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

Frost....... A crisp morning with actual ice on the windscreen of the van, and frost on the ground on the reserve must mean its winter? Arriving at just before 07:30hrs, to the sun just peeking over the horizon the first bird I saw as I drove across the reserve was the ♂ Merlin, typically the light was all wrong and despite the bird being very obliging it didn't wait for me to position the van properly. This was the best of an in car photo I could muster. Merlin ♂ The bird then flew and landed on the far side of the field sat on what is becoming a favourite post. A quite uneventful walk out to the beach was followed by an equally uneventful walk east along the beach, although finding a James Bond style speed boat, albeit old battered and without an engine, was a surprise. I guess it can't be allowed to stay there, or to float away on the next high tides, (its safe for now) so it becomes another job!! For those of you with absolutely nothing b

Winter is here, meteorologically speaking anyway.. A cool dawn with an  overcast sky saw me setting up a few nets in the Willow and Reed areas, after a quiet start the pace picked up with 13 Reed Buntings in the Reed net, along with last weeks Cetti's Warbler. The Willow bush net produced a single Chaffinch and a lonely Blue Tit. There were several Water Rail calling in the reeds but none would react to the tape lure. Three Red-breasted Mergansers flew over heading West Its good to get a few reed Buntings ringed as there are a lot on site and they do move about the area. Reed Bunting ♂ With today being volunteer day we set off on a few tasks, pot hole filling and putting up a few signs, well nothing is straight forward but suffice to say pot holes filled and a sign up before lunch, but not before being pleased to see a HEN HARRIER , quartering the lower and middle marsh, it was a "ringtail" which means it was either a female or an immature. specie

Ups and downs, disappointments and surprises.... Every day that I turn up at Pembrey Burrows reserve, I wonder what I am going to find, something unusual, a surprise maybe a new bird or insect; in the back of my  mind is always the thought "what have the humans been up to...". Yesterday was no exception so when I got to the information shelter and noticed the tide tables had been moved and the leaflet dispensers were mixed up I knew something odd had happened. This thought was confirmed when I found some of the information signs had holes in them, made by air rifle pellets, then the bits of chipped wood lying on the floor confirmed that some git had been using the shelter for target practise...... Despite being disappointed I guess that I should be grateful that its the first incident in nearly twelve months, so I replaced the damaged signs and wait with anticipation . Today a new day and a new month, a cooler feel and a light Easterly breeze soon found the reserve

Winter raptors..... With autumn marching towards winter there has been a noticeable increase in the avian predators on the reserve. Whilst we don't get big numbers of raptors we do have a nice range of species using the reserve and already the following can be found with a bit of time Kestrel, at least two different individuals. Sparrowhawk, the "big" female is back and quite often a smaller male and female can be encountered. Common Buzzard, one or two usually seen around the first cattle enclosure to the north of the track. Merlin, a nicely marked immature male has been around for a few days and showed well this evening. Immature ♂ Merlin, ( heavily cropped photo; donations towards a decent camera welcome!) Peregrine Falcon, a couple of regular birds, especially at high tide when they hunt the wader flock Red Kites should reappear soon, as well as Goshawk and Hen Harrier, just keep looking... Barn Owl, check near the Dwr Cymru

A mix of Summer and Winter..... I made a late afternoon visit to the reserve, as it was my first opportunity for a few days, the light was quite nice with a mix of dark heavy clouds inland and crisp clear blue skies out in the bay. I made a quick stop at pond 2 and was pleased to find, at last, Four Northern Shoveler, the first record for 2016 on the reserve making them species number 136, they were all female and didn't hang around long but only flew to the pond in the next enclosure. there were also five Teal, and two Pintail nice numbers of nice duck on what is almost a puddle sized pond. I walked out to the eastern edge of the dunes and was pleased to find that the seasonal brackish pools have retained a lot of water after the high tides, it is clear that birds, probably ducks and waders, are using the pools (lots of preened feathers). its a long walk to get to this area :-) Making my way back to the information shelter two Barn Swallow flew overhead

Catching up..... For most of my adult life I've managed perfectly well with out "internet", so why is it that four days without "broadband" and I feel in disarray? Well it seems that all is working again so time for a catch up. Wednesday is volunteer day and this week we were at Morfa Berwig LNR, our mission to put some metal gates up to replace the wooden structures presently leading to the grazing fields. Having completed a small task clearing some rank vegetation we proceeded to the grazing field to be met by these! Gently does it....., a nifty pincer and we've got them At first I thought someone was taking the Donkeys for a walk, then realised they were escapees!!! An interesting few minutes ensued while we rounded the way ward Donkeys up and put them back in the field, ultimately we never actually completed the main task of putting a gate up, but that's another story..... On Friday I had a ringing session and was pleased to catch

Guided Event....High tide sea watch This morning at 07:30 a group of nine joined me for our first "guided" Sea Watch event, Including sea watch legend Adam who made sure we didn't miss any of the action. With high tide due for 08:24hrs we were in position at first light and immediately the birds began to appear. Sanderling, just dropping in in front of the group, (credit Veronica Haines VH) Flocks of Sanderling landed feet away to be scared away by a piece of plastic blowing along the beach in the stiff WSW breeze After a long spell of settled weather the change in conditions were perfect and soon rafts of Common Scoter were visible off shore with many more flying out to sea. Our marker points on the opposite side of the Burry Inlet (the Gower) (VH) Gannets numbered 100+, a good count for the estuary, the pick of the morning came with Peregrine, the first great Northern Diver of the autumn, Red-throated Diver, two Kittiwake, three Sandwich T