Wednesday 2nd November

Winter is here, meteorologically speaking anyway..

A cool dawn with an  overcast sky saw me setting up a few nets in the Willow and Reed areas, after a quiet start the pace picked up with 13 Reed Buntings in the Reed net, along with last weeks Cetti's Warbler. The Willow bush net produced a single Chaffinch and a lonely Blue Tit.

There were several Water Rail calling in the reeds but none would react to the tape lure.

Three Red-breasted Mergansers flew over heading West

Its good to get a few reed Buntings ringed as there are a lot on site and they do move about the area.

Reed Bunting ♂

With today being volunteer day we set off on a few tasks, pot hole filling and putting up a few signs, well nothing is straight forward but suffice to say pot holes filled and a sign up before lunch, but not before being pleased to see a HEN HARRIER , quartering the lower and middle marsh, it was a "ringtail" which means it was either a female or an immature. species 138 for the year.

Of course the camera was in the car............................

Over lunch a ♂ Merlin came and sat on a fence post in very close range, then I noticed two large white birds heading from the NNW they were swans and as I said a quiet prayer they were indeed WHOOPER SWANS species 139 for the year.

Whooper Swans

(not todays photo, they were flying in the other direction!!)

This week is turning into something of a purple patch in terms of new birds appearing on or over the recording area, what will be number 140..???

Tuesday 1st November

Ups and downs, disappointments and surprises....

Every day that I turn up at Pembrey Burrows reserve, I wonder what I am going to find, something unusual, a surprise maybe a new bird or insect; in the back of my  mind is always the thought "what have the humans been up to...".

Yesterday was no exception so when I got to the information shelter and noticed the tide tables had been moved and the leaflet dispensers were mixed up I knew something odd had happened.

This thought was confirmed when I found some of the information signs had holes in them, made by air rifle pellets, then the bits of chipped wood lying on the floor confirmed that some git had been using the shelter for target practise......

Despite being disappointed I guess that I should be grateful that its the first incident in nearly twelve months, so I replaced the damaged signs and wait with anticipation.

Today a new day and a new month, a cooler feel and a light Easterly breeze soon found the reserve to be raptor heaven.

I noticed that the flocks of Starlings, & Goldfinches, along with the other birds on the marsh were "on edge", it soon became apparent as a male Peregrine swept over the top of the reeds, a Kestrel watching from a dead tree and a Buzzard floating by.

Within a few minutes order was restored, but not for long as a very large very dark raptor appeared to the alarm calls of the Magpies and Carrion Crows, a look at the bird confirmed a long overdue MARSH HARRIER, judging by the very dark plumage an immature bird which  quickly disappeared into the reeds. Of course I didn't have my camera to hand, so an interent photo for those of you unfamiliar with this great bird.

Marsh harrier, the bird seen today was darker than this individual with a smart cream crown

(photo,  internet unnamed source )

As if that wasn't enough four Red Kites drifted in from the estuary and after a few minutes continued inland to the North.

A real raptor fest!!!!

Wednesday 26th October 2016

Winter raptors.....

With autumn marching towards winter there has been a noticeable increase in the avian predators on the reserve.

Whilst we don't get big numbers of raptors we do have a nice range of species using the reserve and already the following can be found with a bit of time

Kestrel, at least two different individuals.

Sparrowhawk, the "big" female is back and quite often a smaller male and female can be encountered.

Common Buzzard, one or two usually seen around the first cattle enclosure to the north of the track.

Merlin, a nicely marked immature male has been around for a few days and showed well this evening.

Immature ♂ Merlin,

(heavily cropped photo; donations towards a decent camera welcome!)

Peregrine Falcon, a couple of regular birds, especially at high tide when they hunt the wader flock

Red Kites should reappear soon, as well as Goshawk and Hen Harrier, just keep looking...

Barn Owl, check near the Dwr Cymru treatment plant at dusk

Short-eared Owl one individual seen this week keep checking at dusk.

Tuesday 25th October 2016

A mix of Summer and Winter.....

I made a late afternoon visit to the reserve, as it was my first opportunity for a few days, the light was quite nice with a mix of dark heavy clouds inland and crisp clear blue skies out in the bay.

I made a quick stop at pond 2 and was pleased to find, at last, Four Northern Shoveler, the first record for 2016 on the reserve making them species number 136, they were all female and didn't hang around long but only flew to the pond in the next enclosure. there were also five Teal, and two Pintail nice numbers of nice duck on what is almost a puddle sized pond.

I walked out to the eastern edge of the dunes and was pleased to find that the seasonal brackish pools have retained a lot of water after the high tides, it is clear that birds, probably ducks and waders, are using the pools (lots of preened feathers).

its a long walk to get to this area :-)

Making my way back to the information shelter two Barn Swallow flew overhead and headed East, the last of the year??

