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

Winters end..... With February drawing to a close the weather seems to have settled down a bit and today, although overcast was dry and cold with the wind not as strong or as bitter as forecast. I spent five hours walking around the reserve and it was magical... 73 Common Snipe and 2 Jack Snipe off the upper marsh were the best records of the day. On the beach was the first dead sea bird that I have found which was a Gannet it appears to be an adult, not long dead although the left foot was missing? Gannet, I've just realised how dreadful the picture looks The powerful bill says it all for this master fisher Despite all the storms so far this winter its remarkable that this is the first bird I've found, the rough weather will have had a negative affect on the feeding abilities of the Auk family amongst other. This afternoon I put out some traps at home and ringed two Starling and two Robins. Then I returned to Pembrey to sit out hoping to see s

Felt like Spring had arrived.... A great morning out in almost unbroken sunshine, until midday when it became overcast and cooler. I had to check the entire length of the fence in one of the grazing fields this morning, but not before a quick sea watch which produced few birds but real quality in the form of 50+ common Scoter and three Great Northern Divers.... I never said they were close, although this one was feeding in the surf The fence was fine and I continued along the beach in total isolation except for the continuous sound of Skylarks singing, along with Dunnocks, Robins and Reed Buntings all feeling the urge. Skylark, this one just kept on singing The reserve is important for many different groups of animals and plants so there is always something to see I cannot always name the individuals at the time as I cannot carry a book for each and every subject, sometimes its a case of looking information up at home. Badger latrine, the badgers

Fences and corpses.... A glorious morning turned into a glorious day, there was little frost with temperatures at the reserve around 0', the sand was solid but the frost soon lifted. A quick sea-watch from CE53 on a high tide revealed Red-throated Divers and a Great Northern Diver in the estuary but a long way off,  with lots of gulls feeding on the falling tide. A walk around the cattle ponds turned up a male Brambling with the flock of Chaffinches, I suspect there are more Brambling in the flock. The Skylarks were in full song, at one point there were five or six just flying around as we sat and had lunch, (we because on a Wednesday the stalwart volunteers turn up to work on projects in the coastal park, mainly on the reserves) We were fixing the vandalised fencing ready for more cattle to be brought onto the reserve A visitor had told me that there was a fish or something with teeth was washed up on the beach, further investigation revealed a decomposing sea mam

Frost and Rainbows ..... The overnight forecast indicated a frost and a bright sunny day, so when I stepped outside what did I find, well it was raining!. not a lot but any frost had long disappeared. The drive over North Gower towards Oxwich on the South side did not make the weather improve. When I arrived Keith and Emma had already set the one net that we would use, (NRW have ponies grazing on the marsh). The overcast skies looked as though they would clear but not before a light shower wetted the table, the books and equipment, the double rainbow did make us smile though. The morning produced about forty birds, a mixture of new and retrapped individuals. Male Siskin Siskins stole the early rounds with a smattering of Chaffinches and Goldfinches, with surprisingly few tits! Male Chaffinch, this brute of a specimen may be a continental bird This is the wing of the above bird and had a length of 93mm making me think it is a continental visitor

Frost and sunshine.... At last some decent weather and the chance to put some nets up to have go at ringing.. With all the puddles frozen and the saltmarsh feeling crispy underfoot it felt like ideal conditions to have a go. Frosted Gorse With hopes set high it was disappointing that there were no stupid Skylarks tempted to enter the net set on the marsh, yet there were plenty singing. Another quiet session, but all new birds with just five ringed, Wren 2, Dunnock 2, Robin 1, Blackbird 1. Still a great morning to be out, Adam Dare a local birder popped by and showed me a photo of a BRAMBLING he had seen on the reserve boundary!!!!!, this brings the year total species so far to 75. Great record thanks Adam. Sea Buckthorn in frosty coat Gorse Flower shrouded in frost

Brackets....... The Bio-diversity of the Pembrey Burrows nature reserve is huge, perhaps one of the less well studied groups are the Fungi, which are neither plants nor animals. Dr Phillip Jones is the local expert, in the true sense, and is often out on the reserve, happy to share his knowledge and enthuse others. This particular bracket type fungus grows on Sea buckthorn, Fomitiporia hippophaeicola occurs on living Sea Buckthorn as a parasite and is seldom recorded with only 89 records, mainly from Lincolnshire i t was first found at Pembrey in 2012, by Phillip.                                                    Fomitiporia hippophaeicola                                                      Fomitiporia hippophaeicola There are many more species of fungi on the reserve and I will look at them in blogs later in the year.

Bloody weather..... This is a combined blog from yesterday when I managed to catch one bird, a Wren, and today when I turned around went home and back to bed until a more reasonable hour and better weather. Storm Imogen has really battered the fore dunes at Pembrey reserve, with up to 20m of dunes washed away in places, the good news is that the sand will redeposit and the dunes will build again. Marram Grass roots exposed by the collapse of the dunes, some of the roots were 3m long The high tide today at 9.4m, brought in the following: Teal 200+, Shelduck 10, Wigeon 4, Redshank 40+, Greenshank 1, Curlew 5, Black-Headed Gull 100+ and Common Gull 20+ Not massive numbers but still reasonable given that most of the marsh is out of sight due to the topography. Lets hope the weather settles down.......................