Busy Tuesday 27th February 2018

Contractors, working on behalf of Natural Resources Wales, are on site at Morfa Berwig carrying out some ditch and Willow clearance, so needed to be let in this morning, I also topped up the feeders before "the blizzard" arrives on Thursday, and.....checked the camera trap that I put out yesterday evening.

BINGO, check the bottom right hand side of the video for a very brief view of an OTTER, the river froze yesterday and it looks like the Otter came along the bank not through the water as anticipated but you know what I DON'T CARE, I got an Otter on film, now starts an opportunity.

After that morale boost it was off to a Carmarthenshire Nature Partnership meeting at WWT Llanelli, an interesting networking opportunity as always. I made copies of the guided events available which were well received.

After lunch some of the meeting debunked to Morfa Berwig for a walk around, some of the group hadn't visited before and those that had were impressed with the management works which have been carried out during the last few months.

A good representation from various public and NGO's at the meeting

here are the hardy ones who came for a walk

L_R, Coed Cymru, CCC Planning Conservation x3, ARC, WWTx2

I took the opportunity to photograph one of the very early tiny bright red flowers of Hazel, usually overlooked as it is so small this, the female flower, is very intricate.

Monday 26th February 2018

This month is nearly over,  know it's a shorter but still its flown by.

This morning, in a stiff easterly I joined the great team from mencap Cymru to install a sign recognising the important and ,much appreciated , work that they do along the coast here in the Pembrey and Llanelli area, carrying out a huge amount of litter picking and helping with other tasks such as fencing and putting in signs.

A few of the mencap volunteers said,

"I hope people read the sign and don't drop litter..."

I checked the cattle, which are looking good, being mostly Welsh Blacks and a few Hereford crosses they are all very hardy and are not phased by the colder weather, with plenty to eat and their drinking ponds full and not frozen (it's too windy) they all seemed quite content.

Well the forecast "beast from the east" is beginning to make it's presence felt what will the rest of the week bring.............

Magpie diaries, Sunday 25th February 2018

What a fantastic if chilly day, a brisk walk around Pembrey reserve this morning in glorious sunshine.

Nine Lapwings flying east were new for 2018, not much else going on apart from the Orienteering event where 100's of brightly and bizarrely clothed individuals were determinedly running in all directions through both the country park and the reserve, I used to do orienteering myself when I was younger and fitter.....I know hard to believe but true.

I spotted a few random twigs in a Poplar tree at the bottom of a neighbours garden yesterday and a Carrion Crow lurking nearby, last year they nested in a Cherry tree in another garden. Today I found the actual birds responsible for the construction, a pair of Magpies, they seem optimistic, I'm going to try and document the building of the nest and share the videos on the blog.

In the meantime a few facts about the Magpie, Pica pica, a member of the Corvid family some of the cleverest birds on earth.

An opportunistic omnivore they don't have many "friends" whether human or animal. They will feed on almost anything including nestlings and small birds, these are sometimes caught in flight. The birds at Pembrey have a taste for the caterpillars of The Fox Moth a hairy beast and the birds can be seen bashing them on the ground presumably to remove some of the hairs.

A bonded pair will remain together through the year, although like some humans, the males do have an eye for the ladies and can be promiscuous.

The nest is loosely constructed and usually dome shaped the cup is lined with mud lined with grass, hair, leaves and other soft material; a clutch of eggs is typically comprised of between 5-7 eggs, more rarely 3-10!

Here's the first short video of construction, hopefully more to follow.

RINGING at last Saturday 24th February

This morning was the first time since November that I have had the opportunity to ring at one of my own sites.

I visited Morfa Berwig with Edward one of the Gower Ringing Group trainees and set just two 40' nets around the feeder site.

Given the number of Blue and Great Tits in the area it was no surprise that they dominated the catch, however quality soon arrived in the shape of a WILLOW TIT, already ringed and re encountered once before this is the juvenile bird hatched at WWT, its fair to say we were happy with trapping the bird which was in great condition.

Willow Tit

A couple of rounds later we were pleased to see a "thrush" in the net, as I went to extract it there rather surprisingly was a REDWING, although not carrying any fat it felt in reasonable condition.

Redwing

The next round brought smiles as a Greater Spotted Woodpecker was in one net, then to top it Edward shouted that there was a "big bird" in the other net, in fact there were 2 JAYS in the net.
Oh what fun, Jays are vicious birds to handle with a deceptively hooked tip to the bill and it hurts, I don't care what any other ringers may be thinking, it hurts!, they were found to both be adult birds.

