Frosty Thursday PART TWO

My plan was to "go for the owls" again this afternoon, so at I rocked up to the info' hut to find a small crowd of five people looking for the Short-eared Owls great, NO SIGN of them so far apparently.

Well one duly appeared and soon there were three hunting the dunes and marsh, the photographers , Ray and a mate of his, clicked away and I'm sure they had some decent shots, myself well nothing I would put on the blog!

Ray and his mate left and I sat in the van drinking coffee from my new flask (which I've already dropped!)

As I sat catching up on my "tweets" out of the corner of my eye no more than 50feet away a SHORT EARED OWL perched on a fence post. what a bit of luck, shame it was behind a branch which the camera kept focussing on... still here is a video or two and a photo of my own. In the second video you can make out the "ears" which are modified feathers., it was watching an approaching dog.

Frosty Thursday 28th December 2017

Quite a decent frost this morning, saw me at the Morfa Berwig reserve to retrieve the trail camera which I set yesterday evening......

Two very regular visitors to the reserve reported seeing an OTTER in the Afon Goch, we know Otters visit the reserve but to have a sighting is great. I have been talking about putting the camera out as there have been signs of Otters for a few weeks with the information received it seemed like a good idea.

Disappointedly there were no otters caught on camera, in fact nothing stirred during the night to set the camera off, this morning I had to break the ice from the post the camera was on to get it out of the river which was frozen with a decent layer of ice. So all I've got are the sounds of the birds flying over!

Ignore the time, it was actually 15:35

Frosty Camera!

As I was leaving the reserve I stopped to make a phone call and noticed the lightening blue of a KINGFISHER perched over one of the ditches, I took a record shot through the misty windscreen before attempting to open the van door which was just as well as the bird immediately took flight.

through the window Kingfisher

WATER RAILS were evident near the ringing rides as was a single WILLOW TIT 

Two more sleeps, Saturday 23rd December 2017

A damp mizzly sort of morning, but with the right clothing nothing to stop a decent walk around the Pembrey Reserve.

Nothing of note just good numbers of the common birds, with BULLFINCH, ROBIN, SONG THRUSH, FIELDFARE, BALCKBIRD SKYLARK AND STONECHAT all present.

A GREAT CRESTED GREBE off shore and 21 CORMORANTS, 29 RINGED PLOVER, 8 SANDERLING and c2000 OYSTERCATCHERS around CE51.

Clearly the excitement was yesterday when Jean Dovey was on site, armed with her camera she managed to capture some lovely shots of two SHORT-EARED OWLS, in what were clearly poor light conditions.

Its great to see that the owls have stayed around the area, although catching up with them is a bit of trial and error.

SEASONS GREETING TO ALL BLOG READERS.....

Ynys Dawela Nature Park Wednesday 20th December 2017

It's Wednesday, regular readers know that means it's volunteer day.

Today we journeyed to the NE corner of the county to the Ynys Dawela Nature Park.

In typical December weather of light rain and mist we tackled a few jobs, including removing some fencing - seems we always remove fences- the usual litter pick and a   Knotweed survey ready for dealing with in 2018, there was very little Knotweed found.

Just how deep is this pond?

It is a wonderful location and the recent management work on the dipping pond, the "meadows" and areas of woodland will enhance the respective habitats for the Marsh Fritillary and allow light to the woodland floor to enrich the flora.

Mown meadow

There were good sized mixed flocks of birds moving through the woods with TREECREEPER, NUTHATCH, BLUE, GREAT AND LONG-TAILED TITS, a few JAYS moving through and the ubiquitous GREY SQUIRREL.

The photo doesn't do the actual scene justice, ..all was calm and still.....

I saw most of the birds when I stopped to catch my breath on this flight of steps!!!!!!!!

 

Billy no mates, Morfa Berwig Tuesday 19th December 2017

I was expecting help in the form of a volunteer group this morning, unfortunately they cancelled at the last minute, these things happen.....

Being the OCD organised person I am I had already prepped a lot of work which needed to be finished, (I'd made such a mess I couldn't leave it)

The Berwig roundabout entrance is getting there, it was a bit muddy after the alterations, but now there is space for at least eight carefully parked cars enough for any events we hold there.

Interesting birds today, using the winter feeding station I've been given permission to set up, and already I can confirm the presence of WILLOW TIT, and a gang of COAL TITS.

Willow Tits are RED listed which means they are of the highest conservation concern in the UK, Carmarthenshire has a reasonable population of these very fussy birds.

    Willow Tit

Cold weather arrivals, Saturday 16th December 2017

I helped out with the WEBS counts this morning on Cefn Sidan, between CE59 and Tywyn Point.

Although the tide was against us we managed to get decent coverage, best were       c3000 KNOT, c300 Sanderling, c350 WIGEON, and then a GREAT WHITE EGRET on the sands off Kidwelly Quay.

There were small skiens of BRENT GEESE moving in the estuary and COMMON SCOTER obvious offshore but not really countable from the beach probably c1000

Back at Pembrey a ringtail, HEN HARRIER put in the briefest of views as it scattered CURLEW, TEAL, SNIPE and LITTLE EGRETS out of the Swan drain.

The recent cold weather has resulted in an arrival of birds hopefully they will find the area to their liking and hang around for the rest of the winter.

The contractor work at Morfa Berwig LNR is finished just some tidying up to do, it's very muddy "offroad" which is to be expected, the tarmac paths will be swept in the next week or so.

Wigeon, Pembrey Burrows LNR - photo Colin Dalton.

Morfa Berwig Makeover! Thursday 14th December 2017

I went back to Morfa Berwig, in drier conditions than yesterday, to take photographs of the management work being carried out.

Now its a wetland site so any work at any time of year will be muddy, and current conditions are no exception.

With the entrance on the Berwig roundabout having received a makeover it looks a lot more inviting, when signage is in place it will look even better.

Berwig roundabout entrance, south west corner of reserve on A484

Management of the Willow and Gorse is essential as in short order they can both dominate the other vegetation, only about a third of each patch of scrub that needs controlling has been done and the result is open areas which will catch the sun allowing a richer diversity of plants and inverts' to colonise the areas until the scrub needs controlling again.

Brownfield area

Field 1

Yes it looks a mess and it's certainly muddy, but in  my opinion its a job well done, and in a few months you will not recognise the site.

Field 2

Afon Goch path

Field 3