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

Last night, after along busy day, with good mothing conditions I went back to the reserve at sunset, beautiful time of day, and after body rolling under the barbed wire fence... I set up just to the north of the main track. I stayed until midnight and had a nice variety of moths, with SMALL ELEPHANT, PALE PROMINENT, ELEPHANT, (3) COMMON CARPET, FOX MOTH AND PEPPERED MOTH, being the best. Here are just a couple of photos... Small Elephant Moth Pale Prominent

Wednesday, volunteer day, post bashing, habitat management, monitoring, public engagement... it's all go at Pembrey LNR. A busy day with the refugia for the endangered Strandline Beetle placed at selected locations along Cefn Sidan. Amazingly whilst clearing broken glass off the beach...thank you public idiots... I picked up a discarded trainer, shook it and out popped one of the rarest and most threatened species of beetle in the UK, The Strandline Beetle, Eurynebria complanata   at last I've seen, held and photographed this amazing little beetle. (I repositioned the trainer!) Strandline Beetle Earlier whilst finishing off some fencing I checked some refugia including some "forgotten" ones, just the odd Slow Worm and Common Lizard, then I checked ref 4, where I have never found anything of interest but today bingo!, a GRASS SNAKE, even better it was an immature from last year, quite dark in colour about 25cm long. Grass Snake , Wikipedia photo

In less than perfect conditions I set my moth trap out in an area of Willow Scrub, Phragmities and rough grass. I ran the trap from sunset until 23:00hrs, a short but interesting session, with Fox Moth, Pale Tussock, Middle Barred Minor, Treble Lines and Sharp Angled Peacock the best. Another session on Wednesday night when hopefully it will be a bit warmer.... Sharp Angled Peacock Middle Barred Minor Treble Lines Fox Moth Pale Tussock

I was not a perfect child but I did know right from wrong, why? because my parents and older siblings brought me up correctly.... What am I going on about.... this afternoon as I drove through the reserve I watched two young lads delighting in throwing sticks and stones at a group of young cattle  while "dad" sat on his bike oblivious to what was going on.....I didn't have an opportunity to engage and educate as they  all cycled off before I could say anything.... An additional contingent of young cattle has arrived and I went off to count them, a total of 10 newbies giving us 33 head on site, I also noticed someone? had kindly picked a few bags of litter from the beach, sadly they left them against the field fence and the cattle have been at them now there's litter in the cattle field! On a brighter note a regular nature photographer stopped me to point out  newly emerged Broad-bodied Chaser dragonflies, Libellula depressa, my first chasers of the year, t

I've always been interested in the weather, (well it is a British obsession!), and have run an electronic weather station for many years, however since moving back to Wales, although the station has been running and recording I've not really done much with the data. As a consequence I've moved the station to Pembrey reserve where the data collected can be used in a more informative way. Data capture unit, ignore the readings, it was initializing! There's always the danger of vandalism but I think we have to be a bit more optimistic and run the equipment positively. Equipment in place, I think it's high enough! (and yes it actually is vertical! depending on the angle of view) The station measures, temperature, wind direction & speed plus, rainfall, pressure, and humidity all pretty useful information. In addition I've installed a separate rain gauge which can be checked/emptied manually on each visit. Rain gauge The weather was gre

I like to keep the information in the shelter at Pembrey Burrows LNR, fresh and relevant. I thought a few topical posters would be useful, so with no funds to buy anything I've set about making three, one each for Orchids, Butterflies and Sea Mammals. I'm quite pleased with the result and as they are home produced are more relevant than a generic off the shelf publication. Despite the damp conditions there was a good steady passage of Swallows this morning, with Gannets feeding offshore, always nice to see. Don't forget the guided walk 10am on Saturday 20th May.

A few photographs taken at  Pembrey Burrows LNR from the spring of '17 Green-winged Orchid Lapwing Common Morel Cornu aspersum Cepaea nemoralis Theba pisana Moonwort Sedge Warbler Feral Apple! Dingy Skipper