Paul's Blog - All comments and views are my own,

Tuesday, 29 January 2019

The bird feeder saga, Tuesday 29th January 2019

I returned from a week in the sun in high spirits, well as high as my spirits get!, to find that all of the bird feeders at the winter feeding site in the country park had been ……. STOLEN!, No other word for it well there were but I can't put them in the blog.

I mentioned it on my FB page and had a lot of supportive voices and a kind gesture of some replacements, THANK YOU.

The park raised the issue on our social media feed and as expected there were many disgruntled voices offering vocal support, much appreciated, I'm not sure what drives some people, surely they were taken by people who where going to use them?

I continued to feed the birds but just by putting the food on the ground.

A few days ago I was in the office when a visitor came in carrying a large box, I was astounded to see a selection of almost new feeders as a donation; he had seen the message on our social media and brought them in. THANK YOU.

I am not putting them back where they were for fear of having them stolen again, so now there are two in front of bird hide (No2) at the lake on the edge of the park.

Checking them today a few tits and Chaffinches have found them also four Mallard were feeding on the spilt seed. This new location will allow more people to view the birds and still allow some ringing to be carried out.

Lets hope these stay there....

Tuesday, 22 January 2019

Gran Canaria- a roundup Tuesday 22nd January 2019

It was a big shock to the system getting off the plane at Bristol Airport, where we were reassuringly informed the temperature was 5'c, a stark contrast to the temperature when we left Gran Canaria where it was around 23'c. The rain as we crossed the Severn Bridge only reinforced the knowledge we were home.

As this was a last minute winter break I didn't make any special effort to seek out the local wildlife, but managed to see a new bird species as well as get a close encounter with some Risso's Dolphins and two Green Turtles.

The Canary Islands Chiffchaff is longer billed and has a short primary projection therefore a more rounded wing which works for this species as it is sedentary.

Risso's Dolphins are just one of 29 species of cetaceans recorded in the waters off Gran Canaria, they are a calm species none of the acrobatics that you expect from some species of dolphin, the scars and scratches are caused by the dolphin feeding amongst rocks as this is primarily a squid eater. We found two pods of 3 and 5? respectively the large group had a well grown calf in tow.

The Green Turtles made the three hour boat trip worth it for me despite brief views they were good enough to identify positively, there is a concerted effort to try and make some of the old nesting beaches good enough to encourage the turtles to nest on the island. (photo via library)

Sunday, 20 January 2019

Winter sun, 14th - 21st January 2019

A last minute decision to have a short winter break finds me on the island of Gran Canaria.
Not a wildlife holiday but some nice birds seen in passing, with one being a new bird for me, Canary Island Chiffchaff, similar to our own summer visitor but at the same time different. A longer billed more buffy bird with a very energetic song.
When I get home I'll do a proper blog.

Sunday, 6 January 2019

Sands of Time & New Trails: Sunday 6th January 2019

Another calm overcast and cool morning, perfect for getting out and about, even if the Country Park seems busy its easy to get away from people.

If you venture to the eastern end of Pembrey Burrows nature reserve you will see the forces of nature in action, the effects of tide and wind are demonstrating what a sand dune system should be like, DYNAMIC!

I've discussed in previous blogs how a functioning sand dune system should look and feel, lots of mobile sand, a good covering of Marram Grass and then the more stable dunes away from the immediate coast. The weather in late December has had an interesting effect on the dunes at the eastern end, with a fair bit of erosion to begin with but then a lot of sand moved up onto the existing low dunes and now extending up to 30m inland. The longer term impact may result in a new dune ridge forming right above the beach, and an expanse of more open sand ready to be colonised by all sorts of creatures and plants.

Three years ago the fence in the photographs was around 50m from the beach maybe a bit more, now as you can see the fence in buried along at least 100m of its length, making it useless for its job of keeping the cattle in the grazing area, in the long term a new fence will need to be move much further inland to ensure it has some longevity.

Back in the Country Park the nature trails I've mentioned previously have now been marked out, there are four to follow each walk has a different coloured marker, (the photo has not shown the proper colours of Green and Blue), each one giving an insight to the different habitats and wildlife in the park. We are just waiting for the descriptions of each walk to be finalised when this is done you will be able to print off a map from the Country Park website.

There is a rather too healthy population of Grey Squirrels in the forest, currently there are signs of their activities to be seen. They are feeding on the cones of the Corsican Pines which they strip and eat the tiny seeds inside then discard the core, they are also doing a fair bit of digging, either caching the seeds or taking advantage of the mild winter to look for bulbs and tubers.

Friday, 4 January 2019

New year new post Friday 4th January 2019

Happy New Year to all....

A calm, dry morning, if a tad nippy, was perfect for a short ringing session at Pembrey Country Park.

