Migration in full Swing 24th August 2024

 Prynhawn da Pawb - good afternoon.

I have missed a lot of field work this year, bizarrely I have less time to be out and about now that its my job; than I had when I was a volunteer which now seems like years ago.

This morning I managed to catch the 8.5m tide at Old Pembrey Harbour, in quite nice conditions the heavy rain passing over Gower, did you know its wrong to call it "The" Gower.

A good number of birds species were present with, the usual Oystercatchers, Sanderling, Ringed Plover, a few Turnstones, Black-headed, Herring and Greater Black -backed Gull, Sandwich and Common Terns. it was nice that a couple of local birders were able to show some non-birders the range of birds on show and explain about the transient nature of the tern species.

The birds became quite restless and after a few minutes they all took flight, looking up the reason was very apparent an Osprey was circling overhead, what a sight.

The tides are dropping now but it will still be worth calling down to this easy vantage point to see what's hanging around.

Last week I led a beach safari at Pendine beach, at first looks it was pretty poor, but the 37 people that turned up! soon started to find the common stuff. As the session was winding down one of the youngsters said "what's this?" well that turned into a new species for me, she had found an empty Tusk Shell, Antalis vulgaris. 

Wikipedia says....

Antalis vulgaris, commonly known as the common tusk shell, is a species of scaphopods mainly encountered on sandy bottoms from 5 to 1000 meters depth

Antalis vulgaris is a small mollusc of 3 to 6 cm length with a characteristic elephant tusk shape. Its shell is opaque white and displays closely spaced longitudinal striations on the posterior portion. The anterior aperture (thinnest end) is circular and is occluded by a septum with a central pipe bearing a circular orifice.

That's all folks.

Ffynnon Helyg near Pwll

 Bore da pawb,

I thought I would provide a focus on one of our sites, well a site within a site, Ffynnon Helyg, also known as Pwll fishing lake; following a failed attempt at creating a coarse fishery many years ago.

The site, a lake surrounded by Phragmite reedbed, some fen and wet woodland, lies within the Millennium Coast Park just east of the Pwll Pavillion cafe.

The lake is subject to large fluctuations in depth following heavy rain and high tides, when the raft was put in, see later, the 5m long anchor ropes were not long enough due not only to the depth of the water but also the softness of the lake bottom we added another 5m of rope to each anchor point which did the trick, it does mean though that the raft wanders around a bit!

The 9.2ha site shaded pink

Until recently the only work carried out here has been the occasional cutting back of the footpath edges.

Following funding from Welsh Governments Local places for Nature scheme we have been able to invest in improving the habitats and provide some interpretation and  opportunities to view the lake.

In late winter of 23/24 a floating tern raft was installed and a small gravel island created at the end of the peninsula of land jutting out into the mid point of the lake.

Both the raft and island immediately attracted the attention of the local bird life, and although the raft wasn't used this year for nesting the gravel island  as previously mentioned had pairs of Lesser Black backed Gull and Black Headed Gull both raising young.

As reported recently, casual observations by one of the team have discovered some nice quality plants, including Strawberry Clover, Parsley Water Dropwort, not Tubular as first thought and Marsh Mallow.

A search for Water Voles drew a blank for now we'll try again next year,  signs of Otters were found in the usual places.

The brackish nature of the lake, a result of tidal incursions under the railway line means that the aquatic life is varied and includes juvenile Sea Bass, Dicentrarchus labrax,  I'm sure a decent time pond dipping here will reveal a wide range of  species.

A selection of the summer bird species alone makes this a site to visit, Cetti's,* Reed* and  Sedge* Warblers, Stonechat*, Whitethroat* Lesser Whitethroat, Sand Martin, Swallow, Mute Swan*, Tufted Duck*, Gadwall*, Mallard*, Little Grebe* to name a few

* - denotes breeding in 2024.

Parking at the Pwll Pavillion Cafe, and a chance for great refreshments is convenient or walk from either Sandy Water Park or Burry Port Woodlands car parks.