A great morning with the following captures. BLUE TIT 17, GREAT TIT 15, COAL TIT 3, DUNNOCK 3, JAY 2, CHAFFINCH 1. REDWING 1, ROBIN 1, GS WOODPECKER 1, WILLOW TIT 1,

Jay

NEW LAYOUT Friday 23rd February 2018

I know I know, some of you don't like change!!

Apologies but I've changed the "theme" of the Blog, this design allows you to subscribe to email alerts whenever I post a new page, I don't always post on Facebook and Twitter ( and some of you don't do Facebook or Twitter)so I thought having your own personal link would be nice.

It should be straight forward, I have tested it out myself, just click on "subscribe" and enter your email address, when you receive a confirmation email, Check your junk or spam box, follow the instruction, all in all it takes about 2mins. Although it says "subscribe" it costs nothing.

I am getting around 1100 hits a month so thanks.

Ynys Dawela and Morfa Berwig Thursday 22nd February 2018

So yesterday we visited Ynys Dawela Nature Park near Brynaman. It's a really interesting site so look out for the guided events there in the coming months, see yesterdays blog!.

I thought we were going to knocking things down, always fun, but no we were tidying up what had already been knocked down, eh oh still needed doing. We did start by putting the metal noticeboard in place on the new Oak sign looking good...

It was good to see a decent mass of frog spawn in the pond as well as a few clumps in the nearby ditch, it's likely that the onset of the cold weather may kill off much of the spawn which is a shame but that's nature for you.

Today despite it being my BIRTHDAY, I went and filled the feeders at Morfa Berwig, I will get around to ringing there soon I hope.

It was good to see the ringed Willow Tit already at the feeders when I arrived accompanied by what seemed every Blue and Great Tit in the district.
Worryingly I found some mammal prints that may be MINK, I'm not familiar enough with their tracks to be certain so opinions welcome.

As a birthday treat I bought myself a larger tool box so nothing is lying around in the van, oh and I cleaned the van AGAIN!

Below is the guided events programme for April, May and June. There is also a programme for July August and September.

We are doing things differently this year, we wish to raise the profile of the largely unknown gems across the county so our programme will cover more of the six Local Nature Reserves, also, booking for each event is required.

GUIDED EVENTS 2018

Join our team to discover the wildlife of our Local Nature Reserves, throughout the county. Please note the location, and time, of each event carefully.

BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL FOR EACH EVENT

APRIL - MAY - JUNE

April 7th Explore Cefn Sidan Beach  for birds, shells and more 10am -1pm. Meet at the PEMBREY BURROWS reserve entrance *                    

April 12th Bird ringing demonstration at MORFA BERWIG reserve 8am -10am Weather dependant *     

May 12th Dawn Chorus walk at Ynys Dawela Nature Park , meet at 04:45am *

May 24th Discover the bats using the woodlands at YNYS DAWELA NATURE PARK start time 8pm -10:30pm *                                             

June 3rd Bird Ringing demonstration MORFA BERWIG LNR  07:30am -10am *               

June 9th Bioblitz Bat walk Pembrey Country Park discover the bats using the Dunes/Woodland landscape 8pm -10:30pm Bring a torch CONTACT PEMBREY COUNTRY PARK TO BOOK YOUR PLACE  on 01554 742368 charges apply

June 10th Bioblitz Pembrey Country Park CONTACT PEMBREY COUNTRY PARK TO BOOK YOUR PLACE  on 01554 742368 charges apply

June 23rd The amazing plant diversity of MORFA BERWIG , a former brown-field and lowland marsh site 10am -1pm*                         

*To book a place call 07984788218, if the event is cancelled we will contact you.

DIRECTIONS: Pembrey Burrows Local Nature Reserve: head towards Pembrey Country Park, but turn LEFT just after the speed bump on Factory road , follow the road to the free car parking.

Morfa Berwig Local Nature Reserve is near Bynea, parking available either at the Berwig roundabout on the A484 or  at the end of Berwig Road.

Ynys Dawela Nature Park,  near Brynaman, Directions will be provided at the time of booking.

Anyone wanting a copy of the programme, please get in touch via the comments box and I will email a copy to you, (copies will also be available at Pembrey reserve, Pembrey Country Park visitor centre and at the Discovery Centre at North Dock from the beginning of March)

A version in Welsh will also be available