Saturday 3rd March was a bit of a dull, cloudy and chilly day, but we decided to get up early and go out exploring anyway. We visited one of our favourite nature spots Crymlyn Burrows to see what we could see.
Crymlyn Burrows is a SSSI area and lies between Neath Port Talbot and Swansea - There is a salt marsh, sand dunes, woodland and access to Swansea Bay - it is an awesome place to spot wildlife and this is what we discovered on that day...
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| The tide was in, which pretty much covers most of the reserve. In the distance is Baglan Energy Park and the hills behind are Margam. |
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| The first bird we saw was a little egret stalking the water's edge for food. I have never seen one in Crymlyn Burrows before, a very beautiful bird. (Photo credit: @Danturner23) |
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| Seeing the tide was in we were unable to walk through the reserve. Instead, we followed the path than runs around the outside of the burrows where we started spotting plenty of birds: |
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| Jay (you can just about make it out, sorry about the bad photo) |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Carrion Crow preening each other on nearby lampost |
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| A pair of greylag geese in the distance. |
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| There were lots of buzzards around and we found this pellet on the ground, full of small bones and fur. |
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| One of the beautiful buzzards circling above. |
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| There was plenty of fungi and plants around too, including this old turkey tail fungi... |
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| ...and this earth star fungi that was hidden in rotting wood. |
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| Lots of gorse was flowering, brightening a rather grey day. |
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| Continuing on the path we realised they were felling quite a few trees near the cycle track. I have tried to find out what is happening, so if you know I would be interested if you got in touch. There are lots of birds around this area... |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Dunnock |
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| Good to see these new additions to the reserve, bins for litter and dog mess. |
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| We made our way pass the new university and headed towards the dunes. |
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| Another new addition were the signs to show the area is a SSSI with a few rules about protecting the habitat and vegetation... |
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| ...and warning sign to say 'Do not disturb the birds' - lets hope people read and respect these signs. We also noticed a new boardwalk had been laid to give people better access to the beach. |
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| On the beach I couldn't see any birds to start, then I saw a small movement in the pebbles. There were infact lots of ringed plovers and sandlings(?) |
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| Near the shoreline were oystercatchers. |
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| Ringed plovers and sandlings(?) |
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| Also lots of black headed gulls. |
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| Lots of flotsam and jetsam washed up the beach, including this life ring... |
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| ...and creepy dolls head! |
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| There were lots of mermaid purses on the beach. They are egg sacks, but not sure if it's from a ray, shark or skate? |
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| We also found this huge bone, any ideas what it is? |
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| After walking awhile along the beach we made our way back over the dunes and into the burrows. |
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| Here we start seeing more birds including a male stonechat... |
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| ...and here's the female stonechat looking rather plump! |
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| A skylark in the long grass |
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| A rook stalks the dunes. |
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| Skylarks forage in the seaweed left from the water from high tide. |
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| Some pretty, colourful turkey tail fungi on a nearby log. |
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| The male stonechat is joined by a male reed bunting. |
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| Crossing a very muddy river (there are car wheels in the water, acting like stepping stones...but it still gets very muddy) |
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| A black headed gull on the mud. It's loosing its winter black head and will be left with a small black splash on it's head in the summer. |
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| Close up of the male reed bunting - a very striking looking bird. |
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| The burrows looked a lot different from when we came in the morning, the tide was now low and this revealed more plants and wildlife on the reserve. |
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| A redshank wades in the water. |
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| A flock of rock pipits were in the tree. |
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| Back at the car we realised there was a lot of litter thrown in the trees, luckily we had our litter picking stuff in the car... |
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| ...so three bags later, it looked alot better :) |
Crymlyn Burrows is one of my favourite places to visit, you are guaranteed to see lots of wildlife any time of year and whatever the weather is. It's important we protect such a valuable habitat and hopefully the new Swansea University will too.
Crymlyn Burrows last year.
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