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

An early morning to see the contractors at Morfa Berwig, refurbishing the bridges on the main path. The first Primrose flowers, Cettis Warblers, Robins and Blackbirds singing in the morning sunshine,- the first dry day for what seems like ages. A phone call from one of our regulars at Pembrey Burrows to alert me to the fact that there had been a breakout from F2, with three of the boys munching on the salt marsh!!. Having found the breach in the fence and repaired it, I wandered over to see what could be done to get the boys back in the field. They showed no interest in moving, and why would they, with all those lovely tasty salt marsh plants to graze. They soon moved with some mechanical encouragement when the grazier turned up,  with a little effort we got the three across the marsh and into the field. A flip side of rounding cattle was a count of 55 Snipe, oh then 54 as a male Peregrine took advantage of the situation.... Common Snipe

Today saw us with Simeon Jones, Conservation Officer, in Burry Port Woodlands, at the Western end of the Millennium Coast Park. The woodlands are part of a four year Glastir scheme, (the Welsh Government scheme for sustainable land management) and are about 15 years old. Today was about selecting one in three trees, from an area not yet thinned, and marking them for felling as part of the cycle of thinning the woodland to ensure the habitat is in the best condition it can be. See the  Welsh Government website for more details http://gov.wales/topics/environmentcountryside/farmingandcountryside/farming/schemes The woodland is mostly comprised of Grey Alder, Silver Birch, Willow sp, Corsican Pine, Whitebeam Sp, Blackthorn, Ash, Oak and a few Maple spp and Holly; we didn't see a great deal of Ash dieback but it is present, some of the Holly in the woodlands have a very symmetrical shape, which is probably indicative of the total lack of grazing. Considering the proxi

Today was the WEBS count, so in appalling weather I met Edward the WWT Intern at high tide and we drove the five miles of the beach from Pembrey Country Park to Tywyn Point. We got the timing perfect this morning and the poor weather mean't there were very few people on the beach Section A was a bit quiet but we soon got into some decent birds and good numbers in section B; highlights included: OYSTERCATCHER 7363, HERRING GULL 1021, SANDERLING 465, DUNLIN 353,                GREY PLOVER 40, GBB GULL 66, KNOT 189, & BAR TAILED GODWIT 25 Sanderling The oddest discovery was a TAMWORTH PIG, although it would have taken a very good Vet to bring it back to life..... Where the hell did this Tamworth come from?