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

A pre-dawn set up at Morfa Berwig, in good conditions after last nights very heavy rain; produced just nine birds, not a great return for the effort, even the tits were absent. The star bird was the first CHIFFCHAFF of the season, to be expected really with c10 singing males across the road at WWT yesterday, hopefully the site will resound to their monotonous song soon. ChiffChaff The absolute wildlife sighting this morning was made by Ed, from WWT, when a TOAD walked across the path in front of us. Toad It is hard to believe that a "wetland" site such as Morfa Berwig appears to holds so few amphibians other than PALMATE NEWTS, but now with a clump of frog spawn last week and todays Toad sighting there's at least some evidence that they occur, (the same scenario occurs at WWT).

A working party visit to Morfa Berwig with a list of jobs to tackle, Clear debris from part of a recently exposed ditch Put in two stiles to make access for monitoring (and less ripped clothes) Check the artificial Otter holt Continue removing an old fence Well we managed 3 out of the 4 tasks, ably assisted by an extra helper in the form of Tim. The ditch had been cleared of bankside vegetation for two reasons, namely to aid the movement of water and reduce the flood risk, and improve useable habitat for the water Voles. The contractors have done a grand job and it was a case of just tidying up what we could, which involved raking the floating debris from the water and the bankside debris into piles. This will allow the bankside vegetation to regenerate providing cover and food for the Water Voles, the banks are quite "soft" so burrowing shouldn't be a problem. Before we started I think another session next week will see the whole stretch o

A ringing session this morning at Morfa Berwig was interesting in so much as there were few birds around especially tits, my theory is that first thing they were busy establishing territories, singing, looking for nest sites etc, and generally getting into breeding mode before going off to feed. The food in the feeders has hardly gone down in the last few days so I'll be thinking about stopping the food if the weather sets in mild. The small catch was varied with, BULLFINCH, GOLDFINCH, DUNNOCK, ROBIN, GOLDCREST, WREN, BLUE TIT, GREAT TIT, BLACKBIRD AND COAL TIT One of the Blue Tits was a very smart adult and had a good smattering of pollen on its plumage especially on the forehead, clearly the Willows are flowering and it had been poking about in the flowers. When extracted from the net the patch of yellow on the forehead was very obvious, the pollen has brushed off with handling. Several of the Dunnocks were showing signs of being in breeding condition with

Well, a lot more Otter spraint in the usual place but no luck for two nights so I moved the trail camera to another location, which is more secure and the view more open. Bingo...... What I'm not 100% sure about is how many Otters there were. The first otter appears from the right, and swims off to the right, and doesn't appear to swim left, but a second Otter appears from the left? Update: [ I've played the uncut version of the video and it is one Otter]

Well the video diaries continue with the MAGpies and the otTER both trying to put on a show.  get it MAGTER!! Firstly, during the cold and snowy weather the Magpies ceased work on the nest, staying alive probably took priority. Over the past two days though they have been hard at work. The male was particularly keen to select and place a piece of poplar that he had broken off, it must have been 75cm long at least. he did manage it eventually. Meanwhile at Morfa Berwig I left the trail camera out for two nights in a slightly different position to the first attempt, I think I've worked out what the Otter is doing despite another poor clip of - her?snaffling about the camera. Another try tonight...

Today was an opportunity to check the fences at Pembrey again, GF3 was an "easy" fix just making sure the top strand is tight, GF2 is another matter and it looks like the cattle will need to be moved to GF1 which hasn't been grazed this winter and the fence is new. Then it was off to Ashpits LNR to put in a new boundary sign, easy digging soon as the sign in, looking good. The fields along factory Road, leading to the reserve/country park held c300 redwings and a few Fieldfare, whilst the football field held c50 Fieldfare and a few Redwing! We are really grateful for the help from so many local people who give up their time to clear litter from MCP and our beaches, to make the effort more focussed and beneficial we are producing a "Litter Picking Guide", the council has a legal obligation under The Environment (Wales) 2016 Act to ensure their actions do not negatively affect bio-diversity unnecessarily so the guide will direct peoples enthusiasm an

Overcast, rain, cold, perfect for a quiet stroll around Pembrey Burrows and look at the wildlife, and so it was, down to CE51 along the beach to the end of GF2 and back via the shelter, well that was the plan. As I was watching some Great Crested Grebes, offshore and a few Common Scoter the mobile began to ring, by the way my mobile had a wobbly over the weekend and I've lost some telephone numbers! It was regular dog walker Brian who was actually within shouting distance, to tell me there was a problem with the fence in GF2. Wednesday team - this was the problem AGAIN. the fence must be six foot high now! Sand build up due to the strong easterlies meaning the cattle could just walk over the top strand of barbed wire, oh wonderful. Luckily it's Monday which means that the great volunteers from mencap Cymru are usually on site for a litter pick or a task, well here was a task. Needless to say after two hours in the pouring rain another line of barbe