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

An overcast morning with an easterly breeze, 07:00hrs, Sandy Water Park. The female Tufted duck is down to only two ducklings, originally she had seven there was a significant flock of around 30 Swifts, at the Pwll end of the lake, these high fliers will soon be leaving us, I expect they will all be gone by around mid August. 58 Mute Swans, two Reed Buntings, a Chiffchaff and a Reed Warbler was the best I could muster. The Chiffchaff and Reed Warbler are more summer visitors to the UK, and by the end of October I suspect they may be well on the way to their wintering grounds, the Chiffchaff perhaps no further than the Mediterranean regions (although some do stay through the winter in the UK), whilst the Reed Warbler will venture as into Sub-Saharan Africa to winter in tropical Africa. (The pictures are not great, the light was awful, but if you click on the picture you maty get a better size image)  Reed Warbler, Acrocephalus scripaceus  Reed Bunting, Emberiza s

The forecast weather didn't materialise and instead we have had a really sunny day although a westerly breeze kept the temperature down. High tide tonight was due at 9:28pm, so I spent from 6pm - 7:30pm watching out over the estuary. The tide started to creep almost imperceptibly over the sand banks as it did so eleven Whimbrel were flushed and flew up river. Magical!!!!! The high tide, which is a 7.4m tide, will cover all the visible sand and mud tonight. Looking up river on the Loughor estuary/Burry inlet  the "same" view 30  minutes later 

A stroll around the lake this afternoon looking for dragonflies!!!! The park is very popular with locals and this afternoon there was a sponsored walk and a bike ride so it was even busier than usual according to the locals. With being quite windy, again, it was hard to get near the damselflies and I only saw one species of dragonfly. Male Black-tailed Skimmer, Orthetrum cancellatum Blue-tailed Damselfly, Ischnura elegans, mating  mature male Blue-tailed Damselfly, the thorax stripes on the males change colour as they mature, young males have green stripes

The morning walk around the water park timed to coincide with a rising/high tide. The female Tufted Duck is down to five ducklings (was seven), there were 22 non breeding Tufted present. 10 Greylag Geese with the gull flock which had around 600+ Black Headed Gull and 15 Med' Gull. Three Sand Martin was the best I could get after over 300 a few days ago. Female Tufted duck and the now five young Whitford Burrows NNR is on the other side of the estuary one of the 15 Med' Gulls White-tailed bumblebee, Bombus lucorum, leaving Bindweed flower

At last its stopped raining!!! This morning I again walked the 100m to the lake and proceeded to do the morning circuit, over 100 Sand Martins were feeding low over the water, yesterday there were over 300 of them in what would have been perfect ringing conditions!!! A Tufted duck with 7 newly hatched young, two immature Great Crested Grebes and an adult and immature Little Grebe set the scene. The beauty of this location is that within  500m you are on the beach/estuary and this morning there were 6 Mediterranean Gulls and 4 Little Egrets. I have found a lovely wooded/scrub area for ringing and am in the process of obtaining permission to ring so fingers crossed. Cefn Padrig, looking West along the Loughor estuary  Open mown grass area interspersed with uncut patches Coed Padrig ( Patricks wood) looks set for mist netting  

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.