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

Visitors from near and far

 Croeso pawb,

What a benign spell of weather, just a shame the sun hasn't shone on Carmarthenshire.

This hasn't stopped good work being done and inquisitive minds satisfied, especially with Halloween activities taking place.

My ranger colleagues led a walk looking for bats at Pembrey Country Park and whilst there weren't big numbers they did manage to "detect" a couple of Greater Horseshoe Bats, (GHB) which is always a great result, GHB's have a really unique echo location sound descried as warbling in nature.

The wildlife feeding station at Llyn Llech Owain Country Park is, as usual, a hotspot for birders and watchers alike, this week myself and new volunteer Alice ran a ringing session from 6am until 10am, with 45 birds of nine species captured under licence; both Alice and myself hold bird ringing licences, with biometric data recorded in return for a nice shiny ring.

We had two particularly good captures, two Redwing,  winter visitors from Scandinavia and a Female Chaffinch which had originally been ringed at a site in Boncath Pembrokeshire on 10th July 2022.

The data we collect is entered into a national database, these are the data sets from one of the Redwing and the Chaffinch.

REDWI   Age  3, hatched in 2024, Wing length 114mm Weight  56.7g Fat score 1 (very little stored fat)

CHAFF   Age 4, at least one year old, Wing length 83mm Weight 19.3g Fat score 0 ( no need to store fat with so much free food at the station?)

Sadly we noted that a number of the Chaffinches we caught were suffering with the Fringilla papillomavirus on their legs meaning we couldn't ring them, after releasing the birds from the nets we disinfected our hands carefully.

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.