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

Wearing a different hat, as the regional representative for the BTO, I am putting out a plea for volunteers to carry out Breeding Bird Surveys (BBS) and/or Heronry surveys. Having contacted registered BTO members across the county I have had a very positive response to the email I sent, with possibly two new heronries identified already. Just to whet peoples appetite here is a list of the known heronries in Carmarthenshire, if anyone wants to express interest in visiting and confirming breeding this year please get in touch, also see links to the BTO Heronries and BBS pages. https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/heronries-census https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/bbs HERONRIES, (some duplicates) CARM SN794126 Ystradgynlais, Giedd Forest SN7912 CARM SN778112 Upper Cwm-twrch (Palleg) (Brynhenllys) SN7711 CARM SN753309 Allt Cwar Mawr, Llandovery (or Allt Trefenty, Llwyn y wermwd Park) (GR=SN773322?

Today I took a short break from the office to patrol the beach with Ranger-Scott, as usual Cefn Sidan was just magical with big skies, a receeding tide and rough sea it was a pleasure to be out, there were a few hardy souls on the beach but with 8 miles of open space we could have been just anywhere. With the Air Weapons Range closed for the weekend we managed to get to Tywyn Point and a look at perhaps the best known wreck on the beach, the SV PAUL although I doubt many day visitors make it that far! SV Paul (Wikipedia) "In 1925 the PAUL crossed the Atlantic from Cadiz to St. John, Newfoundland and loaded 2,000 tons of timber at Halifax for Dublin. On 30 October she ran into severe gales, losing many sails and her anchors; eventually grounding on the Cefn Sidan sands as without any auxiliary motive power she was unable to make an escape. On this occasion she had a crew of twelve, with a cook, the master and a teenage stewardess   Another reference cites her ground

The second cohort of learners from a local primary arrived promptly for their Life on the Beach session at Pembrey Country Park. They were very excited having been spurned on by tales of yesterdays adventures from their school friends.. a hard act to follow then! After the usual briefing of; don't go in the sea, don't throw sand around, and don't pick up glass or metal, we set off, in colder and gloomy conditions than yesterday Yesterday we headed West along the beach, today we headed East. Very similar finds to yesterday with the added bonus of a football sized clump of Common Whelk eggs, all unhatched, a lot more Edible Crab shells, Sea Potato casts and large pieces of Furbelows Seaweed , a really odd looking seaweed so odd in fact I didn't take a photo... Furbelows Seaweed , copyright Science photo library The freshly dead and headless body of a Great Northern Diver was an interesting if a little sad find; it did however give an opportunity to discuss an