Trip to Slimbridge----7th December 2017

There is always a danger when booking outdoor events a long time in advance especially in the Winter that the weather will spoil it all. There was indeed an inauspicious start to the day, but as it turned out we could not have chosen a better one. The coach trip took about an hour and a half and we watched the thick banks of cloud gather and then disperse leaving us a day that was dry and not too cold, to enjoy the Wetland Reserve with only a small number of other visitors around. There were about 17 of us from the Natural History Group and about 8 others on the coach from Cowbridge. We had different priorities, so on arrival we split up and some made straight for the cafe and others made a start on touring the hides, of which there were many. A great number of species of bird and mammal were seen. Some of us saw a water rail in full view from the Willow hide and from there others saw a rat darting back and forth taking advantage of overspill from a bird feeder. The stars of the regular bird life are probably the cranes which have been re-introduced to the UK. There was a talk about the cranes from one of the volunteers who had to compete with the background noise of the unmelodic cranes themselves while he explained how some of the orphan chicks had been fed with people disguised as cranes (?!) to avoid the chicks imprinting on humans. It was also interesting to see a map of Britain with crane related place names, indicating their strong presence in the past. (eg Corntown, Cranbrook)
The other big stars at this time of year are the Bewick's Swans, with their straight necks and yellow beaks known as individuals by the pattern of their beak markings ,returning to the Reserve from the breeding grounds in Arctic Russia, a few more every day. At sunset, a warden pushed a wheelbarrow full of bird feed along the margin of Rushy lake throwing out scoops of feed to the thousands of waiting ducks geese and swans. With the aid of a microphone , he gave the visitors (nice and warm inside the heated Peng Observatory) a running commentary, explaining the peck order and distribution of birds according to the depth of water they inhabited. He pointed out a Bewick's Swan which must have just arrived as a first time visitor that day, slightly bewildered by the feeding routine. We were reassured that by the next night he would know the routine and be at the front of the queue.
There are American river otters in captivity which are fed at regular intervals too, so the visitors are able to have a similar running commentary. A sick female otter was brought to the reserve some years ago and happened to be pregnant. Otters are able to delay implantation so that if they mate at a time when weather conditions or as in this case , the health of the female , are not good, the fertilised eggs can be stored and pregnancy can effectively be postponed until a later date. In due course, after her health had recovered, the female produced two daughters.We were able to see the family of three feeding and swimming. They look remarkably similar to the Eurasian River otter but are distinguished by the different colours of their noses. These otters have black noses like a squashed ace of spades, and our native ones have pink noses.
Another mammal sighting reported was a fox taking a kill right in front of the Holden Hide--one goose less for the count.
Apart from the native and over- wintering birds there are collections of various birds from wetlands of the world including the rather striking flamingos.
The list of species seen was very long. Suffice it to say, that good and excellent views of many birds were had. Everyone will have their personal favourites, but at this time of severely declining numbers of lapwing it was a special delight to see and hear large flocks of them throughout what was a very successful day.

Many thanks to Val Monaghan for organising the day and ending our year on a high.

Photos--John Pilkington and John Andrew

TJ

SIGHTINGS. NOVEMBER---Spoonbill on Temple Beach ( The other side of Witches Point, Dunraven Bay), 3rd November.
Pair of Slovenian grebe on Kenfig Pool. At least 3 water rail in full view in front of hide at Kenfig Pool ( water level was low) 19th November.

AGM and Presentation --Wildlife of Namibia. 2nd November 2017

This meeting coincided with half term which may account for a turn-out of only 14, in the Church Hall in Llanblethian. The Treasurer's report of the Accounts had already been circulated and showed that we are comfortably in the black, and that there was no need to increase the annual subs , which will therefore remain at £10 for this year. After a rapid review of the events of 2017 the task of filling the programme for 2018 was tackled. Fortunately the first two slots had already been booked, and the rest is work in progress which will hopefully be nearer completion by the next indoor meeting in February.
After the business, came the pleasure. Val Monaghan gave a presentation of wildlife holiday photos from Namibia. We were able to identify the obvious large animals but were not good at the many kinds of antelope--springbok, oryx, kudu and several more. We made educated guesses at the birds ---social weaver, roller, bee eater, yellow billed hornbill, and many more.
Thanks to Val Monaghan for stepping in at short notice and giving us a very enjoyable and instructive presentation.

