Last week, the Conservation team completed varied tasks. 

- The third round of nest box surveying has started. Pied-Flycatcher chicks now have long feathers as you can see on the photo below. A bit more patience and soon we will know the overall numbers of nesting birds in the nest boxes for this season, in terms of species and productivity.

Pied Flycatcher chicks (Ficedula hypoleuca)

 

- Due to poor weather conditions, the weekly butterfly transect did not gather an incredible diversity of species. However, it is worth noting that the brown butterflies have not hatched yet and we are seeing the end of the first brood of many butterflies. Low diversity at this time of the year is thus natural. Despite this fact, we managed to observe some Common Blues, Brimstones, Peacocks, Speckled Woods and a Large White.

Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus)

 

- The Interns and Volunteers also had a try at the Cobweb app in the Saltmarsh. In the context of the Dyfi Biosphere Reserve, an app has been recently put in place to allow citizens to carry out surveys. This app is still work in progress and we were asked to try it and give some feedback. This survey is important to see how fast the pastures are reverting back to saltmarsh. Indeed, Marian Mawr field used to be protected from the tide by sea walls and the sward was characteristic of a wet grassland. To allow this habitat to revert back to its natural state, the sea wall was destroyed. Now the vegetation is becoming slowly more and more typical of saltmarsh. 

Cobweb survey

- Other sightings for this week included the following:

The English Stonecrop (Sedum anglicum) is blooming