Autumn marches on Monday 17th August 2020

-

The natural world doesn't follow the calendar as we do, it moves to it's own rhythm and can be evidenced by the birds we consider to be passage migrants, that's to say some arrive for the summer and some arrive for the winter.

I see from the Carmarthenshire Bird Club sightings page that Ospreys have been seen today, origin will be unknown but their destination is likely to be West Africa, probably in the Senegal/Gambia regions were large numbers of them spend the winter and for this years youngsters they will probably spend a few summers there also.

See the source image

Osprey Migration 

Northern Wheatears are another passage migrant that has appeared along the Carmarthenshire coast this week, this bird has one of the longest migrations for a passerine (perching bird), with individuals travelling as far as the Arctic to breed.

Image result for northern wheatear migration routesNorthern Wheatear migration

Sanderling are another bird which travels long distances between its breeding and wintering grounds, of course not all of the birds travel all of the route with many spending their winter on our very own Cefn Sidan, which can have around 1.5% of the world population feeding on the beach, numbers of this "clockwork" like bird have built rapidly in the past few weeks with close to 1000 birds present currently.


Image result for sanderling migration routesSanderling Migration


As well as these long distance travellers there are plenty of great wildlife sightings to be had at the moment, with good numbers of dragonflies including Migrant Hawker and Common Darter on the wing.


Image result for Common DarterCommon Darter





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Tern of events Sunday 7th April

-
Image
  Prynhawn da pawb,  I hope you have all weathered storm Kathleen. It's been a heck of a week personally,  I'm hoping this coming week will be better. Well storm Kathleen is the last weather event we need but sadly any meagre control we may have had over our climate has long run out. On a brighter note though a phone call from the county bird recorder set me off to Sandy Water Park, (SWP) where 13 Arctic Terns, 2  Little Gulls and a mixed flock of 2-300+ mostly Sand Martins and a few Swallows were playing in the wind. Little Gull If you're up to speed with the last few months then you will know that we have installed bird nesting rafts on SWP and at Ffynnon Helyg near Pwll, with a view of hopefully attracting  Common Terns to nest !!. OK its a coincidence but a nice one Earlier in the week a Little Ringed Plover was seen flying over the SWP raft, what's that saying, build and they will come! Lots of migrant birds have now arrived and we have some great places to seek th
Read more

SLOW WORM fest..

-
Image
  Croseo pawb,  Another busy week which has kept me on my toes, as usual, I've dealt with fish poaching, illegal vehicle intrusion, and odd things going on with a "Badger Sett". The relevant authorities are dealing with the poaching and vehicle issues whilst I have investigated the "goings on". Nothing of concern as there is no Badger sett just an outlier burrow probably an old boar Badger or one of last years youngsters pushed out from the main sett, quite common at this time of year when the sow badgers will be giving birth. Our amazing volunteers have been out and about, today they were at Morfa Berwig LNR, where I joined them this afternoon for their first reptile survey of the year, a very productive survey with 16 refugia to check and a total of 22  Slow worms, five Grass snakes, although two were out basking away from the refugia and just one Common Lizard. One refugia had seven Slow worms in a loose ball under it an incredible sight, another had Slow w
Read more

Carmarthenshire - Did you Know?

-
Image
  Well its ages since I've found time to write a blog post apologies for that but here we go with some interesting facts and personal thoughts about Carmarthenshire wildlife, and a bit further afield. Did you know: That we have a County plant, Whorled Caraway, Carum verticullatum ; found in typical Rhos pasture a feature of the Carmarthenshire landscape though often under threat from changes in agricultural practices Did you Know: That there are 311 species of birds recorded as being seen in the county, a respectable figure by an measure, amongst the rarities are Blue-winged Teal, a species from North America, Black Stork an European species which itself has a limited range. Having a decent stretch of well watched coastline the county is well placed for observers to document the seasonal arrival and departures of migrating birds such as Northern Wheatear, Swift, Willow Warbler, the Carmarthenshire Bird Club is a very welcoming bunch of like minded individuals and its well worth joi
Read more