Sands of Time & New Trails: Sunday 6th January 2019
Another calm overcast and cool morning, perfect for getting out and about, even if the Country Park seems busy its easy to get away from people.
If you venture to the eastern end of Pembrey Burrows nature reserve you will see the forces of nature in action, the effects of tide and wind are demonstrating what a sand dune system should be like, DYNAMIC!
I've discussed in previous blogs how a functioning sand dune system should look and feel, lots of mobile sand, a good covering of Marram Grass and then the more stable dunes away from the immediate coast. The weather in late December has had an interesting effect on the dunes at the eastern end, with a fair bit of erosion to begin with but then a lot of sand moved up onto the existing low dunes and now extending up to 30m inland. The longer term impact may result in a new dune ridge forming right above the beach, and an expanse of more open sand ready to be colonised by all sorts of creatures and plants.
Three years ago the fence in the photographs was around 50m from the beach maybe a bit more, now as you can see the fence in buried along at least 100m of its length, making it useless for its job of keeping the cattle in the grazing area, in the long term a new fence will need to be move much further inland to ensure it has some longevity.
Back in the Country Park the nature trails I've mentioned previously have now been marked out, there are four to follow each walk has a different coloured marker, (the photo has not shown the proper colours of Green and Blue), each one giving an insight to the different habitats and wildlife in the park. We are just waiting for the descriptions of each walk to be finalised when this is done you will be able to print off a map from the Country Park website.
There is a rather too healthy population of Grey Squirrels in the forest, currently there are signs of their activities to be seen. They are feeding on the cones of the Corsican Pines which they strip and eat the tiny seeds inside then discard the core, they are also doing a fair bit of digging, either caching the seeds or taking advantage of the mild winter to look for bulbs and tubers.
If you venture to the eastern end of Pembrey Burrows nature reserve you will see the forces of nature in action, the effects of tide and wind are demonstrating what a sand dune system should be like, DYNAMIC!
I've discussed in previous blogs how a functioning sand dune system should look and feel, lots of mobile sand, a good covering of Marram Grass and then the more stable dunes away from the immediate coast. The weather in late December has had an interesting effect on the dunes at the eastern end, with a fair bit of erosion to begin with but then a lot of sand moved up onto the existing low dunes and now extending up to 30m inland. The longer term impact may result in a new dune ridge forming right above the beach, and an expanse of more open sand ready to be colonised by all sorts of creatures and plants.
Three years ago the fence in the photographs was around 50m from the beach maybe a bit more, now as you can see the fence in buried along at least 100m of its length, making it useless for its job of keeping the cattle in the grazing area, in the long term a new fence will need to be move much further inland to ensure it has some longevity.
Back in the Country Park the nature trails I've mentioned previously have now been marked out, there are four to follow each walk has a different coloured marker, (the photo has not shown the proper colours of Green and Blue), each one giving an insight to the different habitats and wildlife in the park. We are just waiting for the descriptions of each walk to be finalised when this is done you will be able to print off a map from the Country Park website.
There is a rather too healthy population of Grey Squirrels in the forest, currently there are signs of their activities to be seen. They are feeding on the cones of the Corsican Pines which they strip and eat the tiny seeds inside then discard the core, they are also doing a fair bit of digging, either caching the seeds or taking advantage of the mild winter to look for bulbs and tubers.
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