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

At last a chance to go ringing when the weather is right. I have not had the right opportunity to run a ringing session since early January, the feeders being stolen didn't help, however today the elements and free time fell in place and I manged to set a net at the new feeding site. It wasn't particularly busy but seven species was good. Two male Great-Spotted Woodpeckers were too busy chasing each other to notice the net and went in together along with a Song Thrush, other birds were Robin, Dunnock, Chaffinch as well as Blue and Great Tits. The Woodpeckers were and adult male and an immature male, subtle differences in the moult of the wings led me to that conclusion, and of course they were males as they had red napes which the females don't have. Red nape = male The Dunnocks and Robins showed signs of being in breeding condition with enlarged cloacal protuberances (the man bits). One of the Great Tits had quite distressed plumage and looked to be carrying a b

A walk along the "flower trail" at Pembrey Country Park, was accompanied by the sounds of many birds singing, a sure sign that the year has turned; with Blackbird, Robin, Great and Blue Tits, Dunnock Song and Mistle Thrush all belting out their songs. There were only a couple of flowering plants out but these were true harbingers of spring, Primrose and Lesser Celandine, another name for Lesser Celandine is Pilewort, as it was used as a cure for piles!,  Primrose Lesser Celandine Non-flowering plants included two species of fern, Harts-tongue and Polypody, both of these have had their uses in times past with Harts-tongue being used to treat "...ailments of the liver and spleen..." while Polypody was used to treat constipation and intestinal worms! Harts-tongue Polypody I don't recommend that anyone tries any of these remedies! Some of the trees coming into flower now include the Willows, and Blackthorn, with the Hazel which has been in f

A monthly count of the birds using the internationally important Cefn Sidan beach has been carried out through the winter months for decades. As I have mentioned before the beach with its mix of sand and mud is ideal for wading birds and holds high numbers of Sanderling and Oystercatcher. In perfect spring like conditions with a light SE breeze the following were counted: Oystercatcher 2965, Sanderling 1093, Knot 2000+, Curlew 116, Dunlin 32, Ringed Plover 12, Cormorant 10, Shelduck 30, Common Gull 388, Herring Gull 195, Great Black-backed Gull 18. Oystercatchers in the background and some of the 2000+ Knot in the foreground The sea state was rough, (with nothing to report off shore) as it has been all week coupled with very high tidess there has been a significant amount of erosion from Old Pembrey Harbour to Tywyn Point

Apparently we will see "spring like" temperatures by the end of this week, with mild conditions forecast to last to the end of the month, which is of course also the end of meteorological winter. I wonder if winter is really done yet? A wander around Pembrey Country Park found a few wildflowers in bloom including Greater Periwinkle, near the beach entrance, Daisy and Dandelion. Greater Periwinkle Daisy One of the less obvious flowers at this time of year is the female flower of the Hazel, we are all familiar with the "lambs tails" catkins which are the male flowers full of pollen which is wind dispersed and needs to land on the minute female flowers. Hazel catkins, male flowers Hazel - female flower On the bird front the lake was quite busy with 10 Greylag, 14 Mallard, and a few Moorhen; whilst the feeders had a good variety with Great and Blue Tit, Long tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Robin, Jay, Magpie, Carrion Crow and Woodpigeon all taking advan

Before a health & safety training course, I fitted in a walk through the Pembrey Country Park to check on the bird feeders down at the main pond. The walk was pleasant enough and it seems that the birds are getting in the mood, with a chorus of song from the surrounding undergrowth and tree tops. There were Blackbirds, Robins and a Song Thrush calling and singing, Great tits were investigating a few of the nesting boxes, the Mallard on the pond were mating. Listen here to a few of the bird songs you can hear in the Country Park https://www.british-birdsongs.uk/european-robin/ https://www.british-birdsongs.uk/common-blackbird/ https://www.british-birdsongs.uk/song-thrush/ With winter not yet done are they getting ahead of themselves? probably not, as there are a few species already thinking about nesting, the local Ravens and Tawny Owls to name just two. A Red Admiral butterfly was reported yesterday, most likely one out of hibernation. The forecasted  mild spell will se

Brrrr, a few cold days with a real feel of winter, the wildlife seems to have gone to ground in the forest, still not an excuse to stop you getting out to follow one of the three marked trails through Pembrey Country Park. Today I followed the Woodland (green) trail, at 3km long and on level ground it takes you through some nice areas of the forest in the park. A map and notes on all three trails can be found on the Country Park website http://www.pembreycountrypark.wales/   or by following this link. http://www.pembreycountrypark.wales/things-to-do/trails/ The numbers on selected marker posts refer to notes in the printable leaflets. As you walk the route you will see that the rangers have been carrying out some overdue conservation work by opening up the rides and clearing swathes of Bramble from the edges of the paths and along the banks. It may look a bit brutal at the moment, however in a few weeks the results of the work will be visible. With more daylight reac

I returned from a week in the sun in high spirits, well as high as my spirits get!, to find that all of the bird feeders at the winter feeding site in the country park had been ……. STOLEN!, No other word for it well there were but I can't put them in the blog. I mentioned it on my FB page and had a lot of supportive voices and a kind gesture of some replacements, THANK YOU. The park raised the issue on our social media feed and as expected there were many disgruntled voices offering vocal support, much appreciated, I'm not sure what drives some people, surely they were taken by people who where going to use them? I continued to feed the birds but just by putting the food on the ground. A few days ago I was in the office when a visitor came in carrying a large box, I was astounded to see a selection of almost new feeders as a donation; he had seen the message on our social media and brought them in. THANK YOU. I am not putting them back where they were for fear of havi