Thursday 13th October 2016

Winds of change.............

Well almost, a day of varying temperatures caused, apparently, by a trapped pool of cold air whisked across us from central Europe.

Today was a day of tasks!, well again sort of, we managed to revisit a stile that needed a bit more work, put in some sign posts and collected a supply of fence posts from the far end of the reserve.

It was a "surprise" to some that the tide was in, well here's a secret it happens twice a day!, seriously we usually miss a decent tide on task days so it did make a change especially when Neil spotted an Atlantic Grey Seal "bottling" in the estuary.

Atlantic Grey Seal

Despite having heads down we managed to notice the two Kestrels (they are not a pair, as the female is an immature bird probably hatched this year, the male is a sub-adult) that now seem to be resident on the reserve, I suspect they will spend the autumn and winter with us then move off to breed in the surrounding area as we don't have anywhere suitable for them to nest. YET!

Common Kestrel

Wednesday 12th October 2016

Making the most of the settled weather....

Another settled day with a light easterly breeze and despite overcast skies it was really pleasant to walk along Cefn Sidan, and be the only soul there.

Looking in a westerly direction along Cefn Sidan

There was a big flock (97) of Goldfinches in the fore dunes and plenty of Skylarks which on reflection seemed to be moving through rather than being local birds, there were over 100 of them heading SE.

I checked a few refugia, not in any hope of finding reptiles at this time of year, but if you don't look...., under one I found four juvenile Wood mice, and under another an adult and four juvenile Short-tailed Field Voles, plenty of good nourishment for the now, seemingly, resident two Kestrel.

Wood mouse

A walk out to the tidal creek, (please don't walk out to the creek aimlessly, I think I may need new knees soon), revealed well hidden flocks of Teal 60+ and Wigeon 15.

I only use a Fujifilm Finepix bridge camera so my photographs are the best I can take.

Kestrel ♂

Monday 10th October 2016

First frost......

This morning started off quite cool, with a grass frost as well as frost on the wooden stiles...

The first surprise was to hear a burst of song from a CETTI'S WARBLER, a new bird for the site.

A couple of new net sets this morning to try and make the most of the fact that there are less cattle on site at the moment.

The first on the edge of a pond backing on to some bramble and dead elder was not as successful as it could have been as the sun soon came round and was shining directly on the net, in overcast conditions I think it would have been more successful there were a lot of finches coming down to drink!

Another net, set just below a ridge between the reed bed and more bramble scrub was more successful with two Stonechats and a Whinchat caught, along with a Wren from hell, ringers will understand...,

Whinchat

Whinchat

The usual net in the Willow scrub failed to attract any more Yellow-browed Warblers, but did yield another a new bird for the site in the form of Long-tailed Tit, a flock of c10 flew around before going into the net, along with three Goldcrests.

Stonechat

Long-tailedTit

A decent session again proving you can never tell what you are going to catch.

The bird species list for the reserve in 2016 stands at 134

Saturday 8th October 2016

Autumn continues...

This morning was overcast, no breeze and cool but not cold.

It was a pleasure to show another Carmarthenshire birder a "lifer" in the form of a Yellow-browed Warbler, not the one I ringed yesterday but another unringed individual.

Blondie, is back in the field with the bullocks, thanks to the quick thinking of two of our regular visitors, (you know who you are THANKS).

A few photographs of autumn fruits enough to give a warm glow......

Hawthorn

Woody Nightshade or (Bittersweet)

Dog Rose Hips

Travellers Joy, (Old-mans Beard)

Mmm awaiting a name

Friday 7th October 2106

An East wind brings a chill and a thrill....

The weather has taken a real turn to autumn, with cooler days and nights and a steady East or North East breeze.

The reserve is settling down into the quiet time but there is still plenty to see, especially the wide range of Waxcap fungi, and the various trees now laden with berries.

Dune Waxcap

This morning I was surprise to see a "blonde" standing near one of the field fences, especially as yesterday there were only "raven" and "grey" coloured cattle on site!

Wrong side of the fence, and no intention of getting on the right side

Blondie was also on the WRONG side of the fence, it turns out that two weeks ago she escaped while being loaded onto the lorry to be TB tested, well despite the best efforts of the grazier, his wife and myself blondie is still on the wrong side of the fence, only now she has the company of a young quiet bullock who will hopefully calm her down enough to be coaxed back into the field.....

The morning event delayed a short ringing session until 10am, when I set one 40' net in the most sheltered ride I could find, in the Willow area.

I played a "crest mix" in the hope of attracting Goldcrest or Firecrest,  I hadn't walked 100m away when I could see a bird in the net, I decided to go back and extract it and believe me when I say I was shaking with excitement to see a YELLOW BROWED WARBLER, incredible.

Yellow Browed Warbler, wing length 54mm weight 6.7g

The wing bars were much "yellower" than the photograph suggests

This bird has made the long trek from the Siberian taiga region all the way to be the 5th  Carmarthenshire record and the first since 2010 (so the county recorder told me). There have been a lot of YBW on the East coast in the last few days, a regular event but this year aided by the conducive Easterly winds...., usually discovered by the distinctive call they may be under recorded in Carmarthenshire but this is 100% a YBW

Bird species 130 for the reserve/SSSI in 2016

Thursday 29th September 2016

Guided Walk...

Today was the last of the scheduled guided walks, a strandline safari, the weather was vastly improved on the past two days when we've had near constant rain.

A group of seven turned up, (thanks to Veronica for some advertising) and we walked the beach between CE53 and CE52 so that we had the wind at our backs.

Although the sand had covered most of the strandline there was still enough to explore, having a couple of people who hadn't been on one of the previous walks mean't that I could really get into showing and explaining what we discovered.

I never seem to be able to co-ordinate talking and taking photographs so you'll have to believe me when I say we found, Tellin spp, Banded Wdge Shell, Otter Shell, Thong Weed, Prickly |cockle Edible Cockle  host of Sand Hoppers and an incredible looking Sea Slater,

Common Sea Slater (photo from Wikipedia)

There were lots of groups of Goose Barnacles, and if anyone can answer the question "what are they doing" please leave a comment< sensible ones only!. UPDATE

Dosima fascicularis, the buoy barnacle, is "the most specialised pleustonic goose barnacle" species.^[ It hangs downwards from the water surface, held up by a float of its own construction, and is carried along by sea currents  (thanks to Veronica and Wikipedia)

We walked back through the foredunes then into F1 and looked at the pond where Common Darter and Common/Moorland Hawker were playing on the wind, this pond has been great this summer for dragonflies.

We also discovered a new site for Common Broomrape, and found Haresfoot Clover.

We will hold a couple of events through the late autumn and winter so look out for information.....

Tuesday 20th September 2016

Nip in the air.....

There was a bit of a nip in the air this morning, although if I had woken earlier as planned it would have been even nippier!

Anyway a late start saw me on the reserve at 08:45, it was calm and there were quite a few birds flitting across the track where puddles still lay from the last rain.

I set two 40ft nets, about 100ft apart, and whilst I was not flooded with birds catching a small flock of Goldfinches did make for a busy start.

As the morning wore on I decided to see if the Meadow pipits would react to the tape lure, they did and whilst it wasn't a classic Meadow Pipit set up I caught four birds before packing up and getting on with some work.

Meadow Pipits are every predators favourite food, and we have lots on the reserve, they bred well and now the winter visitors are arriving, I'll be targeting them over the next weeks.

Meadow Pipit, notice the tick just behind the eye!

Meadow Pipit