Events

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Wednesday October 21st at 7.30pm

The Annual General Meeting will be held at the Wildlife and Wetlands Centre Penclacwydd. The meeting will be followed by an illustrated talk by Mr Derek Moore O.B.E. on his ‘Quest for the Quetzal’.

Tea/coffee and Biscuits to follow at £1.50 per head.

Donations for the raffle would be appreciated for this and subsequent indoor meetings this winter.

Wednesday November 11th

An illustrated talk by club member Mr Dave Rich on his birdwatching trips to America over the last twenty years.

At the Wildlife and Wetlands Centre Penclacwydd to commence at 7.30pm.

Coffee/tea and Biscuits to follow at £1.50 per head.

Wednesday December 2nd

Our speaker this month is Mr Steve Roberts of Abergavenny, who will talk about his work with Honey Buzzards and other raptors in Wales and England. At the Wildlife and Wetlands Centre Penclacwydd at 7.30pm followed by coffee/tea and biscuits at £1.50 per head.

Saturday January 9th 2010

We start the year with our annual visit to Whitford Burrows. Once again we will be joined by our ‘orni’ friends from Gwent. Last year 70 or so species were seen including Brent Geese, Slavonian Grebes, Hen Harrier and Crossbills. Meet at Cwm Ivy car park at 9.15am. High tide 13.20hrs 6.8m.Ring Wendell if in doubt about the weather. (Tel no below.)

Any suggestions for Speakers for Winter Indoor meetings or summer outings would be appreciated by Wendell, who can be contacted for further information on  07912 577626.

We would like to thank Nigel Williams and staff of The Welsh National Wetland Centre Penclacwydd for the use of the building for our Indoor Meetings.

Interested in helping with Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS)?

Between September and March each winter, co-ordinated counts of non-breeding waterbirds are made at estuaries and inland wetland sites throughout the UK. Carmarthen Bay and its estuaries is a principal site for waders and, in winter, holds nationally important numbers of Oystercatcher, Sanderling, Golden Plover and Greenshank. One or two more people are needed to help with WeBS counts in Carmarthenshire so that we can continue to cover all the important coastal and inland sites in the county. If you interested in counting for WeBS and can spare one day a month, please get in touch with me. Ian Hainsworth (local organiser for WeBS) 01792 205693   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

You may have missed-

Visit to Cynghordy in June when 4 Nightjars .were seen. The 10 members who attended on a fine but chilly evening braved the midges to also see 15 other species including Mistle Thrush, Goldcrest, Tree Pipit, Blackcap, Garden Warbler and Siskin.

8 members went on the trip to Kenfig on a sunny but breezy day and saw 27 species of bird, 9 of butterfly and the following-

an abundance of Common Blue Damselfly and Bluetail Damselfly plus Red Vein Darter Dragonfly and Emperor Dragonfly

In August at Burry Port 14 members attended. Only 4 Sandwich Terns were seen, less than usual for the time of year. But the other gulls and waders provided a dramatic sight as they continually wheeled above one of the highest incoming tides of the year gradually losing their favourite roost. The following morning 30 Sandwich Terns were seen.                                                                       

Bird Sightings

Did you know that a summary of bird sightings in the County for each month are published in Birdwatching Magazine?  Here are the reports for July and August:-

July Highlights

A very quiet month with little out of the ordinary to report.  Perhaps the most pleasing record was of 42 Wheatear at Pal Y Cwrt on the 8th.

WWT Wales Llanelli

It is good to see the wader flocks begin to build up again with a count on the 11th yielding 840 Curlew, 114 Redshank and 335 Oystercatcher.  A count on the 24th revealed 229 Little Egret, 16 passage Whimbrel and two Spoonbill.  It may have been these two birds that put in almost daily appearances on the Lower Gwendraeth up until the 24th before deserting to Glamorgan.

Other Sightings

Numbers of Mediterranean Gulls increased throughout the month with the best count being 39 at Sandy Water Park on the 28th.  Ringed Plover arrived back on the Towy Estuary with 17 reported on the 24th.

Grasshopper Warblers have been in short supply.  The Only records were of two at Rhydcymerau (15th) and a single at Dryslwyn (25th).  Of the Hobby records four came from the Dryslwyn – Cilsan area of the Towy Valley and were spread throughout the month.  A Goshawk was seen the Pwll (20th) and a Lesser Whitethroat at Kidwelly Quay on the 1st.  Both Common and Green Sandpipers were reported from Commissioners Bridge (1st) and Common Sandpipers from Abergwili (21st) and White Bridge, Carmarthen on the 27th.

August Highlights

A Great White Egret first seen at the end of last month again appeared on the Towy estuary at Ferryside on the 2nd.  A Marsh Harrier was reported from the Carmarthen Bay Caravan Park (7th) and a Hen harrier was seen at Morfa Uchaf, Ferryside on the 17th.

WWT Wales Llanelli

Wildfowl numbers are starting to build with 61 Gadwall (9th) 41 Shoveler (16th) and 77 Teal (24th). The same is true of waders with 495 Black-tailed Godwits and 2 Ruff (27th) 14 Whimbrel (24th) 37 Greenshank (17th) 2 Spoonbill to the 12th and 66 Little Egret on the 26th. Unusual passage birds were Lesser Whitethroat with 1 on the 23rd and 2 on the 30th. A Peregrine and an immature Goshawk showed throughout the month. 

