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

Guided Walk No 13 ... Today was our thirteenth guided walk of the season, a Strandline Safari. We started by taking a look at a plant I happened to notice as I approached the entrance to the reserve, Twiggy Mullein, a plant which has been noted in the county since the 1970's but not on a regular basis. Twiggy Mullein Nature has a way of doing what she wants and today most of the strandline was covered by sand with nothing out of the ordinary washed up, nevertheless we had an enjoyable stroll along the beach looking for the elusive "Beachcomber or Strandline" beetle, no we didn't find any but its pretty rare so..... What we encountered were more signs of the onset of Autumn in the natural world, with good numbers of migratory birds on the beach, with 405 (and counting) Sanderling 44+ Common Ringed Plover and a handful of Dunlin. Distant, Sanderling with the odd Dunlin We made our way off the beach and over the dunes taking a d

Work rest and play..... Wednesday is volunteer day at Pembrey or Morfa Berwig LNR's, today we were at Pembrey. Myself Veronica and Neil enjoyed a mixed bag of a day, with a bit of bird ringing, some vegetation clearing, some plant finding and hole digging. The bird ringing came about as we were positioning the ringing poles in the main track ready for a ringing session, but since the nets were out we left them set for about an hour itwas late in the morning and the only birds caught were a Robin and a Chiffchaff. After a spot of lunch in the warm sun we cleared a couple of ringing rides in the Sea Buckthorn before venturing out onto the marsh to look at some of the flowering plants, with Neil's help we sorted Sea Wormwood, Sea Aster, Sea Plantain and Cordgrass. Again today, there were lots of Bumble bees on the marsh plants especially Red-tailed Bumblebee. We kept putting off the main task of the day with diversions to look at Greater Spearwort a member of

Pembrey Burrows ringing.... I had another session at the Swallows last evening, just doing a pre roost rather than a proper roost session, there's a lot of work for one person doing a full roost especially if you get overrun with birds at sunset. In the end I caught just 12 Barn Swallows, but to add interest I caught the first Stonechat for the site, there are at least six breeding pairs on the reserve and they have had a particularly good year judging by the number of young around. This was an adult male undergoing its "post breeding moult" this involves a complete change of all the feathers making this individual look rather unkempt. Adult ♂ Stonechat It is clear to see in the wing the difference between the faded un-moulted primaries and the fresher new primaries. Stonechat wing, new and un-moulted primaries clearly shown This morning I returned for another session, with the nets set and ready by 05:15hrs, a steady few hours with a t

There be Dragons in those sand dunes..... A blustery morning saw me at the eastern end of the reserve at high tide to do a sea watch. The usual flock of Oystercatchers, todays count was 980, have returned to their roost site at the end of the reserve, (for most of the summer they have been about 1.5km further west and out of sight). Mixed in there were 11 Ringed Plover, two Turnstone and very mobile flock of Sanderling that wouldn't be counted. On the Gull front three Great black backed , 6 Mediterranean and around 80 Black headed Gulls made up the numbers, the highlight was 16 Sandwich Terns. Oystercatchers at high tide roost with Burry Holm on the Gower in the distance This afternoon a visit to the information shelter on the reserve revealed two countryside rangers from Pembrey country park, (I think they took the wrong turning nice to see them though #oneteam), and 13 Common Lizards 12 on one log!! Adult Common Lizard, notice the second growth

Guided Walk, salt marsh and dunes... Three hardy souls joined me this morning for a look at the plants and animals of the salt marsh and the dunes. The morning was briefly overcast and gloomy, but soon the skies cleared and a gentle breeze developed, by the end of the walk it was quite warm. The salt marsh at Pembrey burrows is a key element of its designations as an SSSI, along with the other joint designations the reserve has of Special Area of Conservation, (SAC), and Special Protected Area, (SPA). For interest here is a taste of why the whole of the Carmarthen Bay is so important. The Carmarthen Bay and Estuaries SAC is a multiple interest site which has been selected for the presence of ten interest features that qualify under Annex I and Annex II of the Habitats Directive. For the qualifying habitats and species the SAC is considered to be one of the best areas in the UK for:  • Estuaries   • Mudflats and sandflats not covered by seawater at low tide   • Atla

Autumn must be on the way..... Cool misty morning at Pembrey Burrows & Saltings Local Nature Reserve Yesterday (Saturday) evening I decided it was time to go and try and catch some of the 1000+ Swallows and sand Martins which are roosting in the reed bed at the Pembrey Burrows reserve. It was a lovely evening and I did manage to ring 65 Barn Swallows and Two Sand martins along with a few Reed and Sedge Warblers. Barn Swallow, this is a bird hatched this year, look at the pale forehead! measuring the wing of Barn Swallow, wing length is one of several "biometrics" taken during the ringing process This morning I was on the reserve at 04:45hrs with a three net set in the reed and scrub areas, again a successful morning. The ringing totals for the two sessions is as follows. Barn Swallow 65, Sand Martin 2, Sedge Warbler 9 Reed Warbler 7 Willow Warbler 1 Blackcap 1 Common Whitethroat 3 Robin 2 Goldfinch 1 Blue T

Vandalism......, and a nice guided walk I arrived at the reserve this morning, to be faced with a dilemma, no padlock on the barrier, a little investigation revealed it had been cut off with, probably, an angle grinder WHY????? No obvious evidence of anything untoward but there must have been a reason? Anyway, I guided the Carmarthenshire Wildlife Walks Llanelli group on a two hour ramble around a small part of the reserve, despite initial overcast conditions there was enough sun to encourage a variety of Dragonflies and Butterflies onto the wing. They looked interested! We had great views of Emperor Dragonflies, and one or two common Darters, at the pond in F3. As we walked through the field we were soon putting up Gatekeepers, Meadow Brown, Small Blue, Common Blue and Small Skipper, a hop over a stile onto the edge of the salt marsh and we found a nice group of about 8 Grayling feeding on the nectar of Sea Lavender. Two Silver Y moths were seen, this immigrant mo