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

This morning I found time to wonder around the lake just 100m from the house at Sandy Water Park, I am finding it hard to believe that I am so close to so much nat ure. This mornings counts of note were: 16 Swift, 5 Pochard, 53 Mute Swan, and a Ringlet butterfly. Sandy Water Park lake

New Home and Patch After several 300 mile round trips between Cirencester and our new home in Llanelli I finally managed to get out and do some birding. We are living in an area called Sandy Water Park, the house is 100m from a large lake and only 300m from the Loughor estuary. WWT have a centre about five miles away, so it was here I spent a few hours, I was surprised by the very warm and genuine welcome from the locals. Some dodgy photos to follow Med' Gull Spear Thistle Purple Loosestrife View from the "British Steel" hide, there are 20 adult Med' Gulls and 3 immature Med Gulls on the scrape.

MOTHS Last night I put the moth trap to use for the last time in the garden before I move back to South Wales, there was little return but a Poplar Hawk Moth was a nice find. Odd specimens included Brimstone Moth with several Burnished Brass moths along with Heart and Dart moths made up most of the small capture. Brimstone Moth Poplar Hawk Moth

News of a Pectoral Sandpiper at WWT Slimbridge yesterday was the decider in what to do this morning, especially with a dodgy weather forecast. This North American/North East Siberia breeding bird is one of the regular "American vagrants" to reach the UK although this is an unusual date. The bird was on the South Lake, there were a few birders in the hide when I arrived but the bird was out of sight, Martin the senior warden popped in to say that the bird was viewable from another hide which led to a mass exodus leaving just myself and two others watching from the South Lake hide. After about 10 mins sure enough the Pec' San' appeared giving great views. The photographs are with my mobile attached to my telescope and I am still trying to get the idea of the dark art of "digi-scoping", when the object is too far away its had to get really crisp photos... There were other birds present including Black tailed Godwits, Redshank, Lapwing, and Ruff. P

Managed to fit in a quick visit to Slimbridge this morning, as is usual at this time of year it was quiet on the bird front with the best of the pick being a tatty male Ruff with the remnants of what may have been a stunning white "ruff". There were at least 25 Redshank and a Common Sandpiper to be seen on South Lake, lots of ducklings around as well as around 60 Avocets of various ages. A few plants caught my eye including the invasive and tenacious Japanese Knotweed and Hemp-agrimony. Hemp-Argimony, yes it does look like the plant you can but shouldn't smoke! Japanese Knotweed!!!!!!!!!!!

Being so busy packing means having to fit in any natural history when I can, today I popped along for an early visit to Slimbridge WWT. Five Green Sandpipers on the Rushy are a sure sign that in the natural world the year is moving on as these birds will be returning south from the breeding grounds in the Artic, sadly because I forget the adaptor to use my phone on the telescope no decent pictures trying to hold the phone steady didn't really work for these birds. At the Robbie Garnett hide a Little Egret was a better target so despite no adaptor and therefore too much light getting into the phone a half decent result. Little Egret There were plenty of Orchids in flower with this  Common Spotted Orchid being just one of the species on show

Four Ravens over the garden again this morning, then an adult HOBBY through the garden this evening.