Sunday 13th March 2016

Harbingers of real Spring?.....

A really lovely morning to be out, and although the day started overcast it just felt it could only get better, and it did.

On the bird front Skylarks were in full song, a quick survey of just one grazing field showed a minimum of 11 singing males.

The Stonechats are on territory with at least five territories identified, this female just was quite confiding.

Female Stonechat

What was noticeable was the arrival of what seemed like dozens of Meadow Pipits, there were quite a few in the fore dunes, along with surprisingly, Common Snipe.

Meadow Pipit

Some of the Meadow Pipits will be local birds and there was a fair bit of flight song happening.

A local birder texted? me with the news that two SAND MARTINS had flown in a NE direction over the dunes.

Other wildlife news is of a Hare, the second sighting in two days ssshhhh!!!

Friday 11th March 2016

Taste of Spring.....

With a high tide of 9.4m at 07:48hrs, this morning was perfect for a Sea watch.

I joined Adam Dare at CE53 around 06:50 hrs, as it turned out there was little happening as far as I could see, up to 5 Great Crested Grebes flying in all directions offshore, a few Common Scoter and the odd very distant diver.

The high tide flooded the area of land to the seaward side of the main track, the area is in field 2 and we are hoping that Lapwing may find it suitable to raise a family, they certainly tried in 2015.

not usually flooded except by the very highest tides, perfect for waders to nest?

With effect from today dog walkers are asked to keep dogs on a lead in field 2 and also all of the reserve East of the information shelter, this is to give ground nesting birds a chance at breeding; it will prove a challenge I think.....

There were quite a lots of birds on the flooded marsh, best counts were; Common Shelduck 29, Redshank 80+, Teal 50+ plus the usual Curlew, Little Egret Grey Heron and patrolling the skies the seemingly ever present Red Kite.

Wednesday 9th March 2016

In like a Lion? hope it goes out like a Lamb

The forecast was spot on and the morning arrived with strong winds and a little rain, the gusts were very strong and made walking difficult.

As its Wednesday the volunteer group duly reported for duty and we set off to remove some of the larger debris from the beach in front of the reserve.

Quite frankly it was too windy to stand and take photographs but the effect of the wind on the sand and the pools of sea water was something to see.

After filling the back of the pickup and depositing the discarded fishing nets in the yard we had a spot of lunch fortifying ourselves for the emergency fencing that needed to be done.

This is the way the contractors put in fence posts.

This is the way we carry out emergency repairs, I know which looks easier but half the fun.

5th - 8th March 2016 Catch up

Big Skies and busy busy ......

The picture does not capture these dense old clouds inland from the estuary

I've been a bit busy over the last few days, well too busy to write the blog plus its been a bit quiet.

Carmarthen Bay is really one of the Big Sky parts of the UK the formations are, at times, awe inspiring the scene above, although inland was fitting for the time of day, late evening, and the temperature at around 4'c.

In my last blog I mentioned  that the small red Kite was feeding on something on a post, well a bit of a walk and I found out it was a rabbit, not much left now just a few bones and the skin. After watching the same bird today ( a few primary feathers are damaged in the left wing) actively hunting the marsh just like a harrier would I'm wondering if it had caught the rabbit as I rarely find dead rabbits lying around. The bird was being mobbed by a Little Egret, a pair of Carrion Crows and then 7 Shelduck joined in the fray.

This is what the Red Kite had been feeding on a few days ago

The cattle fence around the first field has begun to look like the OK Coral, since as the original posts rot a replacement is positioned adjacent to provide continuity. Now that so many posts need replacing or have been previously replaced, a new fence using Chestnut posts is being put in, when just changing the odd one or ten we use a hand held post rammer, clearly the contractors are not going to be doing that they are using a post rammer attached to a tractor!!

Easier than banging them in by hand with a post rammer

new fence line going in on the left

The winter storms have taken their toll on the Fore Dunes, my stick marks where the Fore Dunes were three months ago, about 15m has been washed away, all is not lost as in the far distance the sand is accreting again and so starting the process of dune formation all over again.

