Dead seal pup @ Monk Haven

Quite a large (c1.2-1.5m) dead seal pup on the small beach at Monk Haven yesterday (30th December).

Polecat

This afternoon half way between Marloes and Mullock Bridge a Polecat ran across the road in full daylight.

On the Deer Park hardly any birds but lots of rabbit footprints and the odd fox prints in the rapidly melting snow.

Wildlife Galore near Solva

Had a trully amazing walk this morning on the coastpath near my home in Solva. It began with woodcock flushing right under my nose it's rusty red outline gliding off into the distance. I then spotted a statue like Buzzard sitting on a post which didn't fly off even when I approached within about 20 feet. It delighted me with a cock of it's tail followed by a jet from the rear end! Then back to it's one-legged perch on the post! As I continued on my route more Woodcock flushed from the hedgerow followed by Red wings and a Sparrowhawk and a flock of flapping and peeping Lapwings in the field beyond. On to the coastpath and the view towards Ramsey was stunningly dramatic; a grey sky heavy with snow and golden first light bursting through the clouds. More Lapwings and Woodcock in amongst the grazing sheep and another scruffy looking Buzzard which took off and headed towards Porth y Rhaw. It landed on a cliff edge and settled itself. Then suddenly some high pitch shrieks and two steelly grey shapes appeared in the sky and dive bombed the shaggy Buzzard. A pair of Peregrines ascending vertically then in turn plummeting and swooping on the Buzzard. Amazing! I'm not sure I'd like to be dive bombed my a pair of those!
Continuing on I began to wonder what would happen next. I then came across some feathers fanned out and frozen in the snow - last nights dinner for a hungry fox maybe. Looking closer at the tracks in the snow I started to follow the foxy paw prints then was startled by a red flash 10 feet away. The fox! It ran to the thick brambles across the valley and paused to look round at me before disappearing into the thicket. Nearing the pond at Nine Wells I crept very quietly to the waters edge hoping for the next treat. And there they were, the pair of Little Grebes diving and fishing between the icy patches in the golden morning light.
A few more Woodcock and some Snipe and I was nearly home. I almost ran home as I couldn't wait to tell Tom about my wildlife sightings! What a treat it is to live in Pembrokeshire- we are blessed!

Sleuthing in the snow

Also, thought these might be of interest. Relating to earlier posts of tracks in the snow, I took these shots of snow on the ice, again at Stackpole. It's interesting seeing what's been around. By the looks of them the otters and Moorhens have been wandering about. The otter tracks were all over the ice. Someone I got chatting to said they had just seen a fox out on the ice, so obviously the cold weather is forcing more and more animals to become more conspicuous.

Bittern at Stackpole

I'm very, very happy to report that at 3ish today I saw my first Bittern. It was visible for 3 seconds before it disappeared so I didn't have time to get a photo. It was on the Eastern arm of the lilly ponds, opposite fishing marker 14. I stayed for another 20 minutes but couldn't see it. I moved on to the grassy bridge where it then flew over me - again, no photos (trust me, I'm gutted!). It then landed in the reeds by the grasssy bridge. I know a report like this really belongs on the bird blog, but we're all one big happy family aren't we?! I know visitors to this site go there as well os I'm sure word will get around. Looks like Christmas came early for me!

Not much to post about from me recently, though I've had reports of foxes barking at night down the Pill at Pennar. Very sad to hear of the dead egrets (Pembrokeshire bird blog) , especially as it's on my local patch. As has been reported recently, many birds that are usually a bit shy are being seen more often, and even though it's tough for them it has still been great having snipe and lapwing in the garden. After I looked at the attached phot a bit more closely, I notcied the whiskers around the bill, similar to those mentioned regarding the nightjar at the most recent annual Pembrokeshire bird group talks. Off to Stackpole tomorrow (depending on the ice) so will hopefully have a bit to post about.

Marloes Mere

A female hen harrier was hunting over the Mere this afternoon. Saw Mr Fox near to where he was hunting a couple of days ago. Judging from his footprints left in the snow, he has been very active today.

Snow finally comes to Marloes!

A walk to Marloes Sands past the Mere this morning revealed a winter wonderland! A small patch of ice free water remains on the Mere which is where all the wildlfowl are concentrated. The interesting eye-opener is the number of tracks left in the snow by different animals telling a story of their lives. A fox walked the cliff-path towards Gateholm last night and returned in the opposite direction this morning. Other interesting trails found included rabbit, blackbird and curlew.

Mr Fox goes ice skating

Whilst doing a circuit of Marloes Mere this afternoon I saw a fox chase a moorhen across the ice. The bird looked like it was faster and, after doing a tight corner, appeared as if it was in the clear. But the fox just caught up with it and snatched it between its jaws!

Also a male hen harrier trying to catch his dinner.

Dolphin Update

For details on the fate of the Dolphin stranded at the Gann see the Whales in Wales Blog at http://whaleswales.blogspot.com/

Owls and badgers

On a brighty note, I heard a tawny calling at 8pm yesterday near my house next to Trehill farm and saw a barn owl east of Dreenhill on my way back from Haverford at midnight last night. Plenty of badger activity as well.

