A roundup of last week Sunday 22nd April 2018

My blogging has been rather intermittent of late so a roundup of the past week seems appropriate.

I have had a couple attempts at ringing in the last week, they have been rather dismal to say the least with only two birds, a Reed Bunting and a Dunnock, caught.

Spring can be difficult especially at such an exposed site as Pembrey Burrows. Despite the lack of ringing success there have been  migrant birds arriving and passing through, with Arctic Tern (thanks to Bernie for the record), Sedge, Grasshopper, Willow and  Whitethroat warblers all recorded. A high flying Marsh Harrier heading south towards the Gower was a latecomer to the year list which now stands at 97

Arctic Tern

On the butterfly front there's not a lot to be said, I held a "training session" for three willing butterfly surveyors on Thursday  which turned into a lovely walk but nothing to record, well not anything that was close enough to identify. There's time yet.....

Floristically, there a few plants to see with Green-winged Orchid, Cowslips, Heath Dog Violet, Wild Pansy, Oxford Ragwort, Broom and Moonwort all to find across the reserve.

Green-winged Orchid

Moonwort

I found the first newly emerged Dune Tiger Beetles yesterday which were great to see scuttling around grabbing prey.

Dune Tiger Beetle

Ynys Dawela Wednesday 18th April 2018

Ah Wednesday, so the gang headed off to the Ynys Dawela Nature Park.
It was damp and overcast early on but soon the weather changed into as day of warm sunshine AT LAST!

The cold and wet winter has certainly delayed the full onset of spring but today we were being serenaded by a number of summer migrants, with Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Blackcap belting out their heart warming song.

A good number of unidentified tadpoles in the pond were good to see even if they seem a few weeks behind in their development.

Today we continued with the removal of an old wooden structure which was past it's sell by date, as we;; as some redundant fence removal.

MORFA BERWIG extra help Wednesday 11th April 2018

Well, I really thought I had done this blog... apologies for falling behind.

This Wednesday the usual gang were joined by the WWT reserve volunteers as well as the reserve wardens and Edward this years intern; who were having an away day!.

The Wednesday gang and most of the gang from WWT

We split into two parties, one doing a Water Vole survey Led by Simeon and Neil and the other unlucky group were with me - the self appointed slash and burn gang.

All of the trash is now on the far bank leaving a wide area for natural regeneration

In decent weather we managed to tackle a host of tasks which was rewarding for everyone, the Water Vole surveyors found plenty evidence of the elusive creatures across the reserve.

We are very grateful for the help from the gang at WWT they were great company and hard workers THANK YOU.

Ringing demo' Thursday 12th April 2018

An early start to set up the ringing nets at Morfa Berwig, disappointedly only one person had booked in but as I was going to be at the reserve anyway there was no point in cancelling it. - the four talks/events so far this year have connected with 52 people.

Anyway one more person educated about the mystery that is bird ringing is always beneficial.
In the short time only eight birds were caught however with five being newly arrived Blackcaps it was very worthwhile. They were carrying various amounts of fat with scores around 5 or 6 showing they had refuelled at some point on their northward journey and probably only arrived on the reserve overnight.

Female Blackcap

A phone call around 9:30am from a regular at Pembrey did not bring good news, t would seem that about 30m of barbed wire fence had been pushed or pulled over and the cattle were missing!!

Another call from the admin office told me that the 16 cattle had wandered off the reserve, over the saltmarsh and had been found by one of the ranger team in a car park!

Although not primarily my responsibility there is a sense of presenting a positive public image so after rallying the grazier team I set off to the said car park arriving at the same time as the grazier and seeing one of the regular litter picker volunteers corralling the beasts!!!!!!!!!!!!

Suffice to say after an hour or so and a long walk for the cattle they were safely returned to a different field.

Surveying the scene of the crime it is difficult to decide if this was deliberate vandalism or a planned escape.

Signs of the day Tuesday 10th April 2018

Another change in the weather, with Monday being shirt sleeve order and today back to the fleece.

I met up with Simeon and the guys from mencap Cymru at North Dock LNR this morning to install the new boundary sign.

Easy digging, avoiding the copious amounts of dog mess soon had the sign in place.

It was then off to Sandy Water Park to put some interpretation in place for the Bee/Pollinator project we started last week.

A quick trip to Pembrey and some public engagement - I always enjoy talking to people who want to know more about the work we do - and my morning was complete.

Don't forget the bird ringing demonstration at MORFA BERWIG on Thursday 8am - 10am

please call to book a place 07984788218

Talk and Walk, Saturday 7th April 2017

I gave an illustrated talk on Friday evening to the Wales Wildlife Watch group which seemed to go well to an attentive and inquisitive audience.

Today in overcast and showery conditions saw the first guided event of the season, a beach walk on Cefn Sidan between CE51 and CE52, a group of 19 including 6 little ones was a good size. With so  much emphasis on the benefits to be gained from "getting outside" and enjoying the countryside and coast, some may be interested to know that todays walk of just over 2 miles (measured on a map), all the ups and downs of the dunes, contributed around 5000 steps to the daily target of 10000!

The walk thorough the reserve revealed a few things but with the season seemingly a few weeks behind we didn't have more than a few flowering plants in bloom, a torpid SLOW WORM raised some interest.

Once on the beach it was clear that the easterly wind of the last few days had covered the older tide lines with sand so we worked the lower beach with a decent array of creatures and shells.

working through the key for Shark egg-cases,

we decided we had a Blonde Ray case

With buckets filled with shells, crab casts, Sea Potatoes and seaweeds the little ones set about creating a "fish"

Some great feedback from the participants makes it all worthwhile.

BUZZY Tuesday 3rd April 2018

Met up with Simeon along with Sinead (Bumble Bee Conservation BBCT) at Sandy Water Park this morning as a follow up to a meeting a few months ago, looking at creating habitat for Bees and other inverts' along with some wild flowers in the swathe of grass that is Sandy Water Park.

Looking West across the lake

Before

With limited funds BBCT have engaged a contractor to strip an area of turf and put down a limestone gravel substrate.

Removing the turf and some topsoil will reduce the nutriments from the area making it better for naturally occurring flora to take hold, the gravel will help to replicate the lime conditions on the dunes and suppress the stronger ruderal flora from pushing through, possibly.

A man and a machine duly appeared and got stuck in making the job look so easy!!!, while another man and a brand new £80000 JCB loader stood by ready to move the gravel.

Doesn't take long

Another example of partnership working for the benefit of the local wildlife and hopefully the local people. (interpretation on the way)

£80000, first day out

Gravel laid