Morfa Berwig ringing Sunday 11th March 2018

A ringing session this morning at Morfa Berwig was interesting in so much as there were few birds around especially tits, my theory is that first thing they were busy establishing territories, singing, looking for nest sites etc, and generally getting into breeding mode before going off to feed.

The food in the feeders has hardly gone down in the last few days so I'll be thinking about stopping the food if the weather sets in mild.

The small catch was varied with, BULLFINCH, GOLDFINCH, DUNNOCK, ROBIN, GOLDCREST, WREN, BLUE TIT, GREAT TIT, BLACKBIRD AND COAL TIT

One of the Blue Tits was a very smart adult and had a good smattering of pollen on its plumage especially on the forehead, clearly the Willows are flowering and it had been poking about in the flowers.

When extracted from the net the patch of yellow on the forehead was very obvious,

the pollen has brushed off with handling.

Several of the Dunnocks were showing signs of being in breeding condition with the cloacal protruberance ( the reproductive bits) swollen,

THERE WILL BE A RINGING DEMONSTRATION AT MORFA BERWIG (weather permitting) on Thursday 12th April, 8am - 10am booking essential

One or Two? Saturday 10th March 2018

Well, a lot more Otter spraint in the usual place but no luck for two nights so I moved the trail camera to another location, which is more secure and the view more open.

Bingo......

What I'm not 100% sure about is how many Otters there were.

The first otter appears from the right, and swims off to the right, and doesn't appear to swim left, but a second Otter appears from the left?

Update:
[ I've played the uncut version of the video and it is one Otter]

The MAGTER diaries continued Thursday 8th March 2018

Well the video diaries continue with the MAGpies and the otTER both trying to put on a show.  get it MAGTER!!

Firstly, during the cold and snowy weather the Magpies ceased work on the nest, staying alive probably took priority. Over the past two days though they have been hard at work.

The male was particularly keen to select and place a piece of poplar that he had broken off, it must have been 75cm long at least. he did manage it eventually.

Meanwhile at Morfa Berwig I left the trail camera out for two nights in a slightly different position to the first attempt, I think I've worked out what the Otter is doing despite another poor clip of - her?snaffling about the camera.

Another try tonight...

Fences, cattle, Ashpits LNR and Litter Pick guide Wednesday 7th March 2018

Today was an opportunity to check the fences at Pembrey again, GF3 was an "easy" fix just making sure the top strand is tight, GF2 is another matter and it looks like the cattle will need to be moved to GF1 which hasn't been grazed this winter and the fence is new.

Then it was off to Ashpits LNR to put in a new boundary sign, easy digging soon as the sign in, looking good.

The fields along factory Road, leading to the reserve/country park held c300 redwings and a few Fieldfare, whilst the football field held c50 Fieldfare and a few Redwing!

We are really grateful for the help from so many local people who give up their time to clear litter from MCP and our beaches, to make the effort more focussed and beneficial we are producing a "Litter Picking Guide", the council has a legal obligation under The Environment (Wales) 2016 Act to ensure their actions do not negatively affect bio-diversity unnecessarily so the guide will direct peoples enthusiasm and protect the wildlife. I will publish it on the blog in due course.

Quiet stroll you must be joking Monday 5th March 2018

Overcast, rain, cold, perfect for a quiet stroll around Pembrey Burrows and look at the wildlife, and so it was, down to CE51 along the beach to the end of GF2 and back via the shelter, well that was the plan.

As I was watching some Great Crested Grebes, offshore and a few Common Scoter the mobile began to ring, by the way my mobile had a wobbly over the weekend and I've lost some telephone numbers!

It was regular dog walker Brian who was actually within shouting distance, to tell me there was a problem with the fence in GF2.

Wednesday team - this was the problem AGAIN.

the fence must be six foot high now!

Sand build up due to the strong easterlies meaning the cattle could just walk over the top strand of barbed wire, oh wonderful.

Luckily it's Monday which means that the great volunteers from mencap Cymru are usually on site for a litter pick or a task, well here was a task.

Needless to say after two hours in the pouring rain another line of barbed wire is in place, totalling 100m?, its not the neatest of jobs but it should hold them a while.

Long term the line of the fence will need to moved well inland as the accretion of sand continues, which in itself is not a bad thing......

A HUGE thanks to the guys from mencap Cymru who were all thoroughly soaked through after two hours in the rain.

Still hundreds of LAPWING on the reserve, a few corpses that have been scavenged.

The big thaw? Sunday 4th March 2018

Well that was it, the thaw has set in. Just as well as in such a short time the wildlife has started to suffer, as I mentioned in previous blogs there are a lot of displaced birds all along the coast.

This morning was still cold but with heavy rain and an easterly the snow has disappeared quite quickly, although it is still lying on parts of Cefn Sidan.

A 9.2m tide got me out of bed, I was shocked to find the road to the reserve along the marsh flooded,  I'm glad, I did there were hundreds of birds around, however before I got to enjoy them I noticed two black shapes in the wrong place AGAIN.

Access road flooded

Yes two Welsh Blacks had made a run for it from GF3 HOW?, we had checked the fencing on Wednesday and Thursday, then I saw that the top and middle strands on the fence along the marsh for about 15m were down in the water, (of course the area was under water due to the high tide).

Unbelievable the fence is down again

With my cowboy skills now honed I soon had the two wanderers back in the field and moved all of them further up the field.

I went and did some monitoring before putting on my leaky wellingtons to fix the fence.

On the bird front, 

PINTAIL 9, TEAL 100+, WIGEON 10, MALLARD 4, SHELDUCK 5, REDSHANK 80+, GREENSHANK 1, LAPWING 120, GOLDEN PLOVER 100+, REDWING 300+, FIELDFARE 50+ CURLEW 1, OYSTERCATCHER 2000+ DUNLIN 9; all in all not bad

SNOW days 2nd March 2018

Well the snow set in here around 3pm, as forecast really fine dry stuff.
It's amazing how quickly the wildlife seems to have been affected by this cold snap, it's been building up for a few day with easterly winds however the snow made an immediate impact with quite big cold weather movements observed, and especially this morning.

I went to check the cattle, (well that was my excuse) which were all fine, but the numbers of REDWING, FIELDFARE, BLACKBIRD, SONG THRUSH, LAPWING and GOLDEN PLOVER on the reserve was interesting.

Probably 500-1000 Redwing, 50+ Fieldfare small flocks of Blackbirds and Song Thrush,  with around 100 each of Lapwing and Golden Plover.

Hopefully a thaw will set in soon which will give the birds time to recover.