What a HOOT! Friday 5th October 2018

With the evenings drawing in it makes the opportunity to see our shyer wildlife a little easier, so it was I joined a group of 19 wildlife seekers with Outdoor Recreation Service rangers Ollie and Scott, for a late evening/night-time wander around Pembrey Country Park.

We were on the look out for those creatures of the night such as Foxes, Badgers and of course Bats; whilst identifying the larger animals such as Badgers is easy those flighty bats need some clever equipment called "bat detectors", which turn the high pitched calls of these high fliers into sounds which we humans can hear.

Bat Detector

With chillier evenings any bats will be trying to feed hard before making the move to hibernate for the winter, which for them is rapidly approaching. We managed to "see" with the detectors Common Pipistrelle and Soprano Pipistrelle.

Pipistrelle Bat

We were also listening out for the distinctive calls of Tawny Owls, there are a few pairs in the Park and surrounding forest, so as there is a nationwide survey, (organised by the British Trust for Ornithology to establish the population across the UK) taking place this winter we wanted to be able to contribute, see below for more details and to join in yourselves. We only heard one Tawny Owl, it may be a little to early in the season so they haven't really started proclaiming territories

 

Tawny Owl

Foxes are great opportunists and feed around the campsite, but despite some carefully laid "bait" the local foxes didn't show, but of course they have the rest of the night.

Although we didn't any Badgers, Ollie and Scott showed the group the signs to look for, such as a Badger latrine where the Badgers leave their poo in holes dug in the ground, this is not because they are fussy but because they use the latrines to make the edges of their "home range", We also saw where the Badgers had been grubbing around for "leatherjackets", the larvae of the "daddy-long-legs".

Some of the preparation by Ollie and Scott included laying a "sand trap" along likely animal routes, you could do this at home just clear an area of ground about 50cmx50cm and put down a layer of sand or sifted soil so that any animal walking over the area leaves their footprints you can then use a guide from the internet to identify which animals visit your garden: (copy and paste the link below)

https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/animaltracks_tcm9-133380.pdf

Badger

At the end of the two hour walk everyone was very happy with their little adventure in the dark. Keep looking out for more events, on Facebook or Twitter,  either at Pembrey Country Park or the Pembrey Burrows Nature Reserve

What should you listen for? Tawny Owls are reliant on vocalisations, using them to show ownership of a breeding territory, as well as to attract a mate and reinforce a pair bond. They produce a variety of calls but the most common are a "hoot" and a "kee-wick" call. Don't worry if you're not confident in identifying their calls, there's lots of help available on our new Tawny Owl information page.

Litter, Litter Monday 24th September 2018

This morning I joined in with a beach litter pick, organised by the local Wildlife Litter Pickers group aided by employees of both Carmarthenshire County Council and Natural Resources Wales, on a little visited stretch of Cefn Sidan.

I say little visited because we were on the Pembrey Sands Air Weapons Range which is off limits to the public Monday - Friday when it is being used for bombing and gunnery practise.

A reminder of where we were!

The recent storms seem to have left most of the rubbish covered by sand but there was enough for the 25 strong band of litter pickers to do. 

Most of the "litter" was in fact discarded fishing net and rope although hard plastics and plastic bottles filled quite a few of the recycling bags amongst the  bags of landfill.

With most of the rubbish moved off the beach, 

even this end of session photo shows a lot of fishing net debris

There has been a concerted effort around the coast of Wales in the past week to clean up our beautiful beaches, we along the Carmarthen Bay coast have played our part with an effort last Friday at Pembrey Country Park, in less than ideal conditions, and another event planned there for Sunday 30th September.

It is worth remembering that the beaches along Carmarthen Bay, and more relevantly Cefn Sidan are "natural" beaches, not manicured beaches as found in some coastal resorts; as such natural and to some extent manmade marine litter plays an important role in the ecology of the beach and, where they occur, the sand dune systems.

Removing the large amounts of unsightly plastic bottles, plastic bags, fishing netting, oil drums and general litter can leave an aesthetically pleasing beach, leaving driftwood, and strategically placed items like old car tyres and fishing crates provides a home for many creatures, including some very rare or uncommon insects, as well as giving some stability to the drifting sand which allows the dunes to start to form (something that the Pembrey dunes are recognised for)

Please help to keep the beaches tidy by taking part in a two minute litter pick next time you visit, just remember leave your filled bags next to a recognised bin so that we can remove them safely.

Lesvos 15th -22nd September 2018 [The 500th blog]

A late and unexpected opportunity to make an autumn visit to the Greek island of Lesvos was not to be missed.

So it was that we arrived, at the HOTEL PELA; late on Saturday 15th to night time temperatures in the mid 20's. The hire car was provided by local company TSALIS with their usual efficiency.

Sunday morning, and every subsequent morning dawned clear with rapidly warming temperatures reaching around 30'c on average but with a few hours of 32'c before cooling down to the low 20's. The wind, was at times brisk from the NW which did little to cool the temperature but was still refreshing.

Having visited Lesvos at this time of year I was prepared for the challenge of finding birds, which is much harder than in the spring however a respectable 77 species, including some specials, was achieved.

