upper millpond Waders 20th Sept

Good numbers of Waders on the pond roosting when its high tide on the estuary.
Black-tailed godwits 30
Redshank 123
Greenshank 46
Snipe 5
Teal 102
Mallard 57
Coot 20

John Hayes

Little Grebes are back!

Winter is coming! The Little Grebes have returned to the Ponds - today we spotted 6 on the Main Millpond.



Lin & Stu

Godwits on Castle Pond

Godwits have been spotted this week on the Castle Pond - a single bird on Tuesday, 3 on Wednesday and on Thursday there were 8. Reported seeing a singe bird last May but have never seen so many here - they are rare visitors on Castle Pond although numerous on the Upper Pond. Perhaps this is due to the pond level being exceptionally low exposing quite a lot of mud?

Lin&Stu

2 good photos of Otter at Carew Castle in June

Greetings everyone - this Blogg from Carew Castle is really worth a quick look
carewcastle.wordpress.com ........ it probably needs www. beforehand

Despite several reports of sightings of a large and a smaller Otter on Pembroke Millpond over the last few weeks I have personally failed to see one, and so seeing these bits of film was delightful. A prize for the first person to photograph or film a Pembroke Otter!

Good hunting, Nikki

Bat Count at Barnards Tower

Despite poor weather 24 Daubenton's Bats were counted leaving their nursery roost in the Tower on Wednesday evening - 19th August 09.

A further bat count will take place at the end of the month or early in September - this may be arranged at last minute if weather is unsettled, so send email to pembrokemillponds@pembroke21c.org if you are interested in coming along, and would like to be added to our new 'Bats' mailing list.

Pipistrelles are hunting nightly under the trees along the Millpond Walk, and Noctules should be flying high over the water (the bats hunting insects just above the water are Daubentons). However, very few Noctules have been seen over the ponds this season, so we would be interested to hear of any sighting.

Bat Count

Despite the showery conditions, the bats came out of Barnards Tower and four of us surrounded the base and tried to peer through the increasing gloom to watch as many windows and cracks that we could.

Jo counted the most with over 30 seen. In all we saw over 50. John brought along his night vision camera which was fascinating and revealing.

The next bat count is scheduled for Wednesday 19th August when it might be warmer and drier! Everyone is welcome to come along.

John Crum

Otter Survey on Millpond

Part of an Otter spraint from Barnards Tower end steps. This is probably from the foot of a Coot - photograph by Trevor Theobald.

Geoff Liles, Otter Consultant Wales, will be surveying the north bank of Millpond by boat on Wednesday 23rd June (weather permitting).

This will involve looking for all signs of Otter activity and use - and repeats a survey carried out 10 years ago, from which the need for an 'Otter corridor' along the North Bank was recognised in order to protect their habitat.

The report from this survey will be used to highlight the importance of protecting this Otter habitat along the north bank, particularly where development or 'tidying up of gardens' is a threat.

North Bank Destruction

Painted Lady

Millions of Painted Lady butterflies are now arriving in Britain, after an amazing 1000 mile migration from North Africa. And they have reached Pembroke! Saw several around the Castle Pond this morning flitting about in the sunshine and managed to get a photo.

Lin & Stu

Saw this flock of Dunlins perform an amazing acrobatic dance above Castle Pond before settling down on the shore just below South Quay. This is the first time we've seen them here.

Lin & Stu

Birds On Castle Pond

An unusual visitor on the Castle Pond, this black tailed godwit has been seen over the past few days near Monkton Bridge.

The first brood of ducklings have appeared on the Pond - unhappily numbering only two now out of an original six.

STU

Birds, butterflies and bees

A fine, sunny and warm Sunday morning, but only saw a few dog walkers with well behaved dogs and evidence of only one uncollected dog do!  No signs of any more damage to trees or noticeboards.

The wood was filled with birds singing and flying about.  I probably heard more birds than I can identify because my birdsong recognition is not very good and I would welcome some help with remembering which bird makes what noise!  I can definitely say I saw several blackbirds zooming about, great tits collecting nesting material, blue tits, chaffinches, a dunnock, lots of robins and chiffchaffs singing strongly.

There was also lots of insect activity, especially many bumble bees searching close to the ground.  The aroma of wild garlic was very strong!