TJ

Fungus walk - Llanblethian – 5 October 2017

Fourteen members met at the church in Llanblethian ahead of the walk and were provided with an introductory talk by Mark Steer of the Glamorgan Fungus Group. He emphasised the huge number of species of fungi of various forms, with a wide range of characteristics. Individual identification can be difficult, in many cases requiring microscopic investigation of spores and other features.
Just prior to our meeting Mark had found an example of a Beech mast - candle snuff fungus (attached to beech mast) which is not uncommon under beech, but easily missed by the unaware.
The environments most likely to provide interesting fungi are woodland and unimproved, but grazed grass land. The previous day’s reconnaissance had not pointed to any of the latter in the locality which could be easily accessed, so the fungus walk focussed on the woodland paths around Mount Eider. Unfortunately overnight rain had made the going more demanding and several members slipped on mud, with one fall – but thankfully no breakages!
Before ascending Mount Eider, Mark pointed out examples of sycamore tar spot and we saw examples of honey fungus (which can affect trees up to 20m away and kill otherwise healthy trees).
An inkcap that was spotted was possibly a ‘glistening inkcap’ but again, it is difficult to be definitive if examples are not in perfect condition and not examined in a laboratory.
Another sighting was of an ‘earth star’, possibly a collared earth star.
Further on we saw examples of a degrading ‘shaggy parasol fungus’ (image 1) and some tripe fungus on a fallen tree. Mark pointed out that tripe fungus was reminiscent of savoy cabbage leaf in its form (image 2).
King Alfred cakes (or cramp balls) were also spotted. Disecting one, Mark pointed out the concentric ring structure. The fungus is reportedly home to 100ish insects.
The walk helped open our eyes to the variety of fungi that abound even on a short walk. Many thanks to Mark for enlightening us and for his infectious enthusiasm.

RJ

SIGHTINGS ,SEPTEMBER. Sycamore Hawk Moth caterpillar , Llanblethian----see photo, side panel. x2 sightings
Common Crane flying over Llanblethian
Grey phalaropes , Ogmore Estuary.

6th September 2017 Bat Walk, Llanblethian

Thirteen members gathered at 8.30pm to seek out bats. (Photo, side panel).Fortunately the weather was on our side, as the wind had dropped, it wasn't too cold and it was dry. Armed with torches and a few bat detectors between us we had permission to investigate a pond on private property, which was our first stop.
The bat detector is a device which converts the echolocation ultrasound signals as they are emitted by the bats, to audible frequencies, and because different bat species hunt different prey and are different sizes , they make different calls which can help to identify them. The bats do fly very fast, so you have to be quick tuning in to them and certainly to the untrained eye it is very difficult to see them. We were picking up calls mainly at 55Hz and 45 Hz (Soprano and Common Pipistrelles ). The Daubenton's Bat usually take insects from close to the water, and also emit signals a 45 Hz.
We were surprised not to find any signals in the church in Llanblethian although there were droppings. Bat droppings look just like mouse droppings, but unlike mouse droppings, they will crumble completely with minimum pressure as the bat is totally insectivorous.
Making our way down to the river, a bat with a very different frequency was detected---20 Hz---a noctule , we concluded.
We lingered for a while at the bridge in Bridge Road as there was a lot of activity there and with the stronger torches it was easier to see the bats. Several of them were flying close to the water which helped to convince us that there were Daubenton's amongst the pipistrelles.
All in all, having detected four different species the bat walk was deemed a success.

Many thanks to Dave Webb for setting up the event at short notice.

SIGHTINGS AUGUST----Approximately 13 butterflies at once on Buddleia ---mainly red admirals and small tortoiseshells with 3or 4 peacocks. Garden in Llanblethian.

SIGHTINGS JULY----A family of 5 or 6 Barn owls flying between electricity wires and nearby ash trees. After 10pm, Llanblethian.

6th July 2017. Magor Marsh and Goldcliff.

Despite the forecast for heavy showers and lightening, it was a beautiful day and twelve members turned out to meet the warden, Kathy Barclay for a tour of part of the reserve at Magor Marsh which represents the last of the relatively natural area of fenland on the Gwent levels. It has now been designated a SSSI because of its outstanding range of habitats and its associated insects and other wildlife.

One animal we were hoping to see was the water vole. These have been the subject of a very successful re-introduction programme and while we were still gathering, Kathy put an apple on a floating board in the hope of tempting one out into the open, which worked instantly, so we all had good views at the outset.

Some members also heard the characteristic "plop" as the animal enters the water. (The sound warns the other voles of potential danger). The water voles are prolific breeders, producing five litters per year, because they are heavily predated ( is this the only place where barn owls are not welcome?) and they only survive for about 2 years, being particularly vulnerable in the Winter. Apart from apples, they are said to eat over 200 types of vegetation.

