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

Today Simeon and I hosted? a visit by the Botanical Society of the British Isles, with Richard and Kath Pryce the county botanical recorders. A group of 10 experts left me in total awe of their expertise, friendliness and willingness to share their knowledge. a few of the group looking at something? The group spent just over 7 hours on the reserve visiting a number of the habitats and amassing a good list of plants, with a number of "token" specimens being taken for confirmation of their identity. The actual lists will be sent to me when completed, these will then be useful to help me further my own knowledge of the reserve. Sea Spurrey As well as the flora, good numbers of Marbled Whites were on the wing with a few Dark Green Fritillaries, on the bird front before they group arrived I found two Common Sandpipers on the high tide with 30+ Mediterranean Gulls, and a few more Redshank than of late, I guess autumn is on the way... Common Sandpiper,

With walks on both Saturday and Sunday its been quite busy.... Saturday was our Summer Flowers walk led by Dr Simeon Jones our Conservation Officer, with a small group we had an interesting walk looking at the change in plants through each of the areas of the dune system, starting on the fore-dunes and ending in the fixed dunes, a good variety of plants seen in less than perfect weather including the stunning Sea Holly. Sea Holly We didn't find the Bee Orchids, but the Pyramidals put on a great show. Sunday saw the west Glamorgan rspb local group visit for a look around, again a small but enthusiastic group saw 33 species of birds, including some distant Gannets, 70 species of wild flowers, and a few butterflies, (in less than perfect conditions of wind and drizzle) but Marbled Whites were quite abundant. Marbled Whites This Golden Plover caused momentary excitement as it was very confiding in fact fearless as it showed no fear of us at all, so was either

Well its hot, no mistaking that although all change tonight? At 9am it was 26'c at the shelter to hot for work so just a morning of monitoring, no Strandline Beetles found on the section I checked today but I did find a special moth the Sand Dart. On the subject of moths I ran the trap overnight on Monday into Tuesday with a great catch with a smattering of common moths plus some "goodies" and a NEW moth for Carmarthenshire a Reddish Light Arches, Apamea sublustris , here are a few pictures. Reddish Light Arches, new to Carmarthenshire Broad-barred White Scarce in Carmarthenshire Shore Wainscot rare in Carmarthenshire Nationally scarce Shark, uncommon and local

The annual bird club guided walk took place this morning, a month earlier than usual, with perfect weather of clear blue skies and a gentle breeze keeping the temperature pegged at around 16'c. There were 11 club members who enjoyed the walk through one of the grazing fields where we saw a wide range of flowering plants including: Lesser and Greater Spearwort, Bloody Cranesbill, Pyramidal Orchid, Southern Marsh Orchid, Marsh Helleborine, and a host more. Bloody Cranesbill The Dragonflies put on a show with Emperor, Broad Bodied Chaser and Black tailed Skimmer, as well as Azure Damesleflies. Emperor ♀ egg laying The butterflies were a little disappointing but first of the years included, Dark Green Fritillary, Marbled White and Large Skipper with just one Green Hairstreak seen by a select few. Dark Green Fritillary Spearworts - pretty buttercups!

A cooler blustery but bright day and another Strandline Beetle survey, disappointedly only one beetle found... Interesting sightings included another location for Dune Tiger Beetle, and good numbers of Dune Chafer, Anomala dubia, flying and mating, this beetle is classified as having a "local" distribution in the UK largely on the West coast with South Wales a good area for them. Dune Chafer I was also lucky enough to find three breeding pairs of Ringed Plover, and using some field craft managed to locate a nest with three eggs, field craft, [so lacking these days amongst many people who don't "get it"] is really important if you really want to discover some hidden gems. Of course you can just stumble on these things but how many people know how to react to the behaviour of the creature being observed without stressing it. As I left the area one of the adults had returned to the eggs.

With the first reasonable weather for quite a while I put the moth trap out in the garden, it was a clear night with a heavy dew. Getting up at 3:30am to "close" the trap and retiring to bed until 7:30am seemed a great idea! Disappointedly when checking the trap the sum total was six moths of five species! Here are the best.. Peppered Moth Buff Tip, head on Buff Tip, side on

Before the walk/event this morning, I went for a look around, it was great to see so many Southern Marsh Orchids and Pyramidal Orchids in flower, with many more flower spikes yet to open.  The yellow of the Biting Stonecrop is beginning to make a nice show on the dryer areas of the dunes. Infloresence of Pyramidal Orchid Biting Stonecrop I also came across a Spider-hunting Wasp which may be Arachnospila anceps ,(no common name), I've submitted the record for confirmation. ? The high winds of the past week have damaged the bearings on the anemometer on the weather station, and now its not spinning just shaking....., I'm not surprised really as its been in use for about five years and experienced a few storms.. I'll have to get a ladder to check the damage properly.