In my blogs I have referred to points as CE53, 52, or 51, these are numbers given to specific access points onto the beaches in the area, it means that in an emergency if you call the Coastguard and tell them you need help at CE51 they will know exactly where you are simple really.

 On Sunday the reserve was quite busy and I spoke too about 20 groups/individuals and had some great interaction, then at going home time...

I had this conversation at 5pm on Sunday:

Me: "hello there, do you realise this is a nature reserve"

Public: " yeah of course"

Me: "then why are you allowing your three lads to ride their scrambler bikes across the dunes causing so  much damage"

Public: "well its only waste land"

After I had politely pointed out that the "wasteland" was in fact

an internationally recognised area of conservation value, a Site of Scientific Interest, part of an SPA and SAC, and that he had "....intentionally or recklessly damaged a Site of Scientific Interest" and the associated penalty,.....

we became best of friends he could not have been more apologetic and left without another word.

One persons enjoyment is another persons annoyance, its hard to find a balance but where different activities can be enjoyed on the same site, walking, horse riding, bird watching a fair, responsible attitude by all is important.

NOTE:- all views and opinions expressed are personal.

Friday 4th March 2016

More than sand.....

This afternoon I ventured to a part of the reserve that I haven't paid much attention too in the past the Northern edge of the upper marsh.

Its quite interesting out on this part not least because navigating across it needs some thought, a bit of jumping and wellies!!!

One of the creeks which criss cross the marsh

The Reed bed get inundated on a very high tide, as demonstrated by the amount of sea borne rubbish along the edge of the reeds, but is fed by fresh water seepage as demonstrated by the water running off into the creeks (the tide hasn't reached the reeds for a few weeks).

It is here that one of the specialities of the reserve may? be found its a snail about 3mm high one of the "Whorl" snails, Vertigo angustior, there's no photo not because its rare, but because, its VERY RARE and is specially protected.

I suspect that there are Harvest Mice using the reed bed and I'll look into that in the next few weeks. There were clear signs of mammals using the creeks but too far to get decent photo's my guess is Brown Rat, Stoat,  Dog, Fox, and possibly Otter.

Oddly or not?, only one Common Snipe pushed from this side of the marsh.

The Red Kites are still making daily visits to the marsh and dunes, today one of them a female? (very small bird) was feeding on something on a post.

It is clear that nature is stirring on the reserve with Meadow Pipits, and Pied Wagtails, putting in an appearance after an absence in the past weeks.

Thursday 3rd March 2016

Signs of Spring.....

The weather today was a vast improvement on yesterday, which saw wind, rain, sleet and a little snow.

Although a chilly WNW breeze it amounted to very little and the overcast skies cleared to make it feel very nice out of the breeze.

On the beach the recent tides have covered over a lot of the "rubbish" as well as lots and lots of shells, the wind in the past few days has been in a North to North West direction which seems to have been perfect to create "sand sculptures" a few centimetres high; here come the arty photos.

A "strandline Safari" to look for signs of spring revealed a few specialist creatures including a large ground beetle called, the Strand-line Burrower, Broscus cephalotes (see photo) as well as the Sand Hopper Talitrus saltator, (no photo sorry!)

The Strand-line Burrower

On the Dunes themselves the Skylarks were in full song with lots of territorial disputes going on, I hadn't realised how much time they spend singing from fence posts!!!

Skylark ...belting it out

Tuesday 1st March 2016

Metrological Spring....still looking like Winter...

The first day of March, and the first day of the metrological spring, I prefer to wait for the equinox before getting too excited about spring.

What it does mean is that its the day to update things like the tide times and wildlife sightings boards in the information shelter; with that job done a quick look around the reserve turned up a few birds who clearly have spring very much in mind.

Skylarks singing in the rain, Robins, Dunnocks all singing away.

There is quite a decent mixed flock of finches feeding on the Sea Buckthorn berries, they are actually after the hard seed inside the orange flesh.

Greenfinches

A good mix of Greenfinch, Chaffinch and Brambling, along with Blue Tits and Goldcrest these were looking for insects and spiders.

Brambling (heavily cropped photo sorry)

There are still Teal around they favour the deeper creeks to rest in when the marsh is not flooded, I couldn't get a count today but saw a few.