Where are the insects!

 Bore da pawb,

It seems shockingly obvious to me that there is a lack of insects this summer, I have seen very few bumblebees and butterflies especially.

Llyn Llech Owain weather station

Was it the prolonged wet winter? which seems to have have started in August 23 and is only just ending. Since 1st January 24 our weather stations at Pembrey and Llyn Llech Owain country parks have, respectively, recorded 463.2mm and 1198.4mm of rain so far; that's a lot of rain...

My own theory is that with the ground saturated for so long and over wintering adult or larval invertebrates succumbed, the recent sunny days have seen an increase in butterfly numbers and species but I think we will need a couple of decent winters and springs to get numbers back on track

Continuing the theme of disappointment, the image here shows the pile of dog poo, I stopped counting at 75 bags, and beer bottles that I removed from one of our Local nature Reserves, all piled up waiting for the litter fairies to collect, I'll  not say anymore...

Sea Lavender

In other news, our salt marshes are looking stunning with the annual show of Sea and Rock Sea Lavender, no need to wander onto the heart of the marsh just follow the main path passed the bird hide and you will soon see what I mean

Conservation grazing

 Pawb, hello.

The use of livestock, particularly native livestock, is recognised as probably one of the best methods to manage a wide range of habitats not only in the UK but across the world.

As we longer have any "mega-fauna" species in the UK, the use of domesticated livestock has grown in popularity to manage land. At Llyn Llech Owain we have, over the years used Exmoor Ponies, Welsh Mountain Ponies, and Dexter cattle to graze the section of the park which is part of the Cernydd Carmel Special Area of Conservation.

 This past week the summer cohort of Welsh Mountain Ponies has arrived, later than planned but finding reliable graziers is a bit of a challenge such is the demand for conservation grazing livestock. There is certainly plenty of forage for them to eat, bracken to trample and young saplings to browse. They will stay on the site for a few months before being taken off and resting the site before perhaps bringing in some Dexter cattle for late Autumn grazing- all weather dependent.

This past week also saw the announcement of the Green Flag awards, in recognition of green spaces which are audited by an independent panel and judged on the quality and purpose of the management of the competing green spaces.

Three of our Country Parks have been awarded Green Flags again this year, Pembrey Country Park, Llyn Llech Owain Country Park and Mynydd Mawr Woodland Park, a deserved well done to the teams and volunteers who have helped win this international mark of quality.

It's the truth M'lord!

 Croeso pawb,

I hope everyone has had a good week, summer seems to be avoiding us at the moment, can it only get better?

People I bump into when out and about often say things like, "oh I'd love to do your job", or   "you're so lucky" well yes I am; we have some wonderful countryside sites across Carmarthenshire as well as a stunning coastline, however it doesn't take care of itself. Sometimes its appropriate to leave "nature do its thing" but so much of our countryside is influenced by the activities of humans over centuries, as a result we need to intervene to maintain the status quo or, restore habitats back to functioning ecosystems.

These interventions may be as simple as changing the mowing regime of meadows, clearing scrub, dredging a pond or canal; they may be more drastic such as clear felling blocks of conifers planted on peatbogs before we knew better!

We are lucky to have legislation passed by the Welsh Government such as the Environment (Wales) 2016 act and The Wellbeing of Future Generation 2015 act, which have an eye to ensuring all public bodies in Wales consider the environment in all of its work, specifically section 6 of the 2016 act states that local Authorities "......must maintain and enhance biodiversity....."

The image shows some of the key legislation I refer to on if not a daily basis then certainly several times a week; the need and desire to ensure we do our best does mean referring to these and a raft of other legislation as a guiding principle.

Whilst we are thinking its summer, in the natural world we are getting into autumn with many species of birds thinking of migrating, high tide at Old Pembrey Harbour is a good place to see a few species with Mediterranean Gulls now gathering in flocks of 100+  Sandwich and Common Tern and Whimbrel

Success, a plan comes together

 Bore da pawb. ( I'm writing this Sunday morning)

An interesting week as ever with some good news stories to had.

You will hopefully recall the investment in artificial nesting rafts and island creation in the Millennium Coast Park.

I have already mentioned the Herring Gull on the raft at Sandy Water Par, well I had a phone call to ask if I was aware of the activity at Ffynnon Helyg, well of course I wasn't!!

Black-headed Gull Fledgling

A pair of Lesser Black-backed Gulls have nested and raised to fledging one chick at one end of the gravel island while at the other end a pair of Black-headed Gulls have raised two chicks which are close to fledging.

Whilst not the Terns I had hoped for I am so pleased with such success in year one! Any of my team reading this, as soon as the birds fledge safely we have some habitat management to do on the island....

A large part of my role is partnership working both internally and externally, this past week I met up with Katie Sutton the project manager for Bumblebee Conservation's Connecting the Carmarthenshire Coast project, to look for suitable areas to improve for a swathe of invertebrates, whilst we have earmarked a few nice areas, we also noticed an almost complete lack of bees of any taxa on the wing, its quite worrying- has last winters constant rain wiped out the hibernating queen bees and other inverts?

