Flocking to Pembrey -Cefn Sidan Sunday 14th October 2018
There has been a bird survey carried out across the whole of the UK, called the Wetlands and Estuaries Bird Survey or WeBS commencing in its earliest form some 70 years ago, t he area of beach at Cefn Sidan to Tywyn Point has been counted for the past 30 years. The counts are synchronised across the UK with this years start date being October the 14th for the monthly counts, designed to coincide with a morning high tide. Given the vastness of Cefn Sidan the count is done from a vehicle and the beach split into two sections, so it was that I started todays count. This time of year sees large numbers of birds, waders,(or shorebirds) wildfowl and gulls arriving on Cefn Sidan and the nearby marshes of Kidwelly and Pembrey to spend the winter, Cefn Sidan plays host to nationally important numbers of some species such as Sanderling, a bird which breeds in the high Arctic and winters in milder climes. Sanderling The mud and sands that make up the beach are rich in marine worms, and