Saturday, 13 June 2020

Lockdown observations Saturday 13th June 2020

It's not over yet, yes restrictions have been eased very slightly but the overall message remains, Stay At Home.

For those venturing out to exercise keep safe, to those venturing out to be stupid, well you need to think about what you are doing and how it affects other peoples enjoyment of the freedom to be outdoors.

You will remember the recent blog about the fire in Pembrey Forest over the days of 29th, 30th and 31st May, and the lack of significant rain, (well until the last few days). 


The fire was declared out! well in reality the fire had not gone out properly, yes there were no flames but it had moved underground burning slowly in the humus under the trees, so it was little surprise to be called to investigate smoke discovered  by some walkers on 8th June, they had managed to pour their drinking water on the smouldering ground. We also went and checked again on the 9th June and found another smouldering patch, now luckily these patches were !in the black" that is to say they were inside burnt ground and unlikely to cause a real problem but we doused the area with water just to make sure.
Doesn't look like much but there were a few of them and the ground was hot to touch


Apprentice ranger Llinos! 
(actually sales & promotions coordinator)

After the rainfall of recent days hopefully all smouldering patches have been extinguished.

On a brighter notes the lack of visitors to the countryside has given wildlife a real chance to take advantage of the peace and quiet with some real good sightings of Badgers and Foxes.
The plants have done well, not so much because of the lack of visitors but more due to the weather, I found a very nice patch of Common Broomrape, Orobanche minor, this is a parasitic plant which gets it's nutrients from the host plants usually plants in the daisy or Asteraceae family.
Common Broomrape

Good news, All of the county's Country Parks and Green Spaces are open although with some changed opening times, no facilities and social distancing restrictions apply. KEEP SAFE.

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