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

What a change in the weather, a trip around the eastern side of the island including a stop at the third highest point Pico Do Arieiro, at 1800+M about 6000ft. Well that didn't  happen due to the road being closed at 1414m due to SNOW. Not surprisingly the temperature at 1414m was 2'c with hail and Gale force winds. Madeira is a stunningly beautiful island with 67% a Natural Park with areas  of it having some extra  level of protection, including SPA and SAC status as well as a UNESCO biosphere reserve. On the Bird front the highlight was a brief but good view of MADEIRIAN FIRECREST, also seen were; TURNSTONE, MOORHEN, COOT, CANARY,GREY WAGTAIL,  and            Y L GULL.

I'l do a proper one off blog when I get back home, in the meantime Weather so far warm very high teens, showers. No sign of Dolphins or Whales on the boat trip yesterday but a few gulls which will need sorting when I get home, Herring Gull types plus BH gull, Grey Wagtail ssp Schmitz, Atlantic Canary, Cmn  Kestrel, Plain Swift and  few Blackcaps

Hi all, I'm going away for a few days, may update the blog from Madeira! if not normal service will resume in a while.

I'll start by apologising for the issue with yesterdays Blog!,  Just to reiterate, if anyone is keen to be involved in the Butterfly survey this year please get in touch, paul.pembreylnr@outlook.com. Yesterday saw us at the Ynys Dawela Nature Park near Brynaman where we set about removing the old information sign and replacing it with a nice new sign, in what looks like being the design for the reserves going forward. We are quite skilled at digging holes, and with a bit of huffing and puffing, mostly by me, we got the three holes dug and the new sign installed. Made from Oak it should last a good while, just needs the left hand panel completed with an information frame. Yes we made it look effortless, and its appearance belies its weight, it was heavy..., and to be honest I had serious doubts about getting it installed, after all we were digging in a layby... we shifted some decent sized stones and some post-crete from the previous sign, (actually

In 2017 we conducted a butterfly survey during May to September,. The survey was carried out on a suitable day once a month May to September, thanks Veronica for doing the leg work. PEMBREY BURROWS AND SALTINGS LNR BUTTERFLY SURVEY 2017 Weather notes - O/C 0/8 Sunny Sunny Cloudy Sunny ESE 15mph Mod West Sun ints cool, sl. 22.6 C breeze breeze N breeze Dates - 25-May 17-Jun 20-Jul 09-Aug 17-Sep TOTAL SPECIES BRIMSTONE No record CLOUDED YELLOW No record COMMA 1 1 COMMON BLUE 28 5 28 1 62 DARK GREEN FRITILLARY 1 1 DINGY SKIPPER 2 2 GATEKEEPER 17 21 38 GRAYLING 8