Sunday 7th August 2016

There be Dragons in those sand dunes.....

A blustery morning saw me at the eastern end of the reserve at high tide to do a sea watch.

The usual flock of Oystercatchers, todays count was 980, have returned to their roost site at the end of the reserve, (for most of the summer they have been about 1.5km further west and out of sight).

Mixed in there were 11 Ringed Plover, two Turnstone and very mobile flock of Sanderling that wouldn't be counted.

On the Gull front three Great black backed , 6 Mediterranean and around 80 Black headed Gulls made up the numbers, the highlight was 16 Sandwich Terns.

Oystercatchers at high tide roost

with Burry Holm on the Gower in the distance

This afternoon a visit to the information shelter on the reserve revealed two countryside rangers from Pembrey country park, (I think they took the wrong turning nice to see them though #oneteam), and 13 Common Lizards 12 on one log!!

Adult Common Lizard, notice the second growth tail

Immature Common Lizards

Saturday 6th August 2016

Guided Walk, salt marsh and dunes...

Three hardy souls joined me this morning for a look at the plants and animals of the salt marsh and the dunes.

The morning was briefly overcast and gloomy, but soon the skies cleared and a gentle breeze developed, by the end of the walk it was quite warm.

The salt marsh at Pembrey burrows is a key element of its designations as an SSSI, along with the other joint designations the reserve has of Special Area of Conservation, (SAC), and Special Protected Area, (SPA). For interest here is a taste of why the whole of the Carmarthen Bay is so important.

The Carmarthen Bay and Estuaries SAC is a multiple interest site which has been selected for the presence of ten interest features that qualify under Annex I and Annex II of the Habitats Directive.

For the qualifying habitats and species the SAC is considered to be one of the best areas in the UK for: 

• Estuaries   • Mudflats and sandflats not covered by seawater at low tide   • Atlantic saltmeadows (Glauco-Puccinellietalia maritimae)   • Salicornia and other annuals colonising mud and sand   • Large shallow inlets and bays   • Sandbanks which are slightly covered by sea water all the time :

CARMARTHEN BAY SPA  Carmarthen Bay has been designated as a Special Protection Area under the Birds Directive (79/409/EEC) because of the site’s European ornithological interest. The site qualifies under Article 4.2 of the Directive as it is used regularly by 1 % or more of the biogeographic population of a regularly occurring migratory species: common scoter Melanitta nigra. Non-qualifying species of interest are red throated diver Gavia stellata, velvet scoter Melanitta fusca, eider Somateria mollissima, Manx shearwater Puffinus puffinus.  

The reserve sits in a truly outstanding part of the world....

This morning we saw a good range of the salt marsh plants including Golden Samphire, Sea Aster, Common Sea Lavender and Sea Purslane.

Golden Samphire

There were good numbers of bees on the marsh flowers including Honey Bee, Common Carder, Red tailed, Buff/White tail, and possible Moss Carder.

Must have been something interesting there!,
look at the Common Sea Lavender in the background.

The butterflies didn't disappoint, with Meadow Brown, Large White, Gatekeeper, Grayling, Common Blue, and Small Blue.

Grayling

There were a few birds around with a decent flock of c40 Linnet, along with Meadow Pipit, Skylark and a family party of Stonechats.

It was nice to see a few late summer fungi beginning to show including this earthball?, I'll confirm the id later. (see update)

Common Puffball, confirmed by Dr Philip Jones our local expert

The earthballs (Scleroderma) have a very tough 'skin' and do not have this sort of 'spine' on the surface but smooth or have coarse scales (like rough skin = scleroderma!).  I think this is one of the puffball species.  Look closely at the spines and groups of points seem meet ----- so I think this would be Lycoperdon perlatum = common puffball.  These spines drop off leaving a 'pearly' pattern on the surface.  At this young stage, if cut open, the inside would be white ---- later a powdery light brown (spore colour).  Earthballs have a tough skin which breaks down for spore release and, when cut, are blackish inside. 
One you may see on dune grassland is Bovista plumbea (Grey Puffball) which has a white smooth surface when young -- this outer coat breaks away with a tough inner grey (lead-grey) coat beneath.  This species does not remain fixed to the soil but soon breaks loose to be blown about by the wind and so release spores over a wide area.  Cunning beasts.  Philip:

many thanks to Philip for his help....

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