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

This morning was spectacular, not only was the temperature down to 5'C the moon was full and blue. I joined the team at Oxwich National Nature Reserve,  a wonderful place for nature and people and somewhere I spent may days as a child. The ringing site, a mixture of reed bed and scrub produced 160 birds, with over 20 Greenfinches - mostly juveniles a Kingfisher and a breeding couple of  Redpoll sp All in all a brilliant morning, and when I managed to take off my woolly hat the sun was wonderful, if a little to bright for continued catching. juvenile Kingfisher Highland cattle, being used for conservation grazing of the marsh    Male and Female  Redpoll sp Ringing team in action, being supervised by "Ellie" the West Highland Terrier The ringing area (foreground not the hill)

This morning was forecast to be a lot calmer and dryer than of late and so it was. It was CES session 9 at WWT Llanelli so I joined the Gower Ringing Group there at 05:30hrs, to set the nets on what was quite a chilly morning for July. A total of 33 birds including retraps was respectable for the site, other wildlife on show included ,  the dragonflies Southern Hawker and Common Darter and also the Hornet Hoverfly, Volucella zonaria.  Chiffchaff Hornet Hoverfly 

Started ringing in the garden yesterday afternoon, using just one 40' net. Yesterdays tally was 2 Jackdaws and a House Sparrow, so feeling inspired I set the same net again this morning at 6am and caught two Jackdaws and a HERRING GULL!!, she was not happy and I have the scars to prove it..... Herring Gull female

No internet for the past two days, but its all fixed, keep checking back for updates!!!!!!!!!

After visiting SWP, I drove to Kidwelly Quay the tide was out and the birding was great. The highlights were Four Common Sandpipers, 300+ Redshank, 28 Dunlin, one Knot, one Sanderling, eight Shelduck, 100's of Curlew and at least 3 Whimbrel. In the river there was a shoal of Mullet splashing about.  Common Sandpiper, see how the white underside goes up to the shoulder, a good ID feature     After moving the furniture in the next task on my mind was the garden, and especially a pond, well here is the almost finished pond , planted with native pond plants, such as Yellow fringed Water Lily, and Branched Bur Reed there have already been damselflies visiting!!!  Due to the make-up of the ground I could only dig down 15cm, so the pond is a raised pond, 180cm X 90cm the twig bottom right hand, is a perch for dragonflies.

With ringing at Oxwich NNR cancelled due to the wind, I still got up and went out at 4:30am, I thought I would try and catch a duck or two or a Moorhen at the Water Park now that I have permission from the council to ring in the area. Failure, dismal failure I think I was too early, the birds were skittish and the presence of four Fox cubs didn't help. A couple of bats feeding over the water were probably Daubenton's bats Anyway after breakfast I walked around the lake and found 64 Mute Swan, £ Gresat crested Grebe, the female Tufted duck with still one duckling and three Common Gull, this particular gull is not that common!! In Coed Cefn padrig there was a family of Chiffchaffs, a Jay, Long tailed Tits and a couple of Whitethroats. On the sands at Cefn Padrig 13 Little Egret. Male Tufted Duck   Male and Female Pochard (at the back) and Tufted Ducks   Common Gull   Common Gulls with Black-headed Gulls, at this time of year the Black-headed Gulls are los

Well the forecast rain arrived in the early hours, although not as heavy as I thought it would be, and by lunchtime it had petered out. Continuing to explore this part of Carmarthenshire led me to Llyn LLech Owain country park, a SSSI north of Crosshands The habitat is a lake surrounded by peat bog, heathland and conifer forest, despite the grey skies it was a pleasant surprise to find yet another habitat so close to our new home. I'm a bit out of touch with this type of habitat but took a few pictures to refer to my flower guide. A newt crossing the path looks very much like a Palmate newt.  Llyn Llech Owain Hypericum sp (one of the St John Worts)  Heather or Ling, Calluna vulgaris Cross leaved Heath Erica tetralix Palmate newt Lissotriton helveticus speaks for itself really, a noticeboard!