Common dolphin

The dolphin was put down by the RSPCA. I will update with any further information if the animal is examined.

Common dolphin

I went down to Jubilee but unfortunately the dolphin was near exhaustion and I left when the RSPCA officer arrived to humanely put it out of its misery. Ed Male tried to escort it to deeper water but it headed straight for the shore again. I will post some pictures and video at a later date.

Icy Otter

Good view of an Otter at Bosherston early afternoon today as it caught a fish then climbed onto the ice to eat it.
The eastern end of the lakes  frozen with a covering of snow but much of the rest of the water still open.

Sad story...

I have just recieved several calls from people around Dale, reporting what appears to be a juvenile dolphin trying to live strand on Jubilee beach near the Gann estuary on the Northwestern side of the Milford Haven. I have contacted Rod Penrose the Welsh Marine Mammal Strandings Coordinator and he in turn has alerted Terry Leadbetter of the Seal Rescue Centre based at Milford.

Sadly the prospects for this animal are not good as it appears to have lost its mother and most animals that live strand are in a bad way. It seems their fear of drowning overtakes their fear of getting stranded. Probably the best thing to do is if the animal trys to strand repearedly, is to allow it to do so and if possible keeping it wet and protecting it until help comes.

Thanks to all those that phoned, we will update as further information becomes available...

New title

I've changed the title by removing "Sightings" to encourage more discussion and observations made at any time.

As it is the end of 2010, I'm inviting everyone to recall their wildlife highlight of this year and what they hope to see in 2011.

Bold buzzard

I spotted a buzzard at Slatemill feeding on a road-killed pheasant yesterday. He was still there 40 mins later when I stopped just across the road from him. I wondered why there was always a buzzard perched on a telegraph pole here, the site of the Walwyn's Castle pheasant shoot syndicate!

He must be just waiting for a dopey pheasant to try and cross the road!

Not Exactly a Garden Bird

...but we had 3 of these Common Snipe in the garden this afternoon nonetheless.
That with 3 moorhens that visit daily means the word garden could well be replaced by swamp. :)

On a sad note a dead seal was found on the beach at Monkhaven this morning.

More seal pups

Seal Pups on the Deer Park:  We have had 2 new pups - probably born Friday or the weekend - Monday(6th December) they were both class 2 and a good healthy size - on Pebbly and Jeffery.  There are also still some large pups moulting on Pebbly.

Kate Lock, Skomer MNR

Opening picture

Please send any images that I can put on the opening page. Crop to a panoramic format 760 pixels wide and put a signature ina suitable place.

Thanks

links

I've just added a number of links to other websites. Please let me know if there are others that would be useful.

Thanks

Andy

Bits and bobs

I've been making more of an effort to photograph the different fungi that I come across (inspired by the great series of talks in the Merlin theatre). It was great to hear of the discovery of the red cage fungus on the Stackpole area - gutted I didn't see it! If anybody knows what the tree with the pinkish flowers are then I'd love to know. As has already been reported, the cold weather has been bad for the wildlife but great for getting better than usual views of normally timid birds. Yesterday at Stackpole a kingfisher seemed totally unconcerned with the fact that I was only 4 metres away from it. My partner and I watched it for ten minutes as it fished in a patch of unfrozen water. Iwas especially pleased as one of my "things to do" I decided on at the Wildlife sightings talk was to get a decent photo of a kingfisher. A small otter was just visible on the far bank but unfortunately she didn't try out her ice skating skills shown in another photo! Remember that as well as feeding your garden birds, a handful of seed doesn't go amiss when you're out for a walk as well.

Red Kite

Red Kite seen this morning above the road from Tiers Cross to Ratford Bridge.
This afternoon a Sparrow Hawk with a freshly caught rat(?) on the minor road near Great Hoaten Farm on the outskirts of St Ishmaels but - (sorry Andy!) no Buzzards.

Bosherston Otters

The Otters at Bosherston continue to give amazing views. Early afternoon 2 were fishing near the 8 Arch Bridge. Both then disappeared but one later appeared on the other side of the bridge and climbed briefly onto the ice.
Most of the water was frozen but the ice was melting rapidly making much noise in the process as cracks appeared. Earlier in the week I went into the Boathouse only for an Otter to run out!

Run rabbit, run.

My brothers just told that on a walk down to Pennar gut they saw a stoat yesterday going after some rabbits (including a familiar black rabbit) at the old isolation hospital near the pickling pond. Very exciting as I've never seen one anywhere near there. Even more birds than usual around my house - thrushes, lapwings, 15 curlew in the field and plenty of snipe. Not Pembrokeshire, but on a visit to London over the weekend there were 5 deer in the fields whislt on the train near the Reading area, and also two Red kites. I suppose the animals from the Lion King muscial don't count as sightings...

More new pups on the Deer Park

Heard last night that more new pups are arriving on the two coves at the Deer Park. Hopefully, Kate will be able to update us with the details.

A kingfisher was seen fishing in the rockpools at St Brides this week during the cold spell.

Don't forget to keep the bird feeders topped up. I have a mixture of blue tits, great tits, chaffinches and sparrows feeding on mine so nothing spectacular yet.

What are you seeing?