I visited a confidential site, with colleagues from Natural Resources Wales, to look for Fen Orchids, we were hopeful of finding maybe one or two, but to everyone's disappointment there was excessive lying water in all the known places, all is not lost as if the water level drops,  and the land dry sufficiently for the associated fungi to establish the Fen Orchids have been known to flower up until October time...

On a more cheery note I am a sucker for a new book especially from the "Wild-Guides "series so this dropped through my letter box this week.. At less than A5 size its very handy to take out in the  rucksack.

Share and use the countryside responsibly

 Hello, I didn't write anything last week as there was not a great deal to report on, this past week has been almost equally as quiet but there have been a few highlights.

On Monday I and a small cohort of our conservation volunteers made the journey to Kenfig National Nature Reserve, where Chris Jones the warden kindly spent three hours or so showing us some of the highlights of the reserve and discussing some of the issues he faces, issues with which we were equally familiar.

Fen Orchid

The highlight was to see the Fen Orchid, Kenfig has 90% of the UK population and whilst this year hasn't been as good for this diminutive orchid as some previous years we were lucky enough to be shown some lovely specimens

Northern Marsh Orchid

Chris is a wealth of knowledge, especially when it comes to the many hybrid forms of the marsh orchids, such as Southern Marsh X Common Spotted and so forth. As impressive as these hybrids are it was the lone Northern Marsh Orchid which stole the show a very showy specimen indeed.

We were also treated to sightings of the beetle, Trichius fasciatus -the Bee Chafer.

Bee Chafer

The remainder of the week was business as usual involving training for our new volunteer fishery bailiffs, who will help to engage and educate anglers in the Millennium Coast Park, at Morolwg and Dyfatty lakes. The both lakes hold very nice specimens of common carp up to 25lbs.

Common Carp

On Saturday we held a session for Wales Nature Week, which runs from 29th June to 7th July, ay Ynysdawela Local Nature Reserve where people of all ages took part in pond dipping, bug hunting, and crafting. Perhaps it's been a busier week than I thought!

Now to go back to the blog title, there are many demands on the Carmarthenshire countryside but there is space for all activities provided everyone is prepared to share and share responsibly.

Invasive Species Week

 Bore da pawb,

Just back from a two week break, unusual for me to take two weeks off together but was really needed and appreciated.

This week, commencing 17th June, is Invasive Species week, (INNS).

I am sure that all of you are familiar with the usual suspects such as Japanese Knotweed, Himalayan Balsam, and Rhododendron or specifically Rhododendron ponticum Rhododendron is destroying our native wildlife - Woodland Trust; along with potentially the  Asian Hornet, and of course the Eastern Grey Squirrel.

However there are many more species across all taxonomic groups that lurk quietly in our countryside and on our coastline. There are currently approximately 47 plants listed as being invasive species; and 69 animals. I'll add a link here for you to explore.  Schedule 9 of the Wildlife &Countryside Act | UK Wildlife | Nature | Biodiversity

You will notice some odd birds listed such as Barn Owl, White Tailed Eagle, this is a measure to prevent or at least make an offence to release captive bred animals of unknown DNA strains being released.

Locally we are dealing Sea Buckthorn ,which we treat as an INNS as it does not naturally occur in Wales, along with Japanese Rose- Rosa rugosa which is invasive on sand dunes especially,  this was planted without any thought for the consequences; as a "pretty plant" when the extensive coastal regeneration works for the Millennium were undertaken. Sadly many of the invasive plants need herbicide treatment to ensure eradication, this in itself can be controversial but a wider long term view is needed.

Whilst we do what we can with limited resources its great to see organisations such as Cyfeillion y Coetir, (friends of Mynydd Mawr Woodland Park) and West Wales River Trust doing some good work with Himalayan Balsam. ( their web link isn't working when I'm writing the blog)

Perhaps a more insidious invasive is Pendulous Sedge Pendulous Sedge (Carex pendula) - Woodland Trust

This prolific seed bearer is spreading through suitable woodlands and can become very dense shading out other plants especially along woodland edges, and whilst the link doesn't make mention of its potential as an invasive it will be one to watch out for, its also very difficult to dig up!

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On the Wing

 Bore da pawb,

Another week gone and the sun eventually made an appearance. Not a huge amount to update you with this week, and no blog next week I'm having a holiday!

We ran two "roadshows"  in the past week, the first for Green Warrior Day at Pembrey Country Park and the second for a Family Fun day at our hotel in Pendine. Both events were well attended and our conservation team stand got a lot of attention, I brought out the Whales bones for the Pendine show, they always go down well and only one young visitor insisted they were dinosaur bones!. I have sent measurements of the skull, scapular and rib bones to The National Museum of Wales, in Cardiff as they were interested in seeing what we actually have; is it a Whale??

I tried a new layout for the "beach" table which worked much better

During the week Butterfly Conservation held a talk at the Black Mountain Centre and a walk around the Ynysdawela Nature Reserve, luckily the sun was out as was a Marsh Fritillary butterfly which was seen on the wing, I'd like to think we're doing something right.

The nesting rafts installed on Ffynnon Helyg and Sandy Water Park lake, have not attracted Terns to nest but are regularly used by gulls and cormorants for roosting, however the SWP raft has a nesting pair of Herring Gulls, not quite what was hoped for but a result nonetheless.