Northern visitors, Pembrey Country Park Tuesday 20th November 2018

After a successful ringing session last week, I've been keeping the feeders topped up, the food is certainly disappearing fast, and spending about an hour, when I can spare it, just watching which birds are coming to the feeders.

Today was particularly busy with lots of Blue, Great and Coal Tits visiting plus a nice flock of about 45 Chaffinches, the flock was feeding on the ground around the split grain being joined by a Jay, Magpie and Carrion Crow.

A couple of Mistle Thrushes, Song Thrushes and a small flock of Redwings were on the grassy areas.

Redwings are winter visitors from Scandinavia, with occasional individuals arriving from Iceland, (these tend to be larger and more strongly coloured compared to the Scandinavian birds), and can be present in good numbers from November through to Spring.

Redwing

Whilst watching the Chaffinches feeding I picked out another finch, very similar to the Chaffinch but this one is another winter visitor to the UK it was a Brambling, in fact there were two of them in the flock but they were quite elusive, diving into cover at the approach of the Jay and Magpie. This northern finch is not particularly common in Carmarthenshire but is easily overlooked. There are good numbers of birds around the park at the moment so if you do visit and find something interesting please feel free to drop into the visitor centre (now down by the beach access for the winter) and leave a message for me.

Brambling

I haven't kept a proper bird list for the Country Park n 2018, however the bird list for the nature reserve is now at 115 species for 2018, I'll publish it in the blog soon just in case any followers of the blog have records to submit.

Pembrey Country Park Bird Ringing Friday 16th November 2018

Phew! well after watching the weather forecast all week this morning the weather was spot on for my first session at Pembrey Country Park.
It's always interesting and challenging the first time a new site is ringed, how many nets? how will the wind direction affect the nets and therefore the catch? what will we catch? are there enough rings?
all these questions were answered today.

I was joined by "A" grade permit holders, Heather and Cedwyn from the Gower Ringing Group and by Veronica who provides the "scribing" service (Veronica does the writing!)

I was on site for 06:15 and set the first couple of nets in the dark ready to catch any redwings leaving their night time roost, when the rest of the team arrived we put up another net near the feeders.
It proved a decent first session with 44 birds of 12 species caught and ringed.

Mistle Thrush, there is a good population of these stunning thrushes in the park

Blue Tits dominated the catch as is usual when ringing near bird feeders with 19 ringed, the rest of the catch was made up of:
Great Tit 9, Chaffinch 3, Blackcap 1, Blackbird 2,Coal Tit 2,Dunnock 2,Redwing 2,          G. S.Woodpecker 1, Jay 1, Mistle Thrush 1, and Robin1.

Feisty jay

Robin

The Blackcap was the most interesting as it should be on its way to, if not already in, Africa for the winter, however more and more Blackcaps are over wintering in the UK so this one may make the Park its winter home.

Hopefully time and weather will allow a regular timetable of ringing at Pembrey Country Park with many more birds ringed, this will provide the base line information for monitoring the range of species and their population in the Park.

Male Chaffinch (library photo)

Chaffinch wing-ageing the bird

We also saw two different Sparrowhawks, and judging by the hole in Heathers net one may have visited the catching area.

Winter is a good time to visit Pembrey with its different habitats of pine forest, mixed deciduous woods, open grassland and of course the beach and dunes.

Ready to go Tuesday 6th November 2018

I've thought about a bird feeding/ringing station in Pembrey Country Park for a while, with permission given a few weeks ago, I went along today and set up four feeders.

I have already had the ringing rides cleared by Steve in the Outdoor Recreation Team, the feeders have been positioned in order to try and trap a selection of the birds using the feeders, which allow me to assess the species using the area during the winter and help determine the population survival rates over a period of years.

Ringing rides through the Pines

It is likely that most of the birds will be from the Tit family but I'm hopeful that other species such as Great Spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatch will use the free food supply.

