Winter visitors

 Blwyddyn Newydd Dda, pawb.

I hope you have had  an enjoyable and restful Christmas and New Year.

Just a short blog this week to highlight some of the best sightings of the year so far, just two days!

A properly crisp winters day was a good excuse to get out and do some survey work, a few highlights.

Hen Harrier ♂ (library free to use image)

The clear winner in any highlight competition will be the stunning adult male Hen Harrier that graced the Pembrey Saltmarsh.

Closely followed by a real surprise in the form of a  Water Pipit.

Water Pipit, (BTO)

A single Marsh Harrier, four Jack Snipe, 26 Snipe, and at least 50 Skylarks added to the species list.

Anyone visiting Pembrey country Park should slow down as they approach the entry barriers as most of the day a mixed flock of, Chaffinches, Siskin and Goldfinch feeds on the crushed tree seeds 

Looking forward into 2025, I'm hopeful of a few exciting projects taking place, however as always it will be down to the availability of funds, more details as ideas unfold.

Connecting the Carmarthenshire Coast

 Croeso pawb,

An early and brief post this week, before the Christmas break, we'll see how that goes!

Bumblebee Conservation Trust are leading on a Welsh Government funded project called connecting the Carmarthenshire Coast, I've covered it in previous Blogs.

This past week has seen real boots on the ground at the "Morolwg Mounds", near the Morolwg lake, (just a quick tangent to say the lakes in the Millennium Coast Park will be getting new signs with their names on!)

The turf has been stripped from two south facing and one north facing slopes with one slope having been tiered to hold back the "boss slag" discussed in a previous post.

One of the slopes has already been planted with a range of appropriate natives, once I have the final list I will post in a blog, I know its hard to see the plants but they are there.

All that remains for me to write is 

Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd dda

Red Warning - Storm Darragh

 Hi Pawb

Just a quick update this week

And what a week, whilst all our sites are open to the public there are some route closures, as you would expect.

We lost some really impressive Sitka Spruce at Llyn Llech Owain Country Park which is sad to see, but does demonstrate how shallow rooted they are. At Ynysdawela thankfully there was only minor damage with no significant tress being lost.

Nature will heal itself in time.

Better news, an ecological consultancy was engaged to conduct a survey of the bat population at Ynysdawela nature reserve during the summer and autumn of this year.

Nine species of bats were recorded using acoustic sensors deployed for set amounts of time across the reserve.

Unsurprisingly the most frequently recorded bats were Common and Soprano Pipistrelles, with Noctule and Brown Long-eared making appearances.

Most surprisingly were single records of Nathusius Pipistrelle, Greater Horseshoe, Leislers, Serotine and an unidentified Myotis species; these species were thought to have been commuting through the reserve, nonetheless great records.

Find out more here, Leisler's bat - UK Bats - Bat Conservation Trust

Winter projects 2024

 Croeso pawb,

Well today is the first day of metrological winter, so timely to mention, briefly, a couple of exciting projects which will be under way shortly.

Bumblebee Conservation Trust are leading on the Connecting the Carmarthenshire Coast project which will see three areas of poor quality amenity grassland transformed into rich native flower pollinator areas.

The innovative approach revolves around to methods, one using stone and sand mixed to create a nutrient poor bed into which a range of locally sourced native coastal flowers will be planted or seeded. The second involves recycling waste products from the steel making industry to create a, more or less, inert planting medium which will deliver two main benefits, firstly becoming an effective Carbon store, and secondly bringing a splash of coastal colour to an otherwise bland area of species poor grassland.

Another larger scale project will look at using the same steel industry waste product to create around 800sqm of new habitat to improve Carbon capture as well as, again, bringing native wildflowers into an area species poor grassland.

As these projects develop I'll provide more details.

It is likely that I will not be posting the blog weekly during the next few months but do keep checking by opening up the link you use to find the blog.

An increasing threat - Wildfire

 Bore da pawb,

Sounds dramatic and maybe an odd thing to think about given the amount of rain storm Bert dumped on South Wales in the past few days, but something I am currently working on is mitigating the risk and our response to Wildfire across our estate.

With much of the estate either forested with conifers, dominated by Molinia or prone to drying out and two very lucky escapes in recent years this will be an important exercise to conduct.

South Wales 2022

Well just what is a Wildfire, often heard in relation to the USA and Australia but now much more frequently mentioned in the news during long dry spells of weather.

The definition in the UK  is this 

*The Forestry Commission and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service define wildfire as ‘any uncontrolled vegetation fire which requires a decision or action regarding suppression’. Fire and Rescue Services in England use the same basic definition, but additionally require fires to meet one or more of the below National Operating Guidance criteria: • Involves a geographical area of at least one hectare • Has a sustained flame length of more than 1.5 metres • Requires a committed resource of at least 4 fire appliances • Requires resources to be committed for at least 6 hours • Presents a serious threat to life, environment, property and infrastructure. 

Whilst properly managed "controlled burns" can provide beneficial biodiversity benefit the impact from an uncontrolled and monitored fire can be devastating for  

*Biodiversity Wildfire kills organisms that move too slowly to escape and alters post-fire habitat composition.

Changing fire regimes can alter ecosystems by promoting species that better tolerate fire, at the expense of fire-sensitive species.

Carbon emissions and climate change Global wildfires emitted 2.2 Pg C yr-1 between 1997 and 2016,c compared with an average of 30 Pg C yr-1 over the same period for fossil fuels and industry.

Wildfires have complex effects on soils, vegetation and the atmosphere which may increase or partially offset the climate impacts of wildfire greenhouse gas emissions.

Soil and water Wildfire removes surface vegetation and alters soil properties. This means rainfall reaches watercourses faster in subsequent storms, exacerbating flooding.

Eroded sediment enters watercourses, reducing water quality.

Human health Wildfires present hazards which may injure or kill emergency responders and members of the public. Exposure to wildfire smoke can cause respiratory and cardiovascular health impacts over great distances. Wildfires can increase the prevalence of mental health conditions in impacted communities.

Economic Wildfires affect economies through capital losses, disruption to economic activity and health effects.  

*UK Parliament newsletter By Samuel Tasker, Jonathan Wentworth 15 April 2024

Given the poor weather we have endured since we were spoiled by the weather in 2022, it would be easy to lose sight of this potential threat which is why a plan is important.

Some food for thought!

Deep Peat

 Croeso pawb.

Nice to see the weather has finally broken from the gloomy, but thankfully dry phase it has been in for a while.

Natural Resources Wales have just completed the remedial and enhancement works to the peat bog at Llyn Llech Owain, I'll give an outline of the why's and what's.

In around 2019 work as carried out by contractors to mitigate the loss of water from the northern section of peat bog, with bunds and pools created to reduce the water runoff. The work seemed to have done the trick, however in 2023 with NRW having conducted a Lidar survey, (Lidar - Wikipedia) it was discovered that the 2019 works hadn't had the overall effect that it could have with the use of modern technology and changes, through learning, of peatbog management.

The work carried out through October and into November has been guided by the latest technology and best practices for peatbog restoration with a  major component being to follow the natural contour lines of the land

An experienced and specialist contractor was appointed by NRW, using specialist equipment to access the bog the machinery each had less than 1psi, less than a human footprint.

The first stage was to remove or kill off any scrub in the planned work area, with this complete they set about following within centimetres the creation of bunds and ponds. I think the photos will say a lot more than words can.

The machine clears the ground vegetation then digs in to collect peat, created a bund then turfs over the exposed peat to exclude drying out and erosion

The completed bund then begins to hold water.

We are fortunate that there is a good population of the very important Sphagnum Moss on site which can be "seeded" into any bare ponds in the future.

Even during the work, Common and Jack Snipe were recorded using the reworked areas which was really good to see.

Common Snipe

Dartmoor and a conference

 Croeso pawb,

What  a week, I spent three days down in Devon on Dartmoor National Park, at a Countryside Management Association Conference. Countryside Management Association - CMA membership is open to paid and volunteer countryside professionals

Held at the YHA Bracken Tor with nice accommodation, good food and meeting facilities.

Around 80 countryside professionals gathered for the annual conference, with day one made up of interesting talks about Dartmoor National Park and the issues they face through to the ethics and practicalities of species reintroduction or reinforcement.

The second day was a field trip with five choices, I chose to look at the work of the National Trust and the Southwest Peatland Partnership, a 10km round trip over moorland and peatbog tested my very dodgy knees and my lungs but I did it.

This link will take you to the project we visited at Great Gnatts Head,                     Where we work — South West Peatland Partnership   very different peatbog to our own in Carmarthenshire where they have maybe 40cm of peat and we have up to 15m of depth!

One of the other options was to look at some Celtic rainforest, photo below.

The final day was another round of talks aimed at visitor management - we all have the same issues lots of different solutions!

Back in work, our contractors at Llyn Llech Owain have started work bunding the peatbog to raise water levels, photos next time.

I may have mentioned my concern with the lack of Willow Tit sightings at the wildlife feeding station at Llyn Llech Owain, pleased to report at least two birds are visiting!

A Snow Bunting has been around on the coast between Burry Port and Pembrey Country Park, always a joy to see.

Snow Bunting -Wildlife Trusts