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

The natural world does not follow the same calendar of time as we humans do, nature has it's own intricate calendar and now at the end of August the "natural autumn" is well underway. The meteorological autumn starts on Saturday 1st September, whilst the astronomical autumn will start on 21st/22nd September. This is easily evidenced by looking at the increasing numbers of birds which come to Carmarthen Bay, and specifically Cefn Sidan and Pembrey Burrows, to spend the winter. The gull numbers are building up with good numbers of COMMON GULL, BLACK HEADED GULL and HERRING GULL using the fields in the country park at high tide; the SANDWICH TERN roost at Old Pembrey Harbour reached 171 birds yesterday evening, (before being disturbed by a big green canoe). Along the beach SANDERLING, RINGED PLOVER, DUNLIN and TURNSTONE are to be found chasing the tide. A juvenile MARSH HARRIER was recorded by Bernie Beck this week- thanks Bernie. More significant, although harder to s

A spell of rather wet weather early on this morning, whilst fixing a broken stile, left me needing to change trousers and put on some waterproofs, I'm not a keen wearer of waterproof trousers but we were about to enter the fresh water reed bed for a spot of ringing ride management. I haven't had time to do any ringing of my own for months so preparing the rides for a spot of Swallow roost action should spur me on. Thanks to Brian and Veronica for their hard and sweaty graft. After lunch we wandered down to CE51 to try and survey for Strandline Beetles, despite a good search none were found, this is likely to be my last opportunity this season to search for this rare beetle. Brian found a beetle of interest which I'm waiting for an ID on;[now updated] I found an Ichneumon Wasp, seemingly out of context on the beach!, I've tentatively identified it as Ophion obscuratus,  Phaleria cadaverina , one of the "darkling" beetles a p

Today the Wednesday gang headed to Ynys Dawela Nature Park near Brynamman in the north east of the county. The weather was less than conducive for the task in hand, searching for the larval food webs of the rare Marsh Fritillary butterfly. This stunning butterfly needs "scabious" plants on which to lay its eggs and then for the caterpillars to feed. Areas of the site have been managed by the cutting and collecting of vegetation from four meadow areas, Marsh Fritillary does live in the area but is a fickle creature. The search involves delving into the bases of the scabious plants looking for the tell tale signs of the caterpillar, disappointedly none were found today. larval food web ( Wikipedia ) I did however find several stunningly coloured Four-spot Orb wed spiders, quite fearsome looking beasts in shades of orange and yellow. Four-spot Orb web spider

The older toilet blocks at the country park are a real magnet for the hundreds of species of moths found on the site. This mornings collection included a Lime-speck Pug and a Sharp-angled Peacock moth, both quite stunning looking moths. Lime-speck Pug Sharp-angled Peacock Moth Accompanying the moths were a number of Toad-lets, which I liberated back into the wild, they must have had quite  a journey as the nearest pond is at least 2km away. Yesterday evening the Carmarthenshire Bird Club held its annual Tern Watch event at Old Pembrey Harbour on the eastern boundary of the reserve, a good turnout of around 20 people saw a good range of birds, as detailed below, Turnstone and Mute Swan were new for the reserve list which now stands at 104 species for 2018. SANDWICH TERN 70, MED' GULL 44, WIMBREL 7, KNOT (in summer plumage 2),   TURNSTONE 1plus REDSHANK, RINGED PLOVER, DUNLIN, HERRING GULL GBB GULL, LBB GULL, BH GULL, CORMORANT, and CURLEW. Sandwich Tern R

A lovely cool calm and sunny morning on the Pembrey Burrows LNR, a change to the long run of oppressive heat. The salt marsh is in bloom with swathes of Common Sea Lavender stealing the show, and a host of Common Blue, Meadow Brown, Grayling and Large White butterflies taking advantage of this nectar source. On the dryer areas patches of the vibrant Sea Holly, most past their best but still some stunning blue flowers to be seen and enjoyed by a wide range of invertebrates. I was actually recceing the guided walk on Saturday, although the weather forecast is a moving feast at the moment so if you intend coming along please book in advance. Plenty of signs of Badger activity, the most obvious being the well used latrines which they dig at points around their home range. Badger poo in a latrine, this individual has been eating Dewberry fruit Although worn, you can still see the broadness of the print and the claw marks Footprints in the mud and sand can be useful but

Not a lot happening but a noteworthy sighting in Pembrey Country Park this afternoon in the shape of a juvenile Yellow Legged Gull. There have bee a few sightings of YL Gull in the past few weeks but its always nice to find one yourself. There are a number of short grass fields which the gulls like to roost on either at high tide or in stormy weather, although todays sighting was not influenced by either. Good numbers of Pied Wagtails can be found late in the afternoon around the admin offices or the ski centre, after the drop of rain we've had Mistle Thrushes are evident again. Don't forget next Saturdays Salt Marsh walk meet at 10am PROMPT at the entrance to the Pembrey LNR

My recent blogs seem to have been dominated by topics other than nature, well to be honest that's the "nature" of the mixed role I have, but nature is never far away. I spent a few hours at the Pembrey LNR yesterday morning, generally looking around but also doing a reptile survey. It was not good with only one Slow-Worm found under the survey mats, and no Common Lizards seen, in fact the best I found was a Wood Mouse. Last year we were literally falling over ourselves with lizards, perhaps the cold winter early spring took it's toll this year, or maybe they have given up using the mats watch this space. Slow-worm On the bird front autumn is well and truly underway with numbers of Med' Gulls, and Sandwich Terns building up, as well as Sanderling numbers along the beach; don't forget the Carmarthenshire Bird Club Tern Watch meeting on 12th August at Old Pembrey Harbour (17:30). Butterflies along the track to the hut are still present in good number