Nuthatch

The feeders contain, Niger- good for Goldfinches which are present in the park in good numbers, Sunflower Hearts- good for a wide range of birds but hopefully Siskin and Redpoll will find them; and a couple with a general mix of seeds and fruit.

Three of the feeders are mounted on steel poles, one on a tree

I've avoided Peanuts as they are too expensive, (I'm funding this project myself), and will only encourage the ever present Grey Squirrels.

Once the birds have been using the feeders regularly I will start the ringing programme and hopefully holding a ringing demonstration for the general public; bird ringing is very weather dependent, so any demonstrations will be at short notice.

Catching up Saturday 3rd November 2018

An overcast, milder day with the threat of strong winds and heavy rain so why not get out for an hour or two.

I started by checking the sheep, yes sheep, which are grazing in one of the four foredune fields on the seaward side of the country park  at Pembrey.

We have a mixed flock of 47 ewes and rams of the Glamorgan or Nelson breed, perhaps better known as the South Wales Mountain Sheep. They are conservation grazers in the same way as the cattle on the nature reserve are, we are hopeful that they will graze the wide mix of plants in these foredunes, whilst their trampling will open up the ground creating bare areas of sand so loved by invertebrates.

A last look at home before a holiday by the sea!

More detail about the breed can be found here

https://southwalesmountainsheep.co.uk/

The field is fenced with sheep netting and barbed wire and the gate is padlocked, there is no public access to the fields, with plenty of signage explaining why the sheep are there.

With an eye cast skywards I managed to see a large white bird fly over from the direction of the burrows, a Great White Egret, lovely to see there are more and more sightings of this relative newcomer to Carmarthenshire.

Other birds this morning were, Sparrowhawk a male and female, plenty of Jays and a few mixed flocks of tits in the woods.

I'm about to set up a winter bird feeding project in the Country Park which will, hopefully, turn up a few goodies.... I'll keep you informed.

Cough it up, Sunday 28th October 2018

I've often commented that you don't have to see a creature to know that it's been around, all animals will leave a clue to their presence, this is no better illustrated than in birds which produce a "pellet" of the indigestible parts of their food.

People are often surprised and often misunderstand what is going on when a bird regurgitates one of these pellets, many think that the bird is vomiting, I guess in a way they are, except of course it's essential to their wellbeing that they remove the indigestible parts of the food via their mouths rather than letting the materials pass right through their gut, think of an owl trying to pass a mouse skull, ouch!

Barn Owl

All sorts of birds produce pellets, here are just a few; Owls, Crows, Gulls, Herons, Kingfishers, Hawks, Falcons and even Penguins (not that we get many of these in Carmarthenshire).

Carrion Crow pellets

This week I watched a bird produce the bright purple pellets in the photograph, they were about the size of a garden pea, I'd be interested if anyone can identify the bird from the pellet.

What bird produced these

Dissecting owl pellets is a great way to engage children, its easy to do, (once you have the pellet) and there are plenty of great reference materials out there to help identify the bones and skulls found, it's not smelly or dirty but washing hands afterwards is a must.

Short-eared Owl pellets, 

with a bird ring from a Meadow Pipit (see a previous blog for the details)

The Field Studies Council, FSC, produce loads of great easy to use guides, including this one on Owl pellets.

Do you feed the wildlife in your garden, Monday 22nd October 2018

Are you one of the millions of people who take the time and effort to feed the wildlife, mainly birds for most, in your garden? 

Well if you are, and to be honest if you read this blog then you probably do.
With the seasons changing albeit erratically at the moment but with a hint of more typical autumn weather due in the next week now may be time to think about making sure that you are prepared for the duties ahead.

Lets not take the fun out of feeding the birds, but seriously regular feeding can be the lifeline for our garden birds. Once you start feeding for the winter keep it going, it can be expensive so a little and often will benefit the birds and enhance your pleasure of watching the antics of the regular visitors. Don't forget fresh water will be appreciated for drinking and bathing.

 

Choice of feed is important, avoid bread, buy the best you can afford, if using fat balls only buy the ones in nets if you are prepared to REMOVE THE NET.