The fenland has been the site of human habitation for thousands of years. There is evidence of Mesolithic people and animals having been here including aurochs( wild cattle) deer and wolves. The Romans farmed the area having drained it, but the current layout of the reens is thought to date back to the 14th Century. Ditches are wider than the reens and they connect to the sea and have sluice gates to manage the water level in order to prevent the underlying peat from drying out. Further evidence of historic interest is of the great flood of 1607 , possibly a tsunami. More recently, this was a place where pit ponies were brought for their holidays during the 2 week miners' holiday.

In order to monitor some of the wildlife a simple tunnel device for curious animals is left out where they leave their footprints to be recorded later. ( Similar devices will have been seen on Springwatch). Five -toed otter prints, star shaped water vole and the dreaded mink are the expected animals.

Along the gentle stroll we learned that there were many varieties of willow which need to be managed in favour of the reeds and we came across frog bit on the water, which disappears in Winter, water droplet hemlock. a poplar tree(hybrid black) heavily parasitised by mistletoe which provides a great food source for redwings. Meadowsweet was in flower and this is a source of salicylic acid ---aspirin---(and used to be added to mead to sweeten it, hence the name), purple loosestrife, great willow herb , water pepper --which some of us tasted and it was extremely peppery---marsh valerian, hemp agrimony.

The insects included common blue damsel fly, red admiral and meadow brown butterflies and black-tailed skimmer dragon fly.

From the bird hide we saw little grebe, mallards, grey heron and little egrets.

We thanked Kathy warmly for a very pleasant and informative morning and made a contribution to the Trust and then made our way to the Farmers Arms in Goldcliff, where to their credit they gave 11 of us lunch fairly promptly, before we went to the hides. By then it was hot and the tide was at its lowest so there were not many birds to be seen on the estuary. No avocets , but black tailed godwits, lots of lapwing, the occasional little ringed plover, redshank, shelduck , grey heron, Canada geese. Flying around were swallows, house martins , and sand martins. Having decided to call it a day, we were extremely lucky to spot a male sparrow hawk which very obligingly perched on some woodwork for an extended period of time, no doubt sizing up the hirondines for the next meal, allowing us superb views, and rounding off a very successful day.

Thanks to John Cook for organising everything.
Photos by John Andrew
TJ

1st June 2017. Cosmeston Lakes Country Park

Twelve of us met Assistant Warden Sharon Mullins on a perfect June morning.

Armed with nets and trays we made our way to the boardwalk at a conservation pond. On the pond was a coot’s nest with 5 chicks, and we heard about the tough life and death of coot chicks on the survival of the fittest basis, the parents tending to kill the unfit. After a brief demo we began to pond dip and soon had trays full of small wriggling things, including cadis fly, dragon fly and damsel fly larvae, sticklebacks, leeches, tadpoles with legs developing (these were all toad tadpoles, distinguished from frog tadpoles by their mottled brown colour rather than black), water mite, front swimming water boatman (vegetarian) and greater back swimming water boatman (predatory).

There was no sign of the goldfish or terrapins that are sometimes released into the ponds and lakes in the park, though we spotted damsel fly and an emperor dragon fly at the pond. Sharon detailed some of the wildlife in the park, home to polecat and otter, both of which are elusive, and a project to reintroduce water vole to the area. The park is monitored for the invasive mink, but the proximity to the main coast road where unfortunately the otters had been hit seems to be a limiting factor in species spread in the area.

We then moved on to a walk around the lakes, meadows and woods of the park. We heard a synopsis of the park’s history: from Roman fort, medieval manor, orchard, village and dovecot, cement works, quarry, refuse site to country park with lakes which were easy to fill by just stopping pumping water from the various depressions in the landscape. One area around the second lake is not open to the public, the park gaining its SSSI status from the presence of the starry stonewort in this undisturbed area.

The meadows (which are partly accessible to mobility scooters) are mown once a year, and as we walked around we saw teasels, meadow sweet, common spotted orchids, greater butterfly orchids, common reeds and soft reeds, a great variety of grasses including timothy, coxfoot and crested grass.

Some areas are fenced off to keep dogs out of nesting areas. In the meadow west of Cogan Wood it is possible to see ox-eye daisies, yellow rattle, Yorkshire fog, vetch, trefoils, mallow, mouse-ear, sheep sorrel and plantains. We also found a small slow worm.

