30 Days Wild:Day 24 - Life After Dusk

                                         











  I didn't do much during today as had to start packing things away as it was our last day in Pembrokeshire but we did pop to Tenby for lunch and a quick walk along the beach.

        
  The main action of Day 24 happened after dark.The Moth trap and the trail camera were both set up.
A few more new moths for the week.
Brown China Mark

Gold Swift

Lackey

  Checking the SD card from my trail camera it was found to contain 38 film files, all between 11.50pm and 1.20am so I knew it wasn't just the Magpies eating the food in the morning.
  The young Fox had reappeared in the garden after spotting him in daylight the day before.

A Badger was also filmed numerous times sweeping up the peanuts and jam.

I think my Badger Spy Cam got rumbled ;)

  A great end to a fantastic week in Pembrokeshire and I have to say a massive Thank You to John and Carol for allowing us to shine a bright Moth Trap in their garden and leave food on the lawn for the Badgers which I know dig up his garden lol.

  Up to Gigrin Farm, Rhayader next and the Red Kites :)

30 Days Wild: Day 23 - Day On Puffin Central

                                                               

                                                         
  After rechecking the weather numerous times during the week we finally decided that Day 23 would be the best bet to get on the boat over to Skomer Island.We set off early, arriving just before 7am and so had a 90 minute queue for the lodge to open, then another 90 minute wait after purchasing our tickets til our boat left Martin's Haven for the short trip over to Skomer.
  Before you even land you have Guillemots , Razorbills and of course Puffins whizzing past the boat or scurrying on the Sea surface to escape the boat's path.After the long walk up the steps and a talk about the Island from the Warden we set off down the trail.
 View out from Skomer.

  Like the majority of people , we headed over to The Wick, probably the best place to see Puffins(as well as at the top of the landing steps).
  It is an amazing experience to be within a few yards of these stunning little Auks.

  Sorry about that I got carried away with Puffin photos, but you still did get away a bit on the light side as I could've posted twice as many ;)

  After spending time with the Puffins we headed for the nearest benches for a bit of lunch and then unfortunately my Arthritic pain in my feet started working overtime and became very painful.This prevented us from walking further around the island so we had a very slow walk back to the farm stopping along the way at the Mere hide to watch Oystercatchers battle with Gulls.
Gull chick

  Lesser Black-backed Gulls getting too close to the juvenile Oystercatchers so needed a quick chase off.

  The Gulls also fought each other with this Herring Gull trying its best to tear the wing off the Lesser Black-backed gull.It actually dragged it by the wing about 5 feet before letting go.

  With my feet burning we started back to the boat far earlier than planned but spent the time photographing Razorbills, Guillemots and a Skomer Rabbit.
Razorbills

Guillemots "Ooooh yes, that's the spot!"

 Skomer Rabbit

  The boat left back for the Pembrokeshire mainland at 3pm and we were seen off by diving Gannets and then spent a few minutes watching these young Swallows in their nest in the Skomer information centre before heading back home.

I hope you enjoyed browsing the photos as much as I did taking them ;)
Thanks again for reading my blogs.

30 Days Wild:Day 22 - Peregrines At The Bridge

                                                                   










  On Day 22 we had a few hours at the South coast of Pembrokeshire known as Green Bridge.Following tips and extra info on the area from fellow 30 Days Wild blogger Sandra Evans(catch up with her blog on the link below) and my friend and host John.
http://sands30dayswild.blogspot.co.uk/

  We had planned to go earlier but had to wait for the Military to let us in.It's a place where you have to call the visitor centre in Pembroke or the firing range to find out if it is open and safe to drive through the area without having your car blasted off the road by a Tank shell ;) We were told we would be safe from 4.30pm so off we went.It seemed quiet enough despite the presence of the Army personnel with M16 rifles.

 The site is called Green Bridge due to the natural limestone arch on the coast.

  The rest of this coastline isn't bad either ;)

  As you might be able to make out on the photo above there were thousands of seabirds, mainly Guillemots with a few Razorbills and the odd Puffin doing a fly by.
  Guillemots

  There were quite a few Butterflies on the wing with Small Heath, Painted Lady & a few Dark Green Fritillarys(pic below)

  In the distance something caught my eye and immediately I knew it was a Raptor.

  We hurried in that direction to hopefully get closer views and were treated with a fantastic display as a