There are a number of diseases and viruses around which can affect birds, the work of these at the moment is Trichomoniasis, (Trich') Greenfinches are reported most frequently, but potentially any bird can be infected, including pigeons and doves and some birds of prey. The trichomonad parasite lives in the upper digestive tract of the bird, and its actions progressively block the bird’s throat making it unable to swallow food, thus killing it by starvation.  

Greenfinch succumbing to Trich'

 The infection is spread as birds feed one another with regurgitated food during the breeding season, and through food and drinking water contaminated with regurgitated saliva. Saliva can also contaminate a birdbath. Trichomoniasis cannot live long outside a host.

Trichomoniasis causes lesions in the throat of the infected bird, which makes it progressively harder for the bird to swallow its food, and eventually breathe. Birds will also show signs of lethargy and fluffed up plumage, drooling saliva and regurgitated food. Affected birds frequently have matted wet plumage around the face and beak and uneaten food in and around the beak.

The Papilloma virus is often seen in Chaffinches, the disease causes warty outgrowths on the foot or tarsometatarsus (the bare part of the leg). Usually only one limb is affected. The growths vary from small nodules to large irregular shaped and deeply-fissured masses which almost engulf the entire lower leg and foot and which can distort the toes. Affected birds usually seem in otherwise good health but some may show signs of lameness and hop mainly on the unaffected foot and digits may be lost. The warts grow slowly and may progress over many months.

Chaffinches showing advanced Papilloma

One way of tackling both these issues is regular cleaning and disinfecting of your feeders, and move them around the garden regularly to let the ground under the feeders rest, if you spot sick birds STOP FEEDING and REMOVE WATER for at least three weeks; and although the disease is not transmittable to humans wash your hands after contact with the feeders. 
Don't let these issues put you off there are far more positives than negatives from feeding the birds through the autumn and winter.

Flocking to Pembrey -Cefn Sidan Sunday 14th October 2018

There has been a bird survey carried out across the whole of the UK, called the Wetlands and Estuaries Bird Survey or WeBS commencing in its earliest form some 70 years ago,
the area of beach at Cefn Sidan to Tywyn Point has been counted for the past 30 years.

The counts are synchronised across the UK with this years start date being October the 14th for the monthly counts, designed to coincide with a morning high tide. Given the vastness of Cefn Sidan the count is done from a vehicle and the beach split into two sections, so it was that I started todays count.

This time of year sees large numbers of birds, waders,(or shorebirds) wildfowl and gulls arriving on Cefn Sidan and the nearby marshes of Kidwelly and Pembrey to spend the winter, Cefn Sidan plays host to nationally important numbers of some species such as Sanderling, a bird which breeds in the high Arctic and winters in milder climes.

Sanderling

The mud and sands that make up the beach are rich in marine worms, and  molluscs, while the strandline provides shelter for invertebrates which the birds can find by working their way through the seaweed.
One of the creatures present is Hydrobia, a favourite of Shelduck is a small snail about 4mm tall also known as the Laver Spire Shell.

                                  "The laver spire shell is often found in huge numbers, 
                                           sometimes up to 300,000 per square metre"
.
Each species of wading bird has a bill designed to feed at a particular depth, this way they don't compete with each other for the food available.

The stormy weather on Friday and Saturday will have influenced the birds counted today amongst which there were Common Scoter (on the sea), and of course Oystercatchers

Knot, present in thousands during winter

Ringed Plover

Knot

There was a female Grey Seal on the edge of the Gwendraeth enjoying the sun.

The best counts were.
Common Scoter 7510+, Oystercatcher 6942+, Sanderling 381, Curlew 161, Dunlin 30, Ringed Plover 38, Turnstone 2, Red-throated Diver 1, Great-crested Grebe 1


Look out for the next bird watching event, look on the Pembrey Country Park website and on this  blog; in the meantime a good place to watch waders from is Old Pembrey harbour near the Shoreline caravan park, especially on rising tide.