The badgers have been busy lately with much evidence of bedding replacement taking place.  In the clearing near the car park a green-veined white and an orange tip butterfly were patrolling.

Added by JARC

Before Easter

We went for a walk on a slightly damp Thursday morning and were saddened to see that a number of saplings next to the car park had been snapped off and a bit more damage had been carried out on the notice board.  I'm not sure when all this happened but guess it was a few days before we made our rounds.

We were showing off the reserve to a visiting herpetology expert, in the hope that she might declare the wet woodland as perfect amphibian and reptile habitat.  Unfortunately, she found no encouraging signs of any herpetofauna activity, but if anyone knows any different please let me know.  On a warm day it often appears that conditions are ideal for lizards, or maybe grass snakes, but I have yet to see any reptiles here.

We moved on to the main millpond and looked at the end near Barnard's Tower where a still-pond area is being created.  Our expert felt that we should carry out a pond survey, including overnight bottle trapping, torch light searches or netting to identify which species were currently resident.  Has anyone seen any spawn, tadpoles or adults either in the past or recently?

In an ideal world a separate amphibian pond would be preferable because of the likelihood of predatory species already being present.  Has anyone any views on this?

added by JARC

Mothering Sunday walk

Another beautiful warm sunny early spring day, so we set out to do the entire circuit starting with walking the length of the Commons stream looking for any signs of otter activity. After overcoming the disappointment by the amount of rubbish in the water so soon after our recent litter pick, we quickly cheered up by discovering lots of recent evidence of the otter(s?) using the waterway after finding a variety of spraints under every footbridge. We were assisted by two young boys, George and Tom who showed great interest in what we were doing and proved to have just the right amount of agility to be able to clamber under the bridges to bring out handfuls of otter spraints! They promised to meet us again next week to help with the survey. They were also interested in helping with the next litter pick!!

At Holyland Wood, we were immediately struck by the new signs that have been put in place recently - they look great. However, the first people we met along the boardwalk was a very polite family with a dog off the lead and two young children on bicycles! What do you do?  Maybe exceptions can be made?

We also noted the variety of new bird boxes that had been attached to a number of trees. Let's hope they are soon attracting the birds and not the vandals.

Yellow flowers predominate at present with carpets of lesser celandines and marsh marigolds appearing in the standing water.

There are signs of housekeeping taking place at the badger sett with old bedding being dragged out and left on top of the spoil heap outside one of the entrances to the sett.

The birds were mostly conspicuous by their absence although there was lots of birdsong in the air.

At the main millpond, a coot was bravely sitting on its nest very close to the bank. I hope it's not disturbed by people passing by. 

We also saw otter spraints on the steps nearest Barnards Tower and those near MorgansWay. 

Added by JARC

St David's Day walk

A beautiful bright spring morning.  Started from Holyland Wood car park and walked along the top path first. Lots of other people including 2 runners, families and dogs.  Not many birds apart from the usual Blue Tits, Robins and Blackbirds.  Lovely displays of snowdrops and lesser celandines.  Whilst walking back to the CP along the boardwalk we stopped to  watch a Willow Tit pecking at some catkins.  A little further on, just to the edge of the path, we were lucky enough to see a Water Rail; normally a very shy bird, but it allowed us to get a good view before disappearing back into the undergrowth.  Not quick enough to get a photo unfortunately!

The Gadwalls and the Teal are still on the main pond near Barnards Tower.

The fair was packing up to move off from the Commons Car Park, and we watched as someone collected litter from the site as the vehicles drove away.

Posted by JARC

Another bird seen on Sunday

In addition to the Gadwalls, I also saw a single Common Teal (male) feeding with the Mallards near Barnards Tower on Sunday morning (22.02.09)

Thanks for providing this blog.

Posted by JARC

Gadwall on Main Millpond

2 pairs of Gadwall seen on Main Millpond near Barnards Tower on 20 February.


L. A.

Birds seen on Castle Pond in January

Little Egret (pictured here on the barrage), Swan, Grey Heron, Cormorant, Little Grebe, Common Sandpiper, Moorhen, Mallard, Blackheaded Gull, Peregrine Falcon.
Pigeon, Jackdaw, Magpie, Wren, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Black Cap, Thrush, Blackbird, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Kingfisher.

January has been so cold this year that the Castle Pond has iced over - the swans and blackheaded gulls in this picture are walking on water!!