The highlights of the trip were DALMATIAN PELICAN, with a max of 14 seen;  GARGANEY, PINTAIL, SLENDER-BILLED GULL, BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER, CURLEW, LESSER SPOTTED EAGLE, CHUKAR, ELEONORAS FALCON, and more YELLOW WAGTAILS, of several sub species, in one field than probably the total UK summer population!!!!
I like to try and get two species counts done with LITTLE GREBE (93) at the Potamia reservoir, COOT (53) at the Persama reservoir, (I've counted these two species on most visits).

Dalmatian Pelican 

Yellow Wagtail sp

Birds in numbers included, WILLOW WARBLER, (every bush had handfuls of this warbler), SPOTTED FLYCATCHER, RED-BACKED SHRIKE and NORTHERN WHEATEAR,

Red-backed Shrike

Spotted Flycatcher

Other wildlife braving the heat were HUMMINGBIRD HAWK MOTH, with thousands on the wing across the island, in the hotel room, tavernas etc, basically anywhere there were nectar rich flowers.
A stunning EUROPEAN PRAYING MANTIS,  butterflies were well represented by SWALLOWTAIL, GREAT BANDED GRAYLING, CLOUDED YELLOW,LANGS SHORT TAILED BLUE, CARDINAL and AEGEON and the rarer TURKISH MEADOW BROWN

Hummingbird Hawk Moth

Praying Mantis

Other interesting wildlife included the EASTERN TREE FROG, these stunning frogs sheltered inside the closed sun umbrellas around the hotel pool.

Eastern Tree Frog

A trouble free trip, enjoyable break to this wonderful Greek island

Lesvos 15th September to 22nd September 2018

Weather is incredibly hot 32' again today.
A decent list of birds and other wildlife beginning to accumulate.
No proper blog until I return as I am running off my Samsung Tablet.

Guided event 16th September CANCELLED

Unfortunately I have had to cancel the guided event on Sunday 16th September; I am planning on rearranging the event to a date in October.

P

September nature to look for - Tuesday 4th September 2018

September is a great month, autumn in its many guises is getting underway as nature begins to wind down for the approaching winter.

Most of the flowers along the coast are now setting seed, the shrubs and trees are fruiting, many with an opportunity to provide us with delicious food such as Blackberries for a pie, Hips and Sloes to add to alcohol, Elder berries to make that wine [get a good reference book and get making]; remember to leave enough for the wild creatures that will rely on this bounty to see them through the winter.

Elder Berries

Sloes (the fruit of Blackthorn)

Birds have long been on the move especially the summer visitors such as Swallows, and Sand Martins. some birds will be arriving from the north to winter with us especially the wading birds such as Sanderling or even the scarce Curlew Sandpiper.

Sanderling

Curlew Sandpiper

A walk across the dunes at Pembrey Burrows LNR could turn up any odd birds such as Whinchat departing for Africa or an early Merlin looking for somewhere to spend the winter.

Whinchat

There are still some wildflowers in bloom, usually in sheltered spots, including Restharrow and Soapwort; now there's an interesting plant; as it's common name suggests it can be used to make soap; the leaves can be boiled for around 30minutes the resulting concoction can then be used like a mild washing up liquid.

Myself I'm off to my favourite Greek island of Lesvos for another September visit where, hopefully under blue skies and a warm sun, autumn migration will be well underway.

For those of you not joining me,  with the changeable weather conditions that are likely to be on the cards make the most of any good days and explore.

Seeing the wood for the trees, Sunday 2nd September 2018

Well, I'm not looking for sympathy but what a long tiring but great fun and great teamwork the weekend has been... Tour of Britain Grand Depart from Pembrey Country Park, a wheelie great success (get it).

G

 (photo Pembrey Country Park FB page)

My small part was to set up the nature table in the marquee, and to lead two guided walks, a beach safari and a woodland walk.

Nature table, the large item on the left is an un identified whale skull

It was great to have an interesting mix of people join me for both walks, the strandline safari was tough with little of interest on the beach, just as well I did a recce in the morning, but plenty to see on the way to the beach (it took 30mins to walk from the visitor centre to the beach!!)

I tried to get the message across that the county has so much countryside and coast to explore, with the park being a unique blend of natural and manmade habitats, mentioning the now considered misguided approach of stabilising the dune systems in the post war years.. we are spending so much money undoing all that work, money well spent though (look back through the blog for details)

The woodland walk was a bit "on the hoof" as I hadn't prepped myself (admin error)but we did look at a wide variety of trees including SESSILE OAK, BEECH, ASH, SILVER BIRCH, CORSICAN PINE, HORSE CHESTNUT, GREY WILLOW, POPLAR,SYCAMORE and HOLLY.

Some of the oaks in the park have the most enormous leaves, I think this may be a stress related reaction to the environment look out for them along western ride.
There are two native species of Oak in the UK , Sessile usually a western species and Pendunculate or English Oak, the simplest way to identify them is in the autumn when the acorns are formed, Sessile acorns grow against the twig whilst Pendunculate grow on stems away from the twigs.

Sessile Oak acorns

Holly is very common throughout the country park and Pembrey Forest, one reason for this is that most of the trees are male and don't have berries so are less attractive as Christmas decorations.

Holly (female tree)

Interesting gems to look for are SPANGLE GALLS on the underside of the Oak leaves caused by the Spangle Gall wasp and TAR SPOT on the Sycamore leaves caused by a fungus.

Spangle Galls

Tar Spot

During both walks we were "buzzed" by a Migrant Hawker dragonfly

flight shot via Wikipedia free to use and share