And REPEAT, Friday 24th January 2020

The second cohort of learners from a local primary arrived promptly for their Life on the Beach session at Pembrey Country Park.

They were very excited having been spurned on by tales of yesterdays adventures from their school friends.. a hard act to follow then!

After the usual briefing of; don't go in the sea, don't throw sand around, and don't pick up glass or metal, we set off, in colder and gloomy conditions than yesterday

Yesterday we headed West along the beach, today we headed East.

Very similar finds to yesterday with the added bonus of a football sized clump of Common Whelk eggs, all unhatched, a lot more Edible Crab shells, Sea Potato casts and large pieces of Furbelows Seaweed, a really odd looking seaweed so odd in fact I didn't take a photo...

Furbelows Seaweed, copyright Science photo library

The freshly dead and headless body of a Great Northern Diver was an interesting if a little sad find; it did however give an opportunity to discuss anatomy as divers have legs set well back on their bodies, great for swimming next to useless for walking.

Great Northern Diver, note how far back on the body the legs are

The amazing thing about youngsters is their eyesight and ability to discover the smallest of creatures as they did with a crab the carapace was barely 10mm wide, I had to resort to the useful  Field Studies Council Aidgap guide to British Crabs, it appears to be a Long-clawed Porcelain Crab a common enough species but not officially recorded from Cefn Sidan. ( the record needs verification)

Long-clawed Porcelain Crab (needs verification)

The usual Whale art was quite competitive with the year 4 out-performing year 6....

Well done year 4

School visit Life on the Beach, Cefn Sidan Thursday 23rd January

Before Christmas, a local primary school had booked school visits to Pembrey Country Park for today and tomorrow- a beach visit in the middle of January, the prevailing weather I had no idea what the day would bring; well despite being overcast the day was dry, mild and no breeze.

So it was 55 learners, the head of school with teachers and teaching assistants arrived for a morning on the beach.

With a falling tide there was much to explore and it wasn't long before everyone started turning up some great finds, the recent bad weather across the Atlantic was reflected with the wide range of seaweeds including some kelp types which we rarely see on Cefn Sidan.

Good numbers of "mermaids purses" which many of the youngsters knew were Shark and Ray egg cases with Small Spotted Cat Shark, Blond Ray and Nurse-hound in quantity.

Other great finds included the first living Prickly Cockles and Acetone(a marine snail), inside an empty Otter Shell was an Anenome, possibly a Beadlet but it never made it back to the classroom for identification, two different "starfish" one Common the other a Sand Star.

Edible, Shore, Spider and Masked Crab, kept the interest going. A Coconut of unknown origin got a conversation going about tides, and with so much marine litter such as discarded fishing tackle on the beach there was no getting away from the fact that much of the litter could have come from anywhere in the world....

Each beach session ends with some art and no matter how bad my drawing the youngsters manage to create something great, today it was Whales, with two lovely pieces of art created, one to view here.

Tomorrow I get to do it all again, intense and great engagement for me, and enormous fun for the learners and teaching staff.

With another spell of rough weather due early next week get down to the beach and explore for yourselves...

Saturday 4th January 2020

At last a "nice day", cool with light breeze.

A bird count on Cefn Sidan at not the best  state of tide but still decent numbers of waders with the following between C56, the beach entrance at the Country Park, and the AWR tower. 

Knot c1500, Sanderling c1000, Bar Tailed Godwit 2, Scoter c1000 offshore and a Red Throated Diver, (not as I mistakenly posted as a Black Throated Diver on Carmarthenshire Birds)

Red-Throated Diver ©solopursiuts

Sanderling ©
(C Dalton)

I ventured to look for the reported Great Northern Diver(s) off Old Pembrey Harbour but not seen.

The team have spent a few hours over the past few days removing large quantities of plastic which appeared on yesterdays tide from Cefn Sidan, and it was nice to see families doing their bit today picking up some of the smaller pieces of plastic, THANKS

In the park itself the best to report was a pair of Gadwall on the main pond, although the feeding station had a good range of woodland species in attendance.

A search for flowering plants only revealed, Daisy, Dandelion, Gorse and Hazel, I was expecting more and had I ventured onto the dunes I may have found a few more, I'll have to look next week.

Any followers who carry out either the BTO Breeding Birds or Heronies Surveys, or would like one of the unallocated squares please get in touch via the comments box.

The year is not out yet, Saturday 21st December 2019

The winter equinox will occur at something like 04:19hrs on the morning of Sunday 22nd December, and astronomical winter will begin, ending on 20th March 2020; now that's the way I remember winter being none of this winter starting on 1st December, which is just to make the statistics work!

Maybe now that winter is "official" we will get some winter weather.....

The wintering flocks have arrived in force with well over 3000 Knot on the beach and at the least the same figure of Golden Plover high over Kidwelly Marsh, four Bar-tailed Godwits were in amongst the Knot flock, there were good numbers of Sanderling and Oystercatcher with very good numbers of Common Scoter flying East offshore

Knot (photo Colin Dalton)

Sanderling (photo Colin Dalton)

I had hoped for some raptors on the beach or even some nice passerines, in fact both were absent. Also absent today were the "white buckets" that have been washing up along the coast as a result of being lost from a vessel lost during a recent storm.

