Sunday 31st July 2016

Autumn must be on the way.....

Cool misty morning at Pembrey Burrows & Saltings Local Nature Reserve

Yesterday (Saturday) evening I decided it was time to go and try and catch some of the 1000+ Swallows and sand Martins which are roosting in the reed bed at the Pembrey Burrows reserve. It was a lovely evening and I did manage to ring 65 Barn Swallows and Two Sand martins along with a few Reed and Sedge Warblers.

Barn Swallow, this is a bird hatched this year, look at the pale forehead!

measuring the wing of Barn Swallow,

wing length is one of several "biometrics" taken during the ringing process

This morning I was on the reserve at 04:45hrs with a three net set in the reed and scrub areas, again a successful morning.

The ringing totals for the two sessions is as follows.

Barn Swallow 65,

Sand Martin 2,

Sedge Warbler 9

Reed Warbler 7

Willow Warbler 1

Blackcap 1

Common Whitethroat 3

Robin 2

Goldfinch 1

Blue Tit 1

Total 93 birds ringed.

I also saw a Sparrowhawk kill a Blackbird, but the non-ringing highlight was the first Northern Wheatear of the Autumn a nice female/immature bird.

Now I'm going for a lie down....

Saturday 30th July 2016

Vandalism......, and a nice guided walk

I arrived at the reserve this morning, to be faced with a dilemma, no padlock on the barrier, a little investigation revealed it had been cut off with, probably, an angle grinder WHY?????

No obvious evidence of anything untoward but there must have been a reason?

Anyway, I guided the Carmarthenshire Wildlife Walks Llanelli group on a two hour ramble around a small part of the reserve, despite initial overcast conditions there was enough sun to encourage a variety of Dragonflies and Butterflies onto the wing.

They looked interested!

We had great views of Emperor Dragonflies, and one or two common Darters, at the pond in F3. As we walked through the field we were soon putting up Gatekeepers, Meadow Brown, Small Blue, Common Blue and Small Skipper, a hop over a stile onto the edge of the salt marsh and we found a nice group of about 8 Grayling feeding on the nectar of Sea Lavender.

Two Silver Y moths were seen, this immigrant moth from warmer climes can usually be seen in any month from May - September, although some moths will be home bred during that time, its unlikely that they over winter successfully.

Silver Y moth, (Photo Veronica Haines)

We stopped off at the information shelter for a few minutes then made our way back along the hard track towards the car park and a cup of tea, not before stopping to check one of the refugia where we were lucky to find an immature Slow Worm.

Slow worm (photo Veronica Haines)

Again it was an enjoyable morning with like minded people.

Saturday 23rd July 2016

Carmarthenshire Bird Club Guided Walk

Postponed from last Saturday due to the weather, today saw 16 club members join me for a great mornings walk across the reserve at Pembrey.

Billed a butterflies and birds, I threw in a few dragonflies and, of course, plants.

I didn't take any photo's (too busy talking) but we saw a decent variety of butterflies as well as dragonflies, including Migrant Hawker, Emperor, Common Darter along with Common Bluet and Blue-tailed damselfly.

It was a real pleasure to take out such a nice bunch of likeminded people onto "my" patch; given the time of year birds were thin on the ground but we managed to see some of the regulars including Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Linnet, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, some very distant Dunlin and three Sandwich Terns.

Meadow Pipit

Friday 22nd July 2016

SEA? Sea? sea?

That's today's theme all things sea, well mostly!,

After the repairs to the roof of the information shelter aka, Paul's hut!, I gave a quick coat of Ronseal to the weather exposed sides, that should hold it for a few months....

Patched and painted!!

As the morning became warmer and less humid I set off to do a recce for the bird club guided walk tomorrow, thankfully its Butterflies, Dragonflies and Birds, cos there ain't many birds about, having said that a small flock of Dunlin on the beach was noteworthy.

The salt marsh is looking amazing with swathes of Sea Lavender in full bloom.

Common Sea Lavender, Limonium vulgare

With a good mix of Butterflies on the wing it bodes well for tomorrow, with Small Blue, Grayling, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Marbled White, and Dark green Fritillary all seen on the walk to the beach.

Because we are one of the few dune systems in Wales to have embryonic dunes, we have a nice selection of "pioneer" plants, such as Sand Couch, Prickly Saltwort, and Sea Rocket, these pioneers are able to strike roots almost at the high water mark setting in motion the stabilisation and building of a dynamic dune system.

Sand Couch, Elytrigia juncea

Prickly Saltwort, Salsola kali

Sea Rocket, Cakile maritime

There are also a few more plants in bloom with a "sea" theme, such as  Spurge sp, and Sea-holly.

Sea-holly, Eryngium maritimum

Spurge sp, Eurphobia spp, (because I didn't pay attention to the plant!)

Wednesday 20th July 2016

You scratch my back I'll scratch yours......!

Today was cooler than yesterday, which was the hottest July day since 2006, the garden weather station touched 33'c with little or no breeze....

At Morfa Berwig LNR for a bit of path clearing and the installation of a "new" seat at the eastern end of the reserve.

The seat is not new, in many senses as the uprights are made of recycled plastic,

the seat was a tree and the whole thing was originally at another location where it was neglected and not used.

Work in progress

Ready for use...

There are now a nice selection of ponies on site for conservation grazing, they are making an instant impact and will soon have the vegetation under control.

You scratch my back....

After lunch we went back to "my" patch at Pembrey Burrows LNR and, at last, repaired the roof of the shelter, hopefully the weather will be kinder to the building this autumn and winter.

At last

Wednesday 13th July 2016

Elusive butterfly

There is a British native butterfly called the Grayling, Hipparchia semele, which is a specialist of Sand dunes, Heathland coastal cliff, you get the idea they are real sun whorshippers.

A highly camouflaged butterfly, they angle their body and wings in such a fashion that they cast little or no shadow, so against certain backgrounds they are almost impossible to see.

Grayling, Hipparchia Semele

I was surprised to see that there were many on the wing today, (there were none noted yesterday), in the spells of warm sunshine, along the hard track which runs from the car park to the information shelter.

Also seen today were Small Blue, Marbled White and Meadow Brown along with Black-tailed Skimmer, Emperor and Common Darter, lets hope the weather is good for the Carmarthenshire Bird Club walk on Saturday....

Tuesday 12th July 2016

Flies, Bugs, Bees and Spiders.......

Today I spent my time at Morfa Berwig LNR, with three surveyors looking at the invertebrates on the reserve.

It was such an eye-opener with nets being swished left ,right and centre, then tubes of all sizes being used to hold and identify a host of invertebrates, the knowledge and skill of the three people, Phil, Janice and Mike was humbling and the enthusiasm they demonstrated in showing me the various creature was great.

Entomologists, like botanists, move slowly, deliberately and open eyed, initial lists didn't show anything rare but a few nice "local" species came to light, (no good me even attempting to remember their names)

Its fair to say they were impressed with the array of habitats on the reserve with the " brownfield" sites particularly rich.

Tortoise beetle, Cassida murraea found on Fleabane Pulicaria dysenterica

Crab Spider, Misumena vatia, with Honey Bee Apis mellifera prey

There were too many species to list, with over 150 recorded today and a return visit planned for August.