Other Sightings

A visit to Garreg Llwyd on the 9th produced 1 Golden Plover and 4 Red Grouse.  Common Sandpipers showed well with 2 at Kidwelly (17th) 3 at Banc y Lord (21st) and single at Dryslwyn Bridge on the 27th.  Meanwhile, on the 11th 5 Green Sandpiper were seem at Ro Fawr and 2 were reported from Fos Las.  However, the best bird was a Marsh Sandpiper at Dryslwyn on the 27th.  Waders on the move included 24 Black-tailed Godwit at Banc y Lord in the company of a Ruff (21st).  Two Wheatear were reported on the same occasion following 2 birds seen at the nearby Holiday Park on the 16th.  The only Whimbrel reports came from St Ishmael with 2 on the 30th.

On the 3rd 16 Crossbill were counted at Crychan in the company of 2 Lesser Redpoll while a single was seen at Salem on the 10th.  Tern sightings have been down on previous years, the best count being 70 at Burry Port (5th) and 18 at the Carmarthen Bay Holiday Park on the 18th.  From the same site came the report of 2 Dark Bellied Brent Geese on the 2nd and 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Common Whitethroat and a Sedge Warbler passing through on the 27th.

Please can you help

At This year’s AGM there will be a number of retirements from the Committee.  Derek Moore and John Lloyd are both stepping down having given tremendous service to birding in the county and who have been instrumental is seeing the society through some tricky times to the relatively calm waters of today.  Derek is has two books which he is contracted to write while John will concentrate on completing the  proposed County Bird Atlas  and on seeing the new County Avifauna through to publication.  Diana Jones who has been a stalwart of the committee for six years and editor of this newsletter for the past three also feels it is time for a rest.  The two member representatives Beth Harris and Jenny Davies have also indicated that they wish to stand down.  This all leaves us with some big holes to fill for the posts of Events Organiser, Treasurer and Secretary are also up for re-election.

Subject to the wishes of the membership George Causley and Wendell Thomas are prepared to continue in office but the Club Constitution at present prevents them standing again. To overcome this the Committee is proposing an amendment to the Constitution which you will see on the AGM Agenda.  Owen Harris is also prepared to continue in post as Secretary if elected.  Nominations are invited for the following posts:  Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Events Organiser, and for the two posts of member representatives.  However the following nominations have been received:-

Chairman        Rob Hunt

Secretary        Owen Harris   

Treasurer        George Causley

Events Organiser    Wendell Thomas

2 Posts of Member Representative    Gary Harper and Julie Evans (Newsletter Editor)

Further nominations are invited for these posts but most importantly we desperately need a nomination for Vice Chairman.  New members are particularly welcome to express an interest to any member of the Committee. I had only been a member for two months before becoming Secretary and I was immediately made to feel welcome.

We also need an experienced birder to take on the post of County Bird Report Editor.  All the records are placed in species and date orders on an Excell database so it is a matter of editing the report and dealing with claims for County, Welsh and British Records.

Committee meetings are civilised affairs (much more so than most other committees I have served on) take place 4 times a year and in future will be held in the evening.

Please remember this is YOUR Club.  The more that people are willing to help out the less the burden of running the Club will be and the more likely we are to have fresh ideas.  If anyone wishes to find out more please contact Owen Harris (01267 267095  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or any member of the Committee.

Also Required: BTO Representative

Twelve months ago Carmarthenshire’s BTO Rep. Colin Jones stood down after a number of year’s service.  Since then John Lloyd has held the fort but we really do need someone to take on the post of liaising between the BTO and the birders of the County and this Club in particular.  PLEASE ARE THERE ANY TAKERS?

Club Car Window Stickers

These stickers use the club logo and web-site address in the Club and are rather attractive even if I did design them myself.  Please advertise the Club by buying and displaying one.  Available from the Treasurer at £1.00  (Available now or at the AGM)

Club Publications

We hope to publish the County Site Guide by early next year.  Written by Ian Hainsworth it covers the best 34 sites in the county giving details of access and the where and when of the birds to be seen.  It will be attractively illustrated by pen and ink bird portraits by Bernie Beck and with photographs.  Look out for its publication and make sure of your copy.

Later in 2010 we hope to go to press with a new county avifauna. John Lloyd has written the text but a number of club members have written articles and contributed some splendid artwork and photographs for the publication.  We hope it will be a most attractive book, long overdue but due to become an indispensible addition to your bookshelves.

The County Bird Report 2008 is well under way and we expect it to be at the printers by the end of October.  One of the holdups has been the sheer quantity of made available through the BTO Atlas.  It has been quite overwhelming and not in the most user-frindly format for including in the report.  A second factor that has frustrated Derek Moore’s efforts to complete his last report is the absence of and poor quality of Descriptions.  Expect to see more on this subject in the next newsletter.  In the meantime the website indictes WHICH SPECIES require descriptions and a separate page tells you what you need to include in the description.  Please remember no description or an inadequate one means that potentially important records are lost to the County, Welsh and even to national records.  This may well have an adverse effect on future conservation decisions.  Some people do inform the recorder immediately and supply a description.  It would be wonderful if everyone were to do the same.