East Carmarthenshire Group – February 2010
Picture of frozen Marlais, near Llansadwrn
Carmarthenshire, with its south westerly location, rarely experiences long periods of sub-zero conditions or really heavy falls of snow – especially in the valleys – though the present winter of 2009/10 certainly provides an exception. Will it continue into February – or even into March as in 1963?
Without doubt though, temperatures in winter time have gradually risen slightly over Europe in the last 40 years. At one time wintering geese – Greylags and White-fronts – were in their thousands on the Tywi floodplain below Dryslwyn Castle – and not very welcome to the farmers whose struggling meadow-grass was stripped down to the ground. Even 25 years ago they were there in the hundreds. These days very few appear, though resident Canada geese have risen in numbers steadily.
A little further upstream though, by Cilsan bridge, the adjoining meadows are always alive with the resident Mute Swans from much of the valley, possibly congregating in large numbers just for company. Most years they’re joined by a few visiting Berwick’s and Whoopers from the far north-east of Europe – even Siberia perhaps. This winter though has seen a new record of Whooper Swans – 29 so far.
The Tywi is also home to freshwater mussels – though few will have seen them except as empty shells left on the banks after floods have receded. Said to live up to 200 years, they’ll have obviously experienced many a cold winter. Gethin Rhys Thomas, an Ammanford student reading for a Ph. D. at Swansea University, is currently studying them. He will be telling of his findings in the Maes Elfryn Hall, Llandeilo to a local group meeting on Wednesday 20th January at 7.30pm. All will be most welcome.
Equally welcome will be all who meet in the Dryslwyn Castle car park on St. Valentine’s Day – Sunday 14th February – at 2.00pm. The valley usually shows the earliest signs of spring so should provide as good an area as any to spot these signs. Walking the lanes around has been really exciting in the past and we can reasonably hope that it will be the same this year. Will the lovely and comparatively rare White Butterbur have remained undisturbed on the roadside just above the river? If it has, it will probably be in full flower – a rare opportunity to enjoy it – and take a photograph perhaps.
Further details of events on 01558 822152
Denys Smith
The Big Freeze takes its toll on our wildlife
A dead snipe discovered on one of our reserves.
As Wales gradually begins to thaw out, our wildlife will continue to feel the impacts of the extreme weather, with its record-breaking low temperatures, for some time to come.
The prolonged cold, frozen ground and lack of water all play a part in making things particularly hard for wildlife.
Birds find it particularly hard to cope, with the frozen soil and surface water preventing many species from feeding. In such prolonged cold temperatures lack of available food not only massively increases mortality (such as the snipe above, found on frozen ground on a WTSWW nature reserve in Carmarthenshire) but can also impact on their ability to breed when spring arrives. Such is the pressure on birds to find food that species like geese and lapwing have been recorded using gardens and other urbanised areas to feed instead of their normal wetland areas, also making them more vulnerable to disturbance and injury. Even birds like red kites are grounded by the lack of available food and water.
The massive amount of salt that has been spread on the country’s roads, whilst making life easier for human travellers, also has negative impacts on roadside flora and washes rapidly into our streams and rivers, where it affects many freshwater species from amphibians to fish.
We can’t do much about the weather- but we can all make sure we do our part to make life that bit easier for the wildlife on our doorstep:
1. Clear an area of snow and ice on your lawn or flowerbeds to expose the ground surface
2. Remember to put out plenty of high-energy bird food of different types, and in different places to suit different species. Even left over food like pastry and cheese will be gratefully received, and fruit for thrushes (but never cooked meat)
3. Make sure you provide water for birds and mammals in your garden, and replace it if it freezes
4. Clear an area of ice on your pond if it freezes over- but never break the ice by force or pour boiling water straight onto the ice- get a pot of hot water and just sit it on the ice till it melts a hole through to the water below.
5. Put up nest boxes if you don’t have them- in the cold weather birds will use them for weather-proof roosts
6. Plan for next summer- consider planting species in your garden that will provide berries and other winter food sources in future
The House Martin (Delichon urbica) - ‘guest of summer’
I grew up in a town; careworn and untidy but a welcoming place. Here my wildlife fellowship began, awakened and shaped in avian form. Birds to be precise - common birds like the House Martin. They nested at the bottom of our street under the eaves of the bigger houses. The less enlightened, fearful of mess, would attempt to knock down the beautifully crafted mud-cup nests lined with feathers and I had words. Nesting House Martins are rumoured to bring luck to the household; it’s also illegal to damage nests during the breeding season.
An attractive visitor usually arriving in April, the glossy blue-black upperparts, white under parts, distinctive white rump and forked tail stand out. Less noticeable are the feathered white feet. Not to be confused with Swallows which display long tail streamers or Sand Martin which are browner and both lack the white rump.
The House Martin is beautifully adapted to an aerial life and spends much of its time catching flying insects. The hard ‘priit’ contact calls are distinctive together with the song - a long twitter of melodious cheeps. Shakespeare referred to the House Martin as ‘this guest of summer’. I eagerly waited their arrival in the spring and mourned their autumn departure. Where did they go? The answer, like many of our summer migrants is Africa but they are seldom spotted in their wintering quarters, most likely spent high over the vast savannahs and equatorial forests of sub-Saharan Africa.
The House Martin is doing well in Wales, slightly less so in the UK where small declines in the breeding population place it on the Amber list of birds of conservation concern. Originally nesting on cliffs, it has adapted to human settlement being very much at home in our towns and villages, nesting under the eaves of houses and buildings. A well-positioned seed tray or climbing plant can catch the droppings. If you have room in your garden, creating a shallow muddy puddle about 1 metre wide can help with nest material and pollen-rich plants attract insects which are food for many birds including House Martins.
Nests may be re-used from a previous year saving around ten days of work gathering mud. On the Glamorgan Heritage Coast and the cliffs near Castlemartin in Pembrokeshire, cliffs are still used as nest sites. Highly gregarious, colonial nesting is preferred and 4 or 5 eggs are laid hatching in about 14 days with generally two broods each year. The chicks will stay in the nest for about 25 days and are cared for by both parents.
And then as adults, in great numbers they gather in the autumn skies before departing these shores, where no doubt an African poet heralds their return.