Kittiwakes : Mumbles Pier

Still quite a lot of Kittiwake activity at the pier although it's a shame that it's closed and you cannot get closer for better views.

Wild flowers grown in pots

Planted a couple of packets of mixed wildflower seeds in pots in the garden this spring.  The results are amazing and the pollinators love them.  Corncockles, Cornmarigolds, Poppies, Cornflowers, Love-in-a mist and more.  Will sow more this Autumn, it's so easy!

Indian Balsam at Pontrhydyfen

Although primarily associated with water courses, Indian Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) is perfectly adapted for rapid colonisation of other types of ground, especially where there is soil disturbance. This is illustrated spectacularly at this clearfell site just south of Pontrhydyfen in the Afan Valley, presumably a larch plantation felled last winter. It will be interesting to see what this site looks like in subsequent years to see if the 'problem' persists.

distribution of Indian Balsam in West Glamorgan
NB. probably under-recorded in some areas

Burry tide

Penclawdd (c) Sandra J. Stewart

Good numbers of waders on the tide including summer plumaged Grey Plover, 400+Curlew, a few Whimbrel, 20 Black-tailed Godwits, 200+ Redshank, 5 Green Sandpipers, 7 Common Sandpipers, 400 Common Gulls, 2000+ Black-headed Gulls and a man in a hovercraft disturbing one of the most important roost sites at Crofty - it's a pity he can't use the launch site at Penclawdd. On a more positive note Chris Brewer sent me an image of a Willow Tit at Wernffrwd today - proof that this species does occur on the Gower Peninsula.

Round-leaved Wintergreen

Mark Hipkin recently found a new population of Round-leaved Wintergreen (Pyrola rotundifolia ssp. maritima) for Neath Port Talbot at the species rich Panasonic site in Sandfields, where this plant was photographed yesterday. Other interesting plants at this site include Brown Sedge (Carex disticha), Pink Water-speedwell (Veronica catenata) and Hoary Ragwort (Senecio erucifolius), which are all uncommon in the county. There’s also a large population of Flattened Meadow-grass (Poa compressa) here plus an interesting maritime mixture of Sea Club-rush (Bolboschoenus maritimus), Lesser Centaury (Centaurium  pulchellum) and Sea-milkwort (Glaux maritima). Unfortunately, over the last 12 years the amount of willow scrub and Common Reed (Phragmites australis) on the site has increased greatly and now Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) is also invading at an alarming rate.

In some ways this site is a mini snapshot of what Baglan Moors must have looked like 100 years ago and deserves to be conserved with appropriate management accordingly.

Common Dolphin from Port Eynon

I've been seawatching from Port Eynon the last couple of mornings. A feature of both sessions has been the large movement of Manx Shearwater passing, some at very close range. Also, an almost constant group of approximately 50 to 100 Gannet in a feeding party between Port Eynon and Worms Head. That feeding party worked towards Port Eynon this morning and underneath I observed 1+ Common Dolphin breaking the surface with one very nice breach. Conditions were far from ideal, making following the movement through the water hard to track, and video capture remained beyond me before the feeding party started working back towards the the Worm.

Dicranopalpus ramosus

The harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus is very easy to identify and its habit of holding its legs in a distinctive fashion (`quarter to three`) is an useful field characteristic. Closer, one can see the `double-palp`. This species was first known from Morocco, but it has since spread throughout western Europe, reaching Britain (Bournmouth) in 1957. It`s certainly frequent in SE Carmarthenshire (and doubtless the Swansea area too). A more recent colonist in Britain is Opilio canestrinii which reached Gloucestershire in 2011.... a large species with an almost orange body and black legs...it will probably turn up in Swansea before here in Carms.!
If you are keen, look for the rare native Sabacon viscayanum subsp. ramblaianum under loose stones in shady `cwms` or other damp situations. It is adult now (as are many harvestmen). The `jizz factor` to look for is an almost chestnut body, with bluish-grey legs and with `boxing-glove` palps. I`ve had it at several localities in Carmarthenshire including under deeply-embeded rocks on the limestone ridge and even on damp slacks at Tywyn Burrows as well as the more typical flushed wooded dingles. It`s specific name refers to a Roman province in NE Spain and I suspect it belongs to that assemblage of organisms that post-glacially colonised Britain and Ireland via the south-west rather than the south-east or, indeed even actually survived to the SW of the ice and tundra.

There is a Linnean Soc. publication in the Synopses of the British Fauna series - c 1990.....I can `t immediately locate my copy amongst my disorganised library! It`s worth having, but do n`t lend it to me or I`ll loose it! The specimen photographed was on my shed wall this afternoon at Pwll, Llanelli.