Barnacle Goose over Garden

A Barnacle Goose flew over our garden in Cimla today. Initially with 2 Canada Geese but about 30 secs later it passed over on its own. We get parties of Canada and Greylag over the house regularly and a small wildfowl collection is kept locally. The first time it passed over flying SE with 2 Canadas but second time it flew W towards Gower. It was very vocal on both occasions. The origins of this Barnacle Goose might be hard to prove but it may be worth keeping an eye on the Brents around the Burry Inlet just in case?

Spurge-laurel in Ilston Cwm

Spurge-laurel (Daphne laureola), a memeber of the Thymeleaceae, is a small shrub native of woodland on limestone. It has a very restricted distribution in South Wales and Ilston Cwm is a good place to look for it. The flowers are concealed beneath the leaves towards the ends of each shoot.

Also noticeable on the woodland floor were the fruiting bodies of the Scarlet Elf Cup fungus (Sarcoscypha austriaca). For differences between this species and the almost identical Sarcoscypha coccinea see http://wbrc.org.uk/worcRecd/Issue%2018/scarlet_elf_cup.htm

Adders at Nicholaston

Up to 7 Adders were seen and photographed by Mark Newton today in Nicholaston Woods today. For more of Mark's excellent images see http://www.welshwildlife.com/

Grey-cushioned Grimmia

A new, more user-friendly, fieldguide to the Mosses and Liverworts of Great Britain and Ireland has recently been published that aims to make this difficult group more accessible to naturalists. It's very well put together with lots of photographs and illustrations and will certainly be tempting me to delve a little more into the world of lower plants.
Grey-cushioned Grimmia (Grimmia pulvinata) is a distinctive and common species to look out for on base-rich rocks and walls. It's common in our street though this one was photographed on the limestone cliffs at Rhossili yesterday.
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A few recent bird sightings...

Last week I flushed a Short-eared Owl and 4 Jack Snipe from the rush flush at Whiteford. On Sunday Eddie Hunter reported that the Lesser Scaup was still present along with 3 Greater Scaup at Eglwys Nunydd Reser. Yesterday, I counted 130+ Guillemots and a few Razorbills back on the cliffs of the Outer Worm's Head and today at Llanrhidian there were 2 Green Sandpipers and a Kingfisher.

Great Crested Grebe in Baglan Bay

The video attached shows c100 Great Crested Grebe in a single raft off Aberavon Beach 20th February 2010. That Day 347 were counted in the Bay between Barry and myself. My apologies for taking so long to post this but my relationship with blogger is strained at the best of times. Better late than never!

Great haircut!

Despite the milder conditions, just a single moth in the trap last night, this only our second garden record of Pale Brindled Beauty here in Gorseinon (though we tend not to set the trap too often in February). The females of this reasonably common wodland species are wingless.