of jobs there seemed little point in dragging the team out.

 We have had two lads on work experience in the country park so I was asked to give them a tour of the Pembrey Burrows LNR, the plan was a reptile survey and then a Strandline Beetle survey.

The reptile survey was disappointing, even at 09:30 I think it was too warm and most reptiles had warmed up and were already on the move, we did however find a GRASS SNAKE about 40cm long, and a WOOD MOUSE.


The survey for the Strandline Beetle was even more unproductive with none seen, this is the second unproductive survey this season.

We did however find a genuine "message in a bottle", with a bit of trouble including a finger well and truly stuck we managed to retrieve and read the rather sad message, a little too sad to publish on the blog.


On a brighter note we noticed a good number of the daytime flying, SIX SPOT BURNET MOTHS on the wing as well as a caterpillar starting to spin a cocoon, the photos illustrate the sequence of events.
Caterpillar starting to spin a cocoon 

A fresh cocoon 

An older, faded cocoon, from which an adult moth has emerged,
 see the two black "horns"

Adult Six-spot Burnet Moth

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