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

Taste of Spring..... With a high tide of 9.4m at 07:48hrs, this morning was perfect for a Sea watch. I joined Adam Dare at CE53 around 06:50 hrs, as it turned out there was little happening as far as I could see, up to 5 Great Crested Grebes flying in all directions offshore, a few Common Scoter and the odd very distant diver. The high tide flooded the area of land to the seaward side of the main track, the area is in field 2 and we are hoping that Lapwing may find it suitable to raise a family, they certainly tried in 2015. not usually flooded except by the very highest tides, perfect for waders to nest? With effect from today dog walkers are asked to keep dogs on a lead in field 2 and also all of the reserve East of the information shelter, this is to give ground nesting birds a chance at breeding; it will prove a challenge I think..... There were quite a lots of birds on the flooded marsh, best counts were; Common Shelduck 29, Redshank 80+, Teal 50+ plus the usu

In like a Lion? hope it goes out like a Lamb The forecast was spot on and the morning arrived with strong winds and a little rain, the gusts were very strong and made walking difficult. As its Wednesday the volunteer group duly reported for duty and we set off to remove some of the larger debris from the beach in front of the reserve. Quite frankly it was too windy to stand and take photographs but the effect of the wind on the sand and the pools of sea water was something to see. After filling the back of the pickup and depositing the discarded fishing nets in the yard we had a spot of lunch fortifying ourselves for the emergency fencing that needed to be done. This is the way the contractors put in fence posts. This is the way we carry out emergency repairs, I know which looks easier but half the fun.

Big Skies and busy busy ...... The picture does not capture these dense old clouds inland from the estuary I've been a bit busy over the last few days, well too busy to write the blog plus its been a bit quiet. Carmarthen Bay is really one of the Big Sky parts of the UK the formations are, at times, awe inspiring the scene above, although inland was fitting for the time of day, late evening, and the temperature at around 4'c. In my last blog I mentioned  that the small red Kite was feeding on something on a post, well a bit of a walk and I found out it was a rabbit, not much left now just a few bones and the skin. After watching the same bird today ( a few primary feathers are damaged in the left wing) actively hunting the marsh just like a harrier would I'm wondering if it had caught the rabbit as I rarely find dead rabbits lying around. The bird was being mobbed by a Little Egret, a pair of Carrion Crows and then 7 Shelduck joined in the fray. This is w

More than sand..... This afternoon I ventured to a part of the reserve that I haven't paid much attention too in the past the Northern edge of the upper marsh. Its quite interesting out on this part not least because navigating across it needs some thought, a bit of jumping and wellies!!! One of the creeks which criss cross the marsh The Reed bed get inundated on a very high tide, as demonstrated by the amount of sea borne rubbish along the edge of the reeds, but is fed by fresh water seepage as demonstrated by the water running off into the creeks (the tide hasn't reached the reeds for a few weeks). It is here that one of the specialities of the reserve may? be found its a snail about 3mm high one of the "Whorl" snails, Vertigo angustior, there's no photo not because its rare, but because, its VERY RARE and is specially protected. I suspect that there are Harvest Mice using the reed bed and I'll look into that in the next few weeks. The

Signs of Spring..... The weather today was a vast improvement on yesterday, which saw wind, rain, sleet and a little snow. Although a chilly WNW breeze it amounted to very little and the overcast skies cleared to make it feel very nice out of the breeze. On the beach the recent tides have covered over a lot of the "rubbish" as well as lots and lots of shells, the wind in the past few days has been in a North to North West direction which seems to have been perfect to create "sand sculptures" a few centimetres high; here come the arty photos. A "strandline Safari" to look for signs of spring revealed a few specialist creatures including a large ground beetle called, the Strand-line Burrower, Broscus cephalotes ( see photo) as well as the Sand Hopper Talitrus saltator , (no photo sorry!) The Strand-line Burrower On the Dunes themselves the Skylarks were in full song with lots of territorial disputes going on, I hadn't

Metrological Spring....still looking like Winter... The first day of March, and the first day of the metrological spring, I prefer to wait for the equinox before getting too excited about spring. What it does mean is that its the day to update things like the tide times and wildlife sightings boards in the information shelter; with that job done a quick look around the reserve turned up a few birds who clearly have spring very much in mind. Skylarks singing in the rain, Robins, Dunnocks all singing away. There is quite a decent mixed flock of finches feeding on the Sea Buckthorn berries, they are actually after the hard seed inside the orange flesh. Greenfinches A good mix of Greenfinch, Chaffinch and Brambling, along with Blue Tits and Goldcrest these were looking for insects and spiders. Brambling (heavily cropped photo sorry) There are still Teal around they favour the deeper creeks to rest in when the marsh is not flooded, I couldn

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