Between the meadows we walked through Cogan Wood, originally a game wood of hawthorn, hazel and ash, which is gradually being opened up to allow in more light allowing the development of greater diversity in the wood. Here we saw bat boxes for pipistrelle and long eared bats (and wasps) but didn’t see the goldcrest which had been nesting this spring. Along the boundary of the wood, believed to be an old parish boundary, are very large ash trees of around 200 years old, aged by measuring the girth of the trunk at chest height on the ratio of about 1 inch per year.

After more than two hours we returned to the visitor centre we thanked Sharon for a very well presented and informative tour and retired to the café for a well earned cup of tea.
Ruth J

4th May 2017 Nagshead RSPB Reserve

We strayed over the border to Gloucestershire for this meeting, to the Forest of Dean, starting at Nagshead RSPB Reserve, where 11 members were met by Lewis Thomson the Assistant Warden, who gave us a conducted tour for more than 2 hours. It was a pleasant day, and dry underfoot, following a prolonged dry spell of weather. The Reserve is managed for various different habitats and contains the SSSI Oak woodland. The oaks are 200 years old having been planted by Nelson for ship building, so it is not native woodland. The oaks attracted a caterpillar problem and so in 1942 a nest box scheme was introduced with a view to attracting tits to eat the caterpillars. Pied flycatchers use the boxes too so that this is a prime area for watching these summer visitors, but despite this , their numbers have been in decline since the early 90's and are down to about 25 pairs per year.
The other well known problem in the Forest is the ever increasing numbers of wild boar. They appeared about 15 years ago and no-one knows where they came from, so they were probably illegally introduced. They are nocturnal and they dig up everything in their path, so between them and the deer grazing there is little chance of regeneration of the oaks.
Along the trails, and we did not go to the bird hides, we saw a pied flycatcher(eventually, it was very elusive) a pair of black caps, a redstart, a tree pippit, a tree creeper and a garden warbler (LBJ--identified by its call). We also saw a green tiger beetle.

We thanked Lewis for the tour and made a donation and then repaired to a picnic area overlooking a pond to eat lunch, where we were entertained by a duck family with 2 ducklings.
Having travelled so far from home, a second tour had been arranged in the area, so most of the original group drove the 10 minutes or so to Woogreen, where we were met by Frank, a volunteer. Frank also led us around the reserve which contained a number of water bodies one at least was the site of an old mine . We saw most of the birds here: Greylag and Canada goose, tufted duck, goosander, coot, moorhen, mute swan, little grebe and greater black backed gulls. The latter are responsible for the lack of success of the breeding birds here, as they consistently pick off the chicks . We also saw buzzard, raven, stonechat and the charming and numerous tree pippit---which despite it's name is a ground nesting bird, but is easily recognisable by it's parachuting glide to the ground when it leaves it's perch in a tree.
In the sunshine of the afternoon some butterflies were seen including orange tips and a small copper, and the damsel flies were also in evidence such as the common blue and the large red, and slithering in the grass was a small slow worm.
On both sites it was easy to see lots of evidence of the boars where they have moved about and wallowed in the mud , leaving bare patches of earth, deep holes, prints and droppings. Perhaps we should make a return visit one evening to see them as well as the nightjars and the many bats.
After the 2 hour tour we thanked Frank and he was also given a donation for the trust, and we set off home after a very full and enjoyable day, having explored what was for most of us a new area.

Many thanks to Roger Jones for organising everything.
TJ

6th April 2017 Cilgerran
On a lovely Spring morning a group of seven members travelled the 2 hours to the Welsh Wildlife Centre in Cilgerran. We were met by Nia Stephens, the People and Wildlife Officer, who escorted us along some of the trails to a number of the 7 hides on the site. But first of all, we went to see the latest visitors---3 water buffalo which had arrived back that morning after keeping warm over the Winter elsewhere (they are Asian animals and are not able to adapt to the cold). Two more were due to join them in their task of grazing the wetlands. We admired the new hides which have been built using fire resistant materials, and one has been painted internally by some local teenagers and had had it's official opening the day before. We were shown the reed beds managed by the thatcher for mutual benefit. He has an area which he harvests for his own commercial use and cuts the rest as part of the management programme. Birdwise it was a little quiet --we saw a number of teal, little egret, curlew, heron and cormorants, one of which we referred to as the pied cormorant as it's breeding plumage was so striking. We looked out for reptiles along a particular path which is lined with clinker because it gets very warm in the sun, and one eagle eyed member spotted 2 common lizards trying to warm up.

