Wales Nature Week Pembrey Country Park, 31st May 2019

Outdoor Recreation Service held the first of three events for Wales Nature Week on Friday a little early but designed to link with school half term.

Three moth traps were set in the park and forest, which meant a very early start to recover the traps before daylight.

A good range of moths were caught and shown to a group of 12 children and three adults. As usual the "hawk moths" stole the show with Privet and Poplar caught.

Some of the more interesting moths though included Obscure Wainscot, noted in Carmarthenshire as rare/local, in J S Bakers, MOTHS 2004, the food plant is Common Reed. Others included, Spruce Carpet, Sandy Carpet,  several of the "Minors" aggregate, Puss Moth, Sharp-angled Peacock, Scallop Shell, and both pale and dark morphs of Peppered Moth.
Thanks to Dr Stuart Blackmore for his assistance.

Obscure Wainscot, (Leucania obsolete)

The afternoon session was pond dipping, with the event sold out, with 10 children and five adults getting their feet wet in search of a myriad of pond life, the best finds were Water Scorpion, and two of the largest Ramshorn pond snails I've seen. (I'll post a photo when ranger Oliver sends them !)

Our next event is a Bat talk and walk on Wednesday 5th June, to book a place please visit

 pembreycountrypark.wales  whats on.

Intensive botanising Thursday 23rd May 2019

Today I joined in with the visit by the BSBI, Wales AGM gang for their visit to the Pembrey Burrows LNR.

A great bunch of people with an amazing wealth of knowledge, passion and generosity of spirit. Some of these people are "published" experts but to chat with them was so refreshing and a great learning experience.
When I have the full report in some months time I will share the highlights.
However to start, a new plant for me Long-stalked Crane's-bill Geranium columbinum, a beautiful and delicate flower which I would have just walked passed.

A flower that is hard to miss due to its vibrant yellow colour and its starry bracts and a favourite of mine is Goats-beard Tragopogon pratensis,  just a stunner.

The reserve looked and felt very dry, with the Green-winged Orchids all gone over and ground underfoot feeling "crunchy" so it was no surprise to see masses of snails, in aestivation, on Wild Radish, a state of summer dormancy to avoid the heat and dry environments.

Small Blue butterflies dominated with a few Small heath, Large White and a lone Green Hairstreak.

We ended up at the pond in GF2 where a female Broad-bodied Chaser was busy egg laying, a nice way to end a great day.

All Change Wednesday 1st May 2019

I have had the pleasure of volunteering with Dr Simeon Jones and Carmarthenshire Local Nature Reserves part of Carmarthenshire County Councils, Outdoor Recreation Service; since October 2015. My time spent at the reserves especially Pembrey Burrows has been very rewarding personally and I hope I have added to the data base of species found on the site.

Many of you will be aware that I started a paid position with the Outdoor Recreation Service about a year ago, working primarily at Pembrey Country Park, my time there has been immensely enjoyable and again I hope I have contributed something to the park.

Now its time for a change, well almost, today I was confirmed into a new and exciting role with the Outdoor Recreation Service as the Volunteer & Education Coordinator. The role is to develop a strong volunteer team within the service, coordinate the roles of the many other volunteers we have and to review the education offer we make to schools across all ages and abilities. (although based at Pembrey CP the role covers all of our sites)

As such my  volunteer role on the reserves will come to an end, wildlife contributions are likely to diminish, and I will be focussed on other issues whilst I settle in; but do let me or one of our great ranger team, know of anything interesting, anything amiss etc as many of you have done in the past. Once I'm settled in I will be back into the wildlife recording....

Simeon has a great series of walks planned for the year check the park website for details*

In the coming weeks I hope to be able to offer a range of volunteer roles that I hope some of you will be interested in so keep an eye on the blog and the Pembrey Country Park website:* 

www.pembreycountrypark.wales  *

Park residents Sunday 14th April 2019

When recording the presence of wildlife at a location there are times when the first evidence comes from finding the corpse of an individual. So it was this weekend when Our Campsite Warden asked me to identify a dead mammal that a visitor had reported to her.

When I was presented with what was clearly a full poo bag I did check my qualifications, forensic science is not amongst them... in fact what was inside was a rather splendid, but sadly deceased male POLECAT.

Now here we need to consider the possibility that it was a domesticated ferret-polecat but immediately it was obvious by its size, condition and pelage that we had the real thing. The presence of Polecats has long been suspected with odd reports from the nature reserve and from the forest. I took the relevent measurements, tail, hindfoot, nose to body etc and all fitted in the range for a male Polecat in the welsh population.

Formidable claws

A sad sight but useful information gained, 

the wind was blowing the fur around revealing the underfur

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The Vincent Wildlife Trust say this about the status of the Polecat;

The polecat (Mustela putorius) is of considerable conservation significance in Britain.

This is particularly so because of its current recolonisation of many areas of lowland Britain from which it was trapped to extinction at the end of the 19^th century.

Today, polecats have spread out from their historical stronghold in mid Wales and have recolonised much of southern and central England and have recently reached parts of south-west England and East Anglia. There are also polecats present in north-west England and parts of Scotland originating from reintroductions.

The polecat’s conservation status in Britain is much more favourable today than it was a hundred years ago. Provided that no new serious threats emerge to halt the current recovery, it seems likely that the polecat will become widely re-established in mainland Britain.

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Of all of the Mustelid family the following are known to occur along the coast/hinterland from Lougher to Pendine: Badger, Otter, Mink, Polecat, Stoat and Weasel the only one missing is Pine Marten but with the ongoing recolonization in mid-Wales they may turn up.

I've removed the skull to send off to a friend who will clean it up so that we can use it on our nature table.

Now Spring is here, Wednesday 10th April 2019

Pembrey Burrows Local Nature Reserve is one of the best places to see Green-Winged Orchids, I was out and about this morning and they are starting to appear in drifts across the grazing fields; for me they are a real sign that Spring has arrived. It will be a week or so before they are at thier best so don't rush to see them yet, if you want directions to the showiest areas then contact me.

Monday 9th April 2019

Another pleasant morning, and the last of the winter bird food distributed, there were plenty of birds in full song this morning with the usual Blackbirds, Robins, Wrens and Dunnock blasting out, this morning they were joined by the Blackcap, a summer visitor to the Country Park, and a real songster.

The large pond in the SW corner of the park provided a few highlights this morning with a displaying pair of Shelduck, vocal Greylag Geese and squabbling Greater-spotted Woodpeckers.

In the pond itself it was great to see a swarm of Toad tadpoles hugging the shore, to be honest after the massacre of adults by the Otter a few weeks ago I didn't expect to see any toadpoles....

A couple of new flowers included a small clump of cowslips and a few early Dog Violets

Spring is no fool 1st April 2019

With the weather taking a step back (3rd April), it was good, on Monday, to see a range of flowers blooming or just thinking about it, including the first Green-winged Orchid just breaking bud.

The early birds were busy and I saw my first Song Thrush and Blackbird carrying food, its amazing to see the birds scurrying over the ground stopping and listening before diving into the earth and pulling out a worm or grub.

Chiffchaffs are singing everywhere in the Pembrey Country Park and there were several along the track to the information hide on the reserve.

A pair of Gadwall were on one of the grazing field ponds for the second spring in a row, they probably won't attempt to breed ae there is little cover to hide a nest.

An Orange Tip was the first butterfly I have seen for a few weeks after that brief February warm spell.

There are still birds coming to the feeders, mainly Great and Blue Tits, but not enough to explain how they are emptying so fast, so I put the trail camera out over the weekend.....