When I had unlocked the entrance barrier, out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a large white bird flying towards me, at the same time I caught the tail end of a large brown bird fly across my line of sight.

Having established that the white bird was a very well built adult Herring Gull my attention turned to what I hoped had been a Short-eared Owl, IT WAS....

Short-eared Owl

The owl was actively hunting the rough grass to the north of the entrance and made a couple of apparently unsuccessful dives into the grass. These birds are incredibly beautiful and my "bridge camera" photographs do it no justice at all, however I am happy to have been able to record the bird myself.

Short-eared Owl

One of the regular and, on side, dog walkers told me she had seen it at the same time yesterday evening....

There was some nice interaction with a male Sparrowhawk before the owl made its way towards the country park.

There has been an increase in avian predators in the last few weeks, and judging by the number of small mammals , (voles and mice particularly) I've noticed there should be enough for all this winter...........

Pure magic, I just need to get better photos before the end of the year

Wednesday 19th - Saturday 22nd October

Catching up.....

For most of my adult life I've managed perfectly well with out "internet", so why is it that four days without "broadband" and I feel in disarray?

Well it seems that all is working again so time for a catch up.

Wednesday is volunteer day and this week we were at Morfa Berwig LNR, our mission to put some metal gates up to replace the wooden structures presently leading to the grazing fields.

Having completed a small task clearing some rank vegetation we proceeded to the grazing field to be met by these!

Gently does it....., a nifty pincer and we've got them

At first I thought someone was taking the Donkeys for a walk, then realised they were escapees!!!
An interesting few minutes ensued while we rounded the way ward Donkeys up and put them back in the field, ultimately we never actually completed the main task of putting a gate up, but that's another story.....

On Friday I had a ringing session and was pleased to catch the first CETTIS WARBLER for the site, I had only first heard them a few days previously so to find one in the net was a surprise, more expected though where the first Redwing of the season....

Redwing

Cettis Warbler, a juvenile of this year

I caught a couple of Robins, one had a much greyer forehead than usual, it is likely to be a "continental" bird, but I didn't take a photograph! It is noticeable that there are quite a few Robins around this week

Saturday was another guided walk, "Beach Wildlife", despite the late start 10:30, I arrived at 08:45 and met up with Bernie Beck who had walked in for the walk, he went off to do a sea watch and I had a quick look at the route of the walk. I joined Bernie at about 09:45, by which time he had already seen a Bonxie, A Harbour Porpoise and a Grey Seal!!!!

Of course by the time everyone had arrived there was little to see, undaunted we had a nice walk and managed to pick up Teal, Common Snipe and a couple of Pintail....its all in the timing.

Tuesday 18th October 2016

Guided Event....High tide sea watch

This morning at 07:30 a group of nine joined me for our first "guided" Sea Watch event, Including sea watch legend Adam who made sure we didn't miss any of the action.

With high tide due for 08:24hrs we were in position at first light and immediately the birds began to appear.

Sanderling, just dropping in in front of the group, (credit Veronica Haines VH)

Flocks of Sanderling landed feet away to be scared away by a piece of plastic blowing along the beach in the stiff WSW breeze

After a long spell of settled weather the change in conditions were perfect and soon rafts of Common Scoter were visible off shore with many more flying out to sea.

Our marker points on the opposite side of the Burry Inlet (the Gower) (VH)

Gannets numbered 100+, a good count for the estuary, the pick of the morning came with Peregrine, the first great Northern Diver of the autumn, Red-throated Diver, two Kittiwake, three Sandwich Tern, in the 100+auks seen , at least five Razorbill and 20 Guillemot were identified.

Its there somewhere, am I really that short and round, (VH)

Yep it's a Great Northern Diver, (VH)

The usual assemblage of gulls included, Black-headed, Herring and Common.

For me the best bird, and a new one for the reserve/SSSI site list for 2016, a GREAT SKUA, a scarce bird recorded in the county with less than 5 in the past eight years

Great Skua, (photo from Wikipedia)

A great bird to see at any time almost as if I had arranged it.

Saturday 15th October 2016

American visitor.....

A report of a Pectoral Sandpiper, at Kidwelly Quay in the past few days prompted me to drive the short distance to "twitch" this North American wader.

I've seen them in the UK several times but its always nice to see an uncommon visitor especially when its on your doorstep.

The weather changed overnight with the wind a more SSE  feel about it and with the change it seems, that despite several people looking for a few hours, the Pectoral Sandpiper has moved on.

It was not disappointing though as there were plenty of waders on the marsh and mudflats, including  two Bar-tailed Godwit, eight Curlew Sandpiper, two Green Sandpiper, a lot of Dunlin and Redshank and one or two Greenshank.

Bar-tailed Godwit

Kidwelly Quay always has something to offer especially at low tide.

Curlew Sandpiper