On mans Weeds anothers' Wildflowers; Saturday 1st August 2020

There are a profusion of yellow coloured flowers on show along the coast at the moment, this particular bank of "weeds" was particularly interesting.

Hoary Mustard

With Ragwort, Hoary Mustard, Wild Parsnip, Evening Primrose, Great Mullein, and Autumn Hawksbit in  the mix.

Great Mullein flower close up

Ragwort and Cinnabar Moth caterpillars

The Ragwort had a few Cinnabar Moth Caterpillars, just one of the 87 or so invertebrates which rely on the plant for survival; whilst the Great Mullein showed some signs of being attacked by the Mullein moth caterpillar.

Plenty of other wildlife about with Holly Blue, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood and Large White Butterflies all on the wing, and recently born Viviparous (common) Lizards on the wooden wall near the main access to the beach at Pembrey Country Park, a few adults were also on show, this lizard has a highly variable pattern of markings making for quite a show. Also on the wall was a very nice Robber Fly, whilst harmless to humans these are voracious predators actively hunting other insects.

Robber Fly species

Adult Viviparous (common) Lizard, Juvenile below

Autumn is here:- 27th July 2020

Not so fast some may think, however in the natural world the signs of the changing seasons are all around, not least along the coastline.

An hour on Cefn Sidan showed just what is happening with waders breeding in the sub-Arctic regions already back on the beach, with 170 Sanderling and c30 Dunlin, many moulting from summer plumage into the drab winter plumage.

Sanderling

Juvenile Black-headed, Herring, Lesser Black-back and Greater Black-backed gulls forming large mixed flocks with a few Mediterranean Gulls in the mix.
The recent unsettled weather with well timed high water has, as usual brought Gannets and Manx Shearwaters in close.

While all this is going on second brood Holly Blue butterflies are around Pembrey Country Park along with Dark Green Fritillaries.

Most flowers are "going over" however look closely and there are plenty still to be found, Yarrow in both white and pink forms is plentiful, with Common Mallow, Restharrow, Wild Carrot being some of the more obvious flowers on show.

Yarrow

Interestingly there are plenty of recently born Common Lizards to be found basking on bare patches such as the sleeper fence on the way to the beach.

Last week I noticed a flock of around 50 Swifts over the grassland areas of Pembrey Country Park, around the same date as last year, it won't be too long before they leave our skies heading south for the winter.

Now is a good time to get out and visit Old Pembrey Harbour, pick a time with a high tide and you may see decent numbers of Mediterranean Gulls, and Sandwich Terns building up as they usually do at this time of year.

Lockdown easing, Observations 7th July

Five years ago this week I moved from the Cotswolds to the Llanelli area, somewhere I had sworn I would never come to live, how wrong I was, whilst I very much miss the great friends I had in the Cotswolds with so much to do within easy reach, I feel quite settled here. Having "retired" I went back to work and what a job I have, well it's what you make of it I suppose.

Anyway observations, this blog is more about the dead than the living but sometimes the dead can tell us so much.

In the past few weeks there have been two Short-beaked Common Dolphins washed up along with very young Harbour Porpoise.

Short-beaked Common Dolphin, the gulls had been feeding

Young Harbour Porpoise

Sea Gooseberry and Moon Jellyfish have also come ashore in bigger than usual numbers.

Sea Gooseberries

Sea Gooseberry, a "Comb Jelly" with tentacles,
these are almost always lost when beached

Moon Jellyfish, these have a mild venom

An update on the Long-eared Owls would appear to confirm that at least one juvenile is still being fed by the adults, Mistle Thrushes appear to have had another successful breeding season with a flock of 11 seen on the north side of the park with another uncounted flock on the south side.

I get the impression that the Pyramidal Orchids have not been as showy this year, I met ranger Oliver on the woodland trail at Pembrey Country Park where he had encountered around 50 butterflies, including Marbled White, Small Skipper, Ringlet,

and Meadow Brown, in a sheltered glade designed for, butterflies!









I hope we have a spell of summer weather soon, however for many migratory birds autumn has already begun, so watch the beach for a gradual build up of Mediterranean Gulls and Sandwich Terns especially around Old Pembrey Harbour.

Lockdown Observations, catch up Wednesday 17th June 2020

So much has happened so quickly.

Firstly a reliable sightings report of a PINE MARTEN in the Pembrey Forest was long overdue, spotted by one of our rangers, Oliver, a brownish, heavy mammal much larger than a Grey Squirrel weighing down the branch in a Sycamore tree, so what were the options, Stoats are known to climb trees but are no bigger than a Grey Squirrel, unlikely to weigh down a branch as described, and there we run out of options. 