The feeding station set up in the park has become quite a draw for the birds, mostly Great and Blue Tits but also two male Blackcaps who are keen on the fat balls.

Blackcap male

More and more Blackcaps are wintering in the UK especially along the southern coasts, I found another just near the park entrance a few days ago; if you are lucky enough to see a Blackcap or Chiffchaff during the winter don't forget to report on your local bird sightings.

With our Christmas events running to a natural closure the next big event will be the annual WALRUS DIP at Pembrey Country Park & Beach on Boxing day morning arrive for 10:45 latest.

2019, round up

Its been a while!

With 19 day still to run of 2019 I hope its not too early to post a round up of how the year has been for me.

There have been personal highlights, a few wildlife highlights as well as the humdrum that is daily life.

The death this week of the larger than life Dr David Bellamy has made me reflect on where my passion for the natural world started to blossom into life. I remember many of his TV shows and perhaps more importantly his passion for botany. I also remember the ITV? children's programme "Magpie" from the 70's which spurned me on to join the Young Ornithologists Club, even forming a local group based at the Afan Argoed Country Park, I was only 15 at the time.

There is no doubt that the influence of both my parents and their love of the countryside played in big part in my learning, I remember my bedroom decorated not with "pop star" posters but with collages of leaves and twigs from the local forest, things in jars, and dissecting Sprats bought from Maesteg Market. a great hands on childhood.

Well back to this year, much has been covered in the few blogs I have posted, but holidays to the Canary islands and Madeira have added nicely to the list of birds and marine creatures, the real gems were Houbara Bustards and Cream Coloured Coursers on Lanzarote; Bulwers Petrel off Madeira with Humpback Whales pick out a few of the best

Having enjoyed early semi-retirement for a few years I have been rewarded with a job that I absolutely love with the passion of an 18 year old, unfortunately my 58 year old body takes a differing view to my desire to get up and go!

Coordinator for volunteers and education, WOW what an opportunity to make the job my own, working with a great team to encourage volunteering across the Country Parks we manage and facilitating elements of the Welsh Schools Curriculum has brought me into contact with some wonderful people.

By the end of the year we will be just shy of 2000 volunteer hours since I took up my post in June, there has been a lot of litter picking but also plant surveys, path maintenance, hide painting, bird box making, sand moving, (always popular when you are a stones throw from the beach!) Christmas crafting and of course decorating "Sion Corn's" cabin.

I found myself a wonderful tutor for my Welsh Lessons- Stuart, I will learn one day!

There have been some odd visitors to the office.....

And lots of fun...... mostly at my expense

NADOLIG LLAWEN

Going Bird Watching Saturday 14th September 2019

Today saw an "introduction to bird watching" event run at Pembrey Country Park.
Five adults and seven 11 and under, hopefully, enjoyed the 3.5hour session.

Starting off with the basics in the conference room we wasted no time in getting outside into a perfect autumn morning of cool but rising temperatures and clear blue skies.

A total of around 20 species was enough to ensure everyone learned something from the morning.

Spotted Flycatcher

Highlights were firstly a single Spotted Flycatcher then THREE of them together in a classic open piece of pine forest with good understorey structure; they were constantly "fly catching" no doubt piling on the grams before their epic journey south.
Britain's smallest bird, the Goldcrest put in an appearance as did a male Sparrowhawk and a distant Peregrine Falcon.

Other sightings included good numbers of Red Admiral butterflies feeding on Ivy flowers, with singles of Painted Lady, Ringlet, Speckled Wood Comma and Small Tortoiseshell. Dragonflies were represented by Migrant Hawker, Common Darter and Ruddy Darter.

A sharp eyed participant found some caterpillars feeding on Birch, they were identified as Buff Tip Moth Caterpillars.

Part two is next Sunday so why not call the visitor centre to book a place and come along to see what fun bird watching can be.... 

Autumn? by what measure Monday 2nd September

So its Autumn, according to the Met office, for those of us with any connection to the seasonal working of the natural world will know that for many birds autumn has been underway since the first returning waders to the shore and marshes, the departing of the Swift and the gathering on the wires of Swallows and House Martins.

On the matter of Swallows, these trans Saharan travellers seemed to arrive later this year but it looks like decent numbers bred at Pembrey Country Park as usual.

Sandwich, Common, Arctic and Little Tern have all been recorded from along the Pembrey Coast in the last week or so, with over 200 Sandwich terns at the high tide roost opposite Old Pembrey Harbour.

Today, a day off coincided nicely with a decent forecast so I ventured out for a very short ringing session dominated by Blackcaps, mostly birds of the year but with a few adults. Only two of the catch were carrying any appreciable amount of fat for their journey to the south.

I took the opportunity to pick a feed of the abundant Blackberries, the small amount I took won't impact on the availability for Blackcaps to feast on, The wasps and butterflies including the very smart Comma are also making the most of the juicy Blackberries.

Many of the berry bearing trees and shrubs are laden with berries, a sign, not perhaps of harsh weather to come but, of the benign spring and summer.

With less people about most days get out and enjoy the great green spaces we have in Carmarthenshire.