The State of Nature in Carmarthenshire

Hi Pawb,

Now there's a headline to get into.

State of Nature reports are produced by Natural Resources Wales, NRW, and Welsh Government, WG. on  a regular basis; so a report focussed solely on our county is to be welcomed.

My friend and colleague Isabel Macho is the author of this recently published report and it is worth an in-depth read, The State of Nature in Carmarthenshire 

Here are some headlines to whet the appetite

(if you click on the image it should enlarge) 

In other news another busy week has been slogged through with the highlight being able to see and hear the appreciation from birders and photographers  that the wildlife feeding station at Llyn Llech Owain Country Park is up and running again for this winter season.

I am so grateful for the donations towards, and of, food to keep the feeders full many thanks.

The feeding station, we call it a wildlife feeding station as its not only birds that visit, under darkness we have Foxes, Badgers and the occasional Fallow Deer calling by; is recognised as one of the easy sites to observe Willow Tits, oddly they have been noticeable by their absence so if you do visit and see these birds please report it on the Carmarthenshire Bird Club website 

Submit sightings - Carmarthenshire Bird Club

The very similar Marsh Tit, illustrated here, has not been, positively, recorded at Llyn Llech Owain Country Park

Feeding station Reopens

 Croeso pawb,

Its nice to be back after a well deserved break, well I thought I deserved it anyway. It was certainly a lot cooler and wetter in Llanelli.

With autumn well underway now its noticeable how many trees still have leaves yet to think about changing to their autumn colours, whilst the Poplars are almost stripped bare the Norway Maple at Ynysdawela is looking superb.

I've had a few enquiries about the feeding station at Llyn Llech Owain County Park, asking if its going to be running this year, well after a man with a strimmer and a gang of eager participants from Carmarthenshire Youth Services I'm pleased to say that the feeding station is up and running.

It didn't take long to attract the birds, and today the photographers and birders are enjoying their antics.

When using the hide please respect other users and don't hog the front row if there's a queue, and certainly don't put up any sort of netting across the viewing slots!

The Wetlands and Estuaries Bird Survey, WeBS, count was very quiet this morning with disappointing numbers at the lakes that I check in the Millennium Coast Park, and at Old Pembrey Harbour, however a Kingfisher at Ffynnon Helyg and another this one hovering, at Old Pembrey Harbour were nice to see as were the 15 Curlew.

End of Season Round up

 Bore da pawb

Just a very quick reflection on the work that has happened during the summer season. It may turn into a bit of a list though.

Lets look at the volunteers first, so since May until the end of September there have been 1472 hours volunteered across the sites managed by the Outdoor Recreation Service. WOW, and amazing number and from a wide range of individuals and organisations including the banking and retail sector, local schools, local litter groups and of course our own ViP's conservation team.

At our Ynysdawela Nature Reserve we have delivered either ourselves or through amazing third party  companies Junior Ranger club, forest school, campfire, dance and writing sessions, river life surveys, beetle and bat surveys with around 120 school  pupil engagements alone.

Our ViP conservation team, have hacked, knocked, dug, counted, painted and made countless other important contributions to the management of our nature reserves.

Personally I managed to dent my new truck ! all fixed now.

We lost and found a river ..... long story but its fixed!

Grass Snakes have done really well at Pembrey Country Park, even taking advantage of the shower facilities!

Swallows and Sand Martins have been caught under licence and ringed what more will be learn of theses long distance travellers?

It's been a tough season for many invertebrates especially the insects, there seemed to be a last minute resurgence towards mid September, will it be enough?

So much going on and so many people to thank.

No Blog for a week or so I'm having a rest.

Equinox tides and Bats

 Croeso pawb,

Another week has drawn to a close although this particular week sees us enter into astronomical autumn, which happened at 1:45pm today Sunday 22nd September 24, of course as I've said previously the natural cycle of life has seen autumn underway since at least mid-July.

As expected with the time of year, there were some big tides this past week and I spent an hour or so early on Friday morning with the rising tide at Old Pembrey Harbour which is part of the WeBS monitoring project, where there was a great mix of birds on show.  

The best of the birds were Arctic, Common and Sandwich Terns, Kittiwake, the first Pintail and Wigeon on the marsh and close to 4000 Oystercatchers squeezing onto the tiny areas of remaining sand.