Pine Marten, (Wikipedia free to use)

Historically it would seem likely that Pine Marten's have kept a toe-hold in the county for many years and now bolstered by the programme of planned releases in Mid and North Wales, perhaps there is some consolidation of their status, Work by local naturalist Ian Morgan highlights the history of this enigmatic mammal in Wales.

https://eur04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.llanellinaturalists.org.uk%2Findex.php%2FWinter-1992%2F1993%2Finterim-notes-on-the-status-of-the-pine-marten-in-south-and-mid-wales.html&data=02%7C01%7C%7C0b5c7694361c4fa9fc9608d812a55843%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637279848637648411&sdata=8TBFJM86JUkmXu1CejP8y2GXxPy8BTvZegEmu5yKxgk%3D&reserved=0

The second surprise of the week came in the form of a Instagram message from one of my colleagues, Steve, at Pembrey Country Park showing a photo of what was instantly recognisable as a fledgling Long-eared Owl, spotted by a visitor sat on the ground and rescued by Steve and Mandy and placed safely in a tree;

as it was late in the evening I didn't get to check the bird until the next morning, but it had left the tree with no sign of it anywhere. Long-eared owls leave the nest, on average, at just 29 days old and spend the next two months being fed by the parent birds, being adept climbers and wanderers the young could be anywhere. Later that evening an attempt to listen for the unique creaky door sound of the parents calling did reveal a very poor view of an adult and one call, usually heard best after dark we left the birds to fend for themselves with follow up observations planned.

Adult Long-eared Owl, (Joyce Rae)

This observation of a confirmed breeding attempt is the first recorded in Carmarthenshire for fifty years, and has attracted a lot of attention from across both Wales and the UK.

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.

Lockdown observations Sunday 24th May 2020

And so it continues...…..

What were the chances of a global pandemic, affecting the UK, more specifically Wales, coinciding with a long run of mostly amazing spring weather; I wouldn't have taken bets on it.

My thoughts go out to those personally affected by the Coronavirus, and to those who are struggling to come to terms with what may become the "new norm".

Nature has certainly taken advantage of this brief respite from human activity, with normally timid animals becoming much more confiding, there are some Greater Spotted Woodpeckers in one of our Country Parks which have taken very much to feeding on the rotting wooden bollards around the car parks with not so much as a by your leave when I drive slowly passed.

A pair of Grey Heron have set up home on an island in the lake at Pembrey Country Park which must be as a direct of there being next to nothing in the way of disturbance from dogs.

If you have been able to exercise in the Millennium Coastal Park you will have noticed that until the last few days no mowing has been done, and now going forward expect a very specific mowing regime to be taking place as a result of last years "experimental" mowing regime.

Ashpits Lagoon Local Nature Reserve has become home to a new non-native,, we are not entirely sure how long this individual has been in the pond but has been showing well, what is it... we seem to have a Yellow Bellied Slider, Trachemys scripta scripta in residence, This native of the South Eastern USA seemed quite at home, thanks to Kim Bailey for the heads-up and photo.

The dry weather, despite the recent heavy downpours, means that the Country Parks, dunes and forests are tinder dry and fires will spread easily, sadly a deliberately set fire on the SSSI adjacent to the Ashburnham Golf Course was a case in point... ground nesting birds, reptiles and countless other creatures would have been destroyed in the fire

On a happier note the Oxeye Daisy is in full bloom all over the coast at the moment and is looking really lovely, personally I'm waiting for the Pyramidal Orchids to appear and hopefully if you are local you can see them also.

The Blue and Great Tit chicks in the nest boxes put up in March by members of the Junior Ranger Club are doing great with this box of Great Tits doing particularly well, they should fledge in the next few days.

Lockdown Observations, Thursday 7th May 2020

COVID-19; Is this nature's revenge for the ruthless negligence we, the intelligent ape, have inflicted on the only world we have?

I would never describe myself as an "eco warrior", a "nature lover", I'm not the "tree hugger" type, I eat meat and vegetables, (I've often wondered about vegetarianism, veganism, each to their own and I'm sure there is some merit in each chosen lifestyle) I would say that I have a considered and intellectual approach to our environment and the natural world, I've seen the good and the bad approaches to nature conservation; we all have differing views!

My point, well it is abundantly clear that an unintended, (or was it?), effect of the Covid-19 virus across the world is one of self repair, nature is proving that given the opportunity it will repair the damage inflicted, in the main, by us the intelligent race.

Of course the human cost in all of this cannot be ignored, and my heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones as a result, directly or indirectly, of the Covid-19 virus; economically there is and will continue to be suffering across the world, but with resolve and cooperation there will be recovery. 

An interesting point was made by one travel pundit yesterday, how many people will now realise they don't need to travel across the world to attend a meeting, they can get as much work done using the internet, and even at a local level if employees can be as productive working from home as they would travelling to a central place of work will this be the new "norm"?

What will annual holidays look like in the future, I wager that the rest of 2020 will be more "stay local" and less driving to an airport, (although I have a growing urge to see my friends on Lesvos and Gran Canaria, but they will still be there in 2021, I hope) we need to make considered choices.

Air quality is vastly improved, a major contributor to human wellbeing, across the world nature is having a break from the injurious activities of man, (well unless you are on the path of the HS2 scheme or unlucky enough to be the victim or unscrupulous land owners and wildlife criminals). I understand that many international illegal wildlife markets are either closing down or under scrutiny, I do believe that it is more likely that the virus has made the biological leap from non-human to human, not as some leaders would have us think that the virus was made in a laboratory, although if it was I shudder in horror at what may come next.

At a local level nature seems to be enjoying the break from human and domestic animal interaction, whilst only temporary there is a point to be made, give the natural world room to breathe it will repay us in heaps.

We only have one place to live in the vast universe of space, we've messed it up enough let's all take a lesson from this pandemic