Lockdown Observations Monday 27th April 2020

And so it continues, no more to be said really.

Nature seems to be taking full advantage of the relative quietness in the countryside generally, roadside verges looking as they should, resplendent in a covering of wildflowers.

Of course the weather has played a part with settled conditions and no rain making for an easier start for many breeding birds and animals, what we don't need now is a spell of cold wet weather.

Apple blossom is out in a few locations in the woodlands, mostly the result of discarded apple cores, nevertheless this blossom provides another nectar source for pollinators.

I stumbled across a rather aggressive Hornet, I usually find Hornets to be quite docile so I can only assume that it was distressed, I moved it off the roadway and put it in a safe spot.

Checking one of our picnic areas today I was disappointed to find the mess as shown in the photograph, if you're wondering there were 29 mixed beer and cider cans, 1 wine bottle and 4 water bottles, and a disposable BBQ, I thought the country was in lockdown?

Todays high tide brought in a few Helium filled balloons! how long have they been floating in the ocean?

Lockdown - Observations, Monday 20th April 2020

I sincerely hope that wherever you are reading my Blog, and thank you, you are keeping safe and making the most of this challenging and strange time.

Apart from noticing that there are very few people out and about, compared to normal, I have noticed another quite remarkable aspect to thie lockdown.

The outdoors smells different, when I noticed this a few days ago I thought no, too much time indoors, so I never mentioned it then out of the blue a colleague said, "don't you think the air smells different", and it certainly does, cleaner maybe I can't quite say why it's different, but it is.

On the wildlife front the summer migrants are arriving fast, with numbers of Whimbrel increasing daily, and the woods full of the song of Blackcaps, Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs, of course own own local birds are in full song also follow the link for a short burst of Even-Song

I spotted some Cowslips yesterday looking magnificent.

As sunset approached the skies changed with some interesting cloud formations and a stunning sunset.

KEEP SAFE

Lockdown-Observations Sunday 12th April 2020

We are well into lockdown, as a team we are either working from home, on an emergency rota ensuring the  Country Parks that have open access are safe, clean and secure or redeployed within the authority.

It seems that the vast majority of people are heeding the advice and instructions to stay at home except for the permitted activities, I have been taking my daily exercise hour walking around one of our green spaces, Sandy Water Park, as it is only 300m from my front door, I can honestly say that I am seeing fewer and fewer people out and about which is a good sign, I vary the time of day I go out and again can say I've not seen any obvious infringements of the social distancing advice. (well one which was being dealt with by the Police)

The Gorsedd Stones, 

looking over the lake at Sandy Water Park

It seem the majority of people appreciate the ability to be able to enjoy some wonderful countryside and amazing views on their door step, which brings me to some observations and three questions

Looking towards Burry Port, 

with the sand dredger just leaving anchorage on a flood tide

There is a significant increase in the amount of dog faeces on the edge of the path around the lake, I find this very concerning as the majority of dog walkers must be very local, with the car park out of bounds. There are more than enough bins to use and they are being emptied on a regular basis, so why? (no photo you all know what it looks like)

There is also an increasing amount of garden waste being "fly tipped", (because that's what it is- fly tipping), on the edge of the lake, again why? when it can be bagged up to take to the local recycling centre, less than 3  miles away when it opens again.

There's the odd bit of vandalism, broken signs etc but perhaps worse of all is can someone tell me where the bench, that has lived at the western end of the lake for years, has gone to, is it self-isolating?

It was there a few days ago!

I am aware that across the UK countryside services are seeing similar issues including wildfires, wildlife crime, vandalism and theft. Asking the emergency services to respond to these criminal activities means them taking their focus off the pandemic crisis, which just shows how the tiniest minority of the public are prepared to use the current crisis to their own selfish advantage.

Keep Safe.......

One Swallow...Saturday 4th April 2020

Living so close to Sandy Water Park makes for an easy "permitted exercise" walk.
This morning in cool overcast conditions I walked the mile or so around the lake with less than a dozen people seen let alone passed.

Waterfowl are making their way back north to breed so it is this that may have increased the count of Tufted Duck up to 13 from 8 yesterday and Pochard, a duck in decline, up from one to two this morning. 

Small numbers but when logic is applied to what is going on in the natural world it makes sense to notice the small things.

Just as I approached the end of the walk a small flock of Sand Martins arrived, careful viewing located a lone Swallow always a pleasure to see the first one, I expect that with the wind turning more southerly this will provide a boost to arriving migrants.

Swallows have been the source of some odd myths one from the 16th century tries to explain where they disappear too each autumn. Archbishop Olaus Magnus of Uppsala theorised that they spent the winter at the bottom of lakes and ponds as depicted in this wood block carving.

Fortunately we now know so much more about these trans-Saharan migrants

Going Cuckoo Tuesday 2nd April 2020

Well some of you probably think I'm "cuckoo" anyway, but here I'm looking at another cuckoo, in fact a wonderful spring flower which goes by several names. It's common names  Cuckooflower, Lady's Smock, Milkmaids, and Fairy flower with it's scientific name Cardamine pratensis

A plant of early spring in damp grassland, damp meadows, the banks of streams and also on road verges as a result of compaction of the soil making a more moisture retentive medium.

The young leaves can be eaten instead of say, Cress as they have a peppery taste, it is the county flower of Breckonshire and Cheshire where it is known as Milkmaids



Lady's Smock grows reasonable commonly in the county.

There is a particular butterfly associated with the plant that is the Orange Tip, with freshly emerged adults on the wing from April through to mid June, after spending the winter as pupae. Only the male has "orange tips" to its wings but the underside pattern is distinctive in bothe sexes

Orange Tip on Lady's Smock

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.

Northern Drab, Thursday 26th March 2020

The rangers and I had planned several night-time nature walks in the country parks this coming season, obviously due to the current situation all events are off until we return to normality. One event was going to be a look at moths in Pembrey Country Park using a light trap set out overnight.


Fortunately before we made the difficult decision to close our Country Parks, I had left a moth trap working overnight and caught a few moths as luck would have it one of the moths turned out to be particularly uncommon on the coast of Carmarthenshire, the Northern Drab moth is well named as it’s not very colourful, a first record for the Country Park and local experts were very interested in this find.

Northern drab

Why not look for moths in your garden, already the spectacular Hummingbird Hawk Moth, a daytime flying moth which migrates from warmer climes was seen in a Burry Port garden feeding on Primroses. I suspect the moth was helped along by the flow of south easterly winds, how it will cope with the forecast northerlies I wonder

can you spot it, (bottom LH side)

You could also just leave your outside light on and see what comes to investigate, overcast milder nights are best but if you don't try....

Bats are now on the wing with Pipestrelles perhaps the most likely over your gardens.

Keep Safe everyone....