A busy week of meetings and surveys drew to a close when I led a Bat walk at our Ynysdawela Nature Reserve on Saturday evening, we avoided the thunder storms , we were treated with head height Soprano and Common Pipistrelles, a high Noctule and elusive but recognisable Brown Long-eared Bats; a distant calling Tawny Owl pleased those attending.

Autumn is a favourite time of year for many people, including myself, a change of species as wintering birds arrive and a transition from times of abundance to tougher times for our wildlife, I'm sure there will be surprises to be discovered if you get out and about.

New pond

 Bore da Pawb,

Its certainly had a feel of proper autumn with chilly mornings and warm afternoons.

Its been such a full on week I couldn't think what to write about, but weighing up the days its the new pond at Pembrey Burrows LNR that is probably the highlight, well there was a river that disappeared but maybe I'll save that for another post

After far too long a wait, we have finally managed to dig a new pond in the most recent area to be fenced off, now that in itself is all relative as the fence was put in at least two winters ago!

Contractors including a UXO specialist arrived on site at 9:30am, we hit water at around 11:00am after excavating to around 1.7m. We didn't hit anything else either.

If I'm honest I think this will be a seasonal pond but as its primary purpose is to provide drinking water for cattle that's not an issue, the sides of the pond will certainly provide nice sandy habitat for invertebrates, as will the now landscaped area where the arisings from the pond were placed

Since the perimeter fence has been vandalised the contractors will return in the coming weeks to install extra gates and secure the field ready for cattle, at the same time they will replace around 100 fence posts on other fields

As the winter water levels rise the pond will fill and hold water to allow winter grazing.

The arisings have been landscaped and will provide additional pen sand habitat for invertebrates

What's happening and busy times

 Croeso pawb,

Last week was full of meetings, though thankfully  most were outdoors, generally avoiding the rain except on Thursday when I spent the day with a mix of senior managers from both Natural Resources Wales and Welsh Government when we all ended up getting very wet indeed. It was worth it to showcase the work achieved by the Sands of Life Project at Pembrey Burrows and the Nature Network fund used in Pembrey Forest.

With the days marching towards winter, now is the time when most of the heavy practical work will be carried out across  our sites, especially the Local Nature Reserves.

The planning has happened so now contractors will be starting work with Invasive Non Native Species eradication underway at North Dock LNR and at Pwll Lagoon LNR with Sea Buckthorn, Japanese Rose and rhododendron  being the targets.

At Ynysdawela more meadow management including removing swathes of brambles and coppicing are the order of the day

Look out for work being carried out by Bumblebee Conservation's "Connecting the Carmarthenshire Coast" project soon to start in the Millennium Coast Park.

While I was out on Thursday I was explaining why unregulated litter picking is driving the Strandline Beetle hurtling towards extinction from the UK, as luck would have it we came across litter that had, with the best intentions, been picked and left in pile to be collected at some point. Out of curiosity I picked up one of the bags and there were two Strandline Beetles just sitting there - I searched the litter but could not find any more, it does go to show that there is a huge need to be be cautious when litter picking so that the Strandline Beetle isn't accidently carried away.

Pesky invaders - 2nd September 2024

 Croeso pawb - welcome

One of the very well established "invaders" or invasive species is the Eastern Grey Squirrel from North America, another Victorian mistake, when in 1876 they were released into Henbury park in Cheshire. There is no clear consensus why they were introduced, maybe just to add a touch of exotic to Henbury Park?

Grey Squirrels are ubiquitous across the UK, and are accused of many environmental crimes including out-competing our native Red Squirrel and spreading the killer Squirrel pox.

My concerns lie with their habitat of stripping bark from deciduous trees especially the young of the year, usually before there are other foods such as acorns or hazel nuts about.

Where they strip one side of a branch is bad enough  but at least the vascular system of  the tree can still keep working, however stripping both sides or "ring barking a limb or sometimes the whole trunk is a death sentence.

This year at our Ynysdawela reserve young Oaks have come under attack as well as the Norway Maple at the reserve hub, so annoying to consider the eventual outcome for the Norway Maple as well as the Oaks.

There is research into a contraceptive for the pesky critters which is under going trials

UKSA-APHA_grey_squirrel_fertility_control_research_update_2023.06.pdf (britishredsquirrel.org)

Whilst the Grey is very much part of the landscape, until natural predation through predators such as the Pine Marten and Goshawk is at an equilibrium, they will continue to have an impact on our natural environment.