After lunch in the centre, Nia had to leave us to go to a meeting, so we thanked her for the morning and gave her a donation for the Wildlife Trust and set off on our own for the Gorge Trail. Parts of the trail were quite steep, and after plenty of rain last month the river was full and flowing fast and although we did not see the otter with her cubs, we did find otter spraint. There was much slate around and evidence of quarrying in the past.We saw a grey wagtail on the river bank but the recently returned pied flycatchers eluded us. However we agreed over a final cup of tea in the cafe that it had been a very pleasant day out. A first visit to the Centre for most, but hopefully not the last.

Many thanks to Geoff Jones for organising the day, and for the above photographs. Water buffalo, common lizards, otter spraint, and unidentified fungus ( any suggestions?).

TJ.

2nd March 2017 Kenfig

Thirteen members wrapped up warm for this meeting at KENFIG NATURE RESERVE where we were joined by Alan Rosney and Strinda from the Glamorgan Bird Group. We felt very fortunate that after the recent stormy weather we had a dry bright day. We saw and heard more than 30 species of birds. We started from the Reserve centre at the bird table which attracts lots of common garden birds,including greenfinch beautifully highlighted in the sunshine. A redwing was a surprise to the leaders. We gradually moved off towards the pool, from where we crossed a couple of stiles to follow the path along the pool margin and then returned and spent some time in the southern bird hide. On the water were tufted ducks, pochard and wigeon, great crested grebes , golden eye, and we were surprised to see how consistently and closely the coots and gadwalls were associated. Curiously, one of each seemed to be forming pairs. The bittern continued to elude us. We heard the call of the Cetti's warbler which also remained invisible. Shovelers were seen in flight and then remained mainly hidden in the reeds. Our guides kindly provided a list of all the birds seen.

Everyone enjoyed the morning and the leaders were thanked. They in turn supplied us with contact details for anyone wishing to join the Glamorgan Bird Group and a reminder of the monthly bird walk at Kenfig .

Half of us repaired to the Prince of Wales pub down the road where we thoroughly warmed up in front of a veritable furnace of a coal fire for some lunchtime refreshments.
Many thanks to Marian East and Rita Williams for organising the event.
TJ

2nd February 2017 Beavers in Wales

There was a record turn-out of 35 members for this very interesting and comprehensive presentation by ALICIA LEOW-DYKE on THE HISTORY AND THE FUTURE OF THE BEAVER IN WALES.

Having secured a speaker who travelled all the way from Llandrindod Wells, it was decided to give other U3A members the opportunity to hear her too ( at a price) which meant that we were able to give a much larger than normal donation to the Trust, which was well deserved. How often do you hear someone speak for an hour without hesitation, deviation or repetition and without notes, as she did?
Alicia brought along props, including a stuffed ,albeit American, Beaver named Hank, and a skull to show the impressive incisors, a piece of wood worked by beaver teeth, and a pelt, demonstrating both the density of the fur so thick it can keep the animal's skin dry when under water and the war wounds sustained in its life battling with other beavers.
We learned a lot of biology. There are two sorts of beavers---North American and Eurasian. Although they look similar they are quite distinct. The Eurasian version is more ancient originating about 15 million years ago(MYA) and has 48 chromosomes. The 2 species started to diverge about 7 MYA and the N American species emerged about 2 MYA and has only 40 chromosomes. Therefore, not surprisingly, it is not possible for the two sorts to cross breed. Beavers are entirely vegetarian, and they fell trees for feeding on bark and for construction of their lodges and dams. The resultant slowing of water flow reduces the risk of flooding, and improves the water quality by allowing phosphate and nitrate pollutants to be held back by the accumulating sediments. Fears that migrating trout and salmon encountering dams in their rivers would be doomed, are unfounded.The dams are far from being impenetrable. Monitoring has shown that not only are the fish able to traverse the dams to get to their spawning grounds but that these fish are now bigger and healthier. The dams can also act as a fish nursery for other species. Birds also benefit from beaver activity--both wetland and woodland species,because of the improved diversity and connectivity of habitats . So it goes on. As a keystone species the ecological benefits of the beaver are very widespread. Dragonflies and damselflies increase and so do amphibians , insectivorous bats thrive and there is the potential for endangered water voles to benefit also.
The Welsh Beaver Project has been set up to examine the feasibility and the likely effects of re-introducing the beaver to Wales and it is hoped that the first release will take place this year. Potential problems are being anticipated and mitigated . In Scotland, the beaver has already been re-introduced successfully, bringing positive results both for the wider environment and for the tourist industry.
Alicia was thanked very warmly for her fascinating talk which was enjoyed and appreciated by everyone and it is hoped that we will soon see and hear of her success with this project which she is leading. Watch this space!

Our thanks to Steve Monaghan for arranging this meeting.
TJ

Page text last edited: 30/10/2021