As I was on my own, although lucky to have Veronica "scribing" I only set one 40' net. The feeding station is swarming with tits and I didn't really feel the urge to put up more than was necessary, especially as I was hoping for a few more Jays.

First round produced a new Jay and a new GS Woodpecker along with the inevitable mix of Blue and Great Tits.
There is a new project running looking at the moult strategy of Blue Tits, especially the way in which they moult their Alula feathers (numbered 3 in the diagram) so catching Bluti has even more scientific value.

The session finished on 25 birds with Great Tits dominating, plus another two Jays; we have ringed six Jays in four sessions since November, there are still more to ring....

Sunday, 30 December 2018

Another year ending Sunday 30th December 2018

Well so far it's not a lot like winter, Christmas has gone and the New Year beckons, what it will bring.... no one can foretell, but whatever it is lets hope for the best.

2018 has been a mixed year with lots of high points, getting paid to do what I love, and the low points of family tragedy.

Having spent less time on the local nature reserves doesn't mean they have been neglected, far from it's just that each visit has been better quality, and with more maintenance being done by contractors those visits have been spent recording and monitoring.

Some early observations have not been good, NO Strandline Beetles recorded in 2018, much lower numbers of Common Lizard and Slow Worm, and NO Grass Snakes. On the flip side butterfly numbers were higher than 2017, although I'm still waiting for the detail from the surveys carried out. No doubt the weather during late winter and early spring affected the reptiles and of course that heatwave influenced the butterflies, what will summer 2019 be like though?

The bird list stands at a respectable 116 species/subspecies, a full list below, if you have records for birds I've missed off please let me know to update the totals, eg Green Sandpiper is missing this year.

Pembrey Burrows & Saltings LNR/SSSI, Birds recorded January -December 2018.

Includes birds seen off Cefn Sidan from Old Pembrey Harbour to CE54,

out to either MLW or the county boundary

1. Shelduck

2. Mute Swan

3. Greylag Goose

4. Brent Goose

5. Mallard

6. Wigeon

7. Garganey

8. Eurasian Teal

9. Pintail

10. Shoveler

11. Gadwall

12. Common Scoter

13. Eider

14. Great Northern Diver

15. Red Throated Diver

16. Little Grebe 09/04

17. Manx Shearwater 28/04

18. Common Pheasant

19. Great Crested Grebe

20. Northern Gannet

21. Great Cormorant

22. Little Egret

23. Great White Egret

24. Grey Heron

25. Red Kite

26. Marsh Harrier

27. Hen Harrier

28. Common Buzzard

29. Eurasian Sparrowhawk

30. Common Kestrel

31. Merlin

32. Peregrine

33. Moorhen

34. Water Rail

35. Lapwing

36. Eurasian Oystercatcher

37. Common Ringed Plover

38. European Golden Plover

39. Grey Plover

40. Knot

41. Turnstone

42. Sanderling

43. Dunlin

44. Common Redshank

45. Greenshank

46. Common Sandpiper

47. Black-tailed Godwit

48. Bar-Tailed Godwit

49. Whimbrel

50. Eurasian Curlew

51. Woodcock

52. Common Snipe

53. Jack Snipe

54. Black-headed Gull

55. Mediterranean Gull

56. Kittiwake

57. Common Gull

58. Yellow-legged Gull

59. European Herring Gull

60. Great Black-backed Gull

61. Lesser Black-backed Gull

62. Little Tern

63. Sandwich Tern

64. Arctic Tern

65. Black Tern 27/08

66. Guillemot

67. Grey Phalarope

68. Swift

69. Kingfisher

70. Wood Pigeon

71. Collared Dove

72. Barn Owl

73. Short-eared Owl

74. Sand Martin

75. House Martin

76. Swallow

77. Common Skylark

78. Meadow Pipit

79. Rock Pipit

80. Pied/White Wagtail

81. Dunnock

82. Robin

83. Wheatear

84. Common Stonechat

85. Song Thrush

86. Mistle Thrush

87. Redwing

88. Fieldfare

89. Common Blackbird

90. Blackcap

91. Whitethroat

92. Cetti's Warbler

93. Reed Warbler

94. Sedge Warbler

95. Grasshopper Warbler

96. Chiffchaff

97. Yellow Browed Warbler

98. Willow Warbler

99. Goldcrest

100.Wren

101.Great Tit

102.Blue Tit

103.Long-tailed Tit

104.Jay

105.Common Magpie

106.Western Jackdaw

107.Rook

108.Carrion Crow

109.Common Raven

110.Common Starling

111.European Greenfinch

112.Common Chaffinch

113.Bullfinch

114.Common Linnet

115.European Goldfinch

116. Common Reed Bunting

Thanks for following the blog, here's to 2019.