Opportunities, Sunday 29th March 2020

So the clocks have gone forward, and the weather is more like a winters day, cold dry and clear with a biting wind. Nonetheless if you are able to take some exercise, in line with the guidance and instructions we are living to, even just in the garden,then the chances are you will bump into nature.

I appreciate many of you are unable to get out and take some exercise, but living about 300m from Sandy Water Park gives me an opportunity to walk around the lake, on alternate days, which is about 1 mile, a slight detour gives me views out over the Burry inlet and Carmarthen Bay.

Yesterday it was on my walk, with only a handful of others around, I stopped to check the sea for anything of interest, a dark blob just offshore turned into a dark coloured duck, looking a little chunky then it dived, when it surfaced it took flight and the dark blob showed a lot of white in the "secondaries" of its wing feathers, it took a few seconds to eliminate what it wasn't, and come to the conclusion it was a Velvet Scoter, "a scarce but regular winter visitor amongst the Common Scoters in Carmarthen Bay" (Carmarthenshire Bird Report 2018)

The Velvet Scoter breeds in Scandinavia on remote tundra, wintering as far south as the Mediterranean. Whilst the numbers of wintering Common Scoter in Carmarthen Bay are well documented the scarcity of the Velvet Scoter results in less records.

As an example,see the very obvious white secondaries in the lead bird

(photo from google)

There were clearly lots more Chiffchaffs singing in the woodland than a week ago showing that whilst humans are in "lockdown" nature is carrying on.

As if to reinforce that message, I was sat in the garden a little while after returning from my walk to receive a call from Bernie a local birder who had just seen an Osprey fly in from the South and was heading my way, looking up all I could see was a circling Buzzard but then the local gulls got very noisy and were not happy that an Osprey was heading through their territory. (The Buzzard wasn't too pleased either)

Osprey

(Wikimedia free to use and share)

So it proves just go out into your garden and look up, as I also had a Red Kite fly over.

Lots of Hoverflies on the wing at the moment and a few butterflies keep a look out especially if the weather gets warmer.

In the meantime stay safe.