WOW busy busy, Friday 26th January 2018

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, (Colin Dalton)

Meanwhile back at Morfa Berwig, the contractor found that the lorry was bogged down in the mud!!!!

Surprising what my little van is capable of.....problem solved

The first bridge is 90% refurbished  complete and safe to use.

Burry Port Woodlands Wednesday 24th January 2018

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 proximity of the sea, less than 500m, there were very few wind affected trees with many of them having very straight trunks.

Simeon pointing out the Oak not to mark! (opps)

Luckily the worst of the weather had passed through by the time we started, the shocking thing for me was the amount of dog mess within the first two hundred metres of the car park, unbelievably disgusting, it was like "hopscotch" not to step in it, then the number of bags of dog poo hanging from the bushes beggars belief!

Veronica marking away

WEBS count Cefn Sidan/ Pembrey Coast SSSI Sunday 21st January 2018

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?