Triple treats...Wednesday 24th May 2017

Wednesday, volunteer day, post bashing, habitat management, monitoring, public engagement... it's all go at Pembrey LNR.

A busy day with the refugia for the endangered Strandline Beetle placed at selected locations along Cefn Sidan. Amazingly whilst clearing broken glass off the beach...thank you public idiots... I picked up a discarded trainer, shook it and out popped one of the rarest and most threatened species of beetle in the UK, The Strandline Beetle, Eurynebria complanata   at last I've seen, held and photographed this amazing little beetle. (I repositioned the trainer!)

Strandline Beetle

Earlier whilst finishing off some fencing I checked some refugia including some "forgotten" ones, just the odd Slow Worm and Common Lizard, then I checked ref 4, where I have never found anything of interest but today bingo!, a GRASS SNAKE, even better it was an immature from last year, quite dark in colour about 25cm long.

Grass Snake, Wikipedia photo

A few weeks ago Neil found Common Gromwell, Lithospermum officinale, recorded as local in England rare elsewhere, today we re-found the location and estimated around 100 spikes..

Common Gromwell

Mothing.... Monday 22nd May 2017

In less than perfect conditions I set my moth trap out in an area of Willow Scrub, Phragmities and rough grass.

I ran the trap from sunset until 23:00hrs, a short but interesting session, with Fox Moth, Pale Tussock, Middle Barred Minor, Treble Lines and Sharp Angled Peacock the best.

Another session on Wednesday night when hopefully it will be a bit warmer....

Sharp Angled Peacock

Middle Barred Minor

Treble Lines

Fox Moth

Pale Tussock

Sometimes just sometimes...Aargh Sunday 21st May 2017

I was not a perfect child but I did know right from wrong, why? because my parents and older siblings brought me up correctly....

What am I going on about.... this afternoon as I drove through the reserve I watched two young lads delighting in throwing sticks and stones at a group of young cattle  while "dad" sat on his bike oblivious to what was going on.....I didn't have an opportunity to engage and educate as they  all cycled off before I could say anything....

An additional contingent of young cattle has arrived and I went off to count them, a total of 10 newbies giving us 33 head on site, I also noticed someone? had kindly picked a few bags of litter from the beach, sadly they left them against the field fence and the cattle have been at them now there's litter in the cattle field!

On a brighter note a regular nature photographer stopped me to point out  newly emerged Broad-bodied Chaser dragonflies, Libellula depressa, my first chasers of the year, there were two immatures one was a male judging by the evenly yellowish-brown colour of the body with the broad antehumeral stripes clearly a shade of blue, a feature found in males,  and a more female type with whitish antehumeral stripes.

Broad-bodied Chaser immature ♂

we just need some warm settled weather to bring out decent numbers of invertebrates, although on the guided walk yesterday we did see a few reptiles and butterflies despite the cloud and showery rain.

Useful addition? Thursday 18th May 2017

I've always been interested in the weather, (well it is a British obsession!), and have run an electronic weather station for many years, however since moving back to Wales, although the station has been running and recording I've not really done much with the data.

As a consequence I've moved the station to Pembrey reserve where the data collected can be used in a more informative way.

Data capture unit, ignore the readings, it was initializing!

There's always the danger of vandalism but I think we have to be a bit more optimistic and run the equipment positively.

Equipment in place, I think it's high enough! (and yes it actually is vertical! depending on the angle of view)

The station measures, temperature, wind direction & speed plus, rainfall, pressure, and humidity all pretty useful information. In addition I've installed a separate rain gauge which can be checked/emptied manually on each visit.

Rain gauge

The weather was great this morning after the wet of the last few days and there were a few butterflies on the wing, with Small Blue, Common Blue and Dingy Skipper topping the ratings. An interesting caterpillar turned out to be a Six-spot Burnet Moth

Six-spot Burnet moth caterpillar on Birds-foot Trefoil

Something to do on a damp day Tuesday 16th May 2017

I like to keep the information in the shelter at Pembrey Burrows LNR, fresh and relevant.

I thought a few topical posters would be useful, so with no funds to buy anything I've set about making three, one each for Orchids, Butterflies and Sea Mammals.

I'm quite pleased with the result and as they are home produced are more relevant than a generic off the shelf publication.

Despite the damp conditions there was a good steady passage of Swallows this morning, with Gannets feeding offshore, always nice to see.

Don't forget the guided walk 10am on Saturday 20th May.

April & May a few photographs 15th May 2017

A few photographs taken at  Pembrey Burrows LNR from the spring of '17

Green-winged Orchid

Lapwing

Common Morel

Cornu aspersum

Cepaea nemoralis

Theba pisana

Moonwort

Sedge Warbler

Feral Apple!

Dingy Skipper

Sunny Sunday 14th May 2017

At last a break in the weather gave a few millimetres of rain over the last few days and has really freshened the vegetation, another benefit of a change of wind direction, this morning the visibility was superb.

The fresher conditions brought out quite a few bird watchers and walkers (without dogs) who all appeared to want to have a chat which is great.

A nice selection of birds were on show this morning, with the usual Stonechats, Skylarks, and Meadow Pipits the obvious species, but a secretive Shelduck will require further investigation, as will the pair of Common Ringed Plovers I watched on the fore-dunes.

Common Ringed Plover, pretending not to be seen

Butterflies were keeping their heads down with the westerly breeze but Dingy Skipper and Small Blue were on the wing. 

Some unsettled weather in the coming week may make finding wildlife a challenge, but don't forget the ramble with a ranger on Saturday 20th May.