Winters return - doesn't stop the summer migrants Sunday 18th March 2018

Today was the monthly water-bird survey or WeBS which I'm sharing with Simeon.

In bitterly cold weather, with a stiff NE wind I was joined by Ed from WWT to survey the section of Cefn Sidan from CE59 to Tywyn Point.

Despite the change in the weather there were a fair smattering of birds on the beach with total counts of the following:

COMMON GULL c1000, OYSTERCATHER 1637. SANDERLING 792, KNOT 160, REDSHANK 12, CULREW 30, BAR-TAILED GODWIT 3, GREAT BLACK BACKED GULL 24, HERRING GULL 75, COMMON SCOTER 100'S, GANNET 1, SHELDUCK 18, CORMORANT 7.

Sanderling, winter plumage (Colin Dalton)

Knot winter plumage (Colin Dalton)

There was also one Northern Wheatear, (a few reported in the county today), and a movement of Meadow Pipits to the south, (in response to the cold snap?)

Northern Wheatear male

Spring - hold on Friday 16th March 2018

A pre-dawn set up at Morfa Berwig, in good conditions after last nights very heavy rain; produced just nine birds, not a great return for the effort, even the tits were absent.

The star bird was the first CHIFFCHAFF of the season, to be expected really with c10 singing males across the road at WWT yesterday, hopefully the site will resound to their monotonous song soon.

ChiffChaff

The absolute wildlife sighting this morning was made by Ed, from WWT, when a TOAD walked across the path in front of us.

Toad

It is hard to believe that a "wetland" site such as Morfa Berwig appears to holds so few amphibians other than PALMATE NEWTS, but now with a clump of frog spawn last week and todays Toad sighting there's at least some evidence that they occur, (the same scenario occurs at WWT).

Morfa Berwig LNR, Wednesday 14th March 2018

A working party visit to Morfa Berwig with a list of jobs to tackle,

Clear debris from part of a recently exposed ditch

Put in two stiles to make access for monitoring (and less ripped clothes)

Check the artificial Otter holt

Continue removing an old fence

Well we managed 3 out of the 4 tasks, ably assisted by an extra helper in the form of Tim.

The ditch had been cleared of bankside vegetation for two reasons, namely to aid the movement of water and reduce the flood risk, and improve useable habitat for the water Voles.

The contractors have done a grand job and it was a case of just tidying up what we could, which involved raking the floating debris from the water and the bankside debris into piles.

This will allow the bankside vegetation to regenerate providing cover and food for the Water Voles, the banks are quite "soft" so burrowing shouldn't be a problem.

Before we started

I think another session next week will see the whole stretch of ditch cleared of floating debris and the bankside raked with the small piles moved into larger piles for burning.

In the throes of the work

To be fair Brian and I only joined in after putting the stiles in,

most of the work was done by Veronica, Neil and Tim,

but someone had to pose for the photos

What a difference, with the water running nicely and already clearing,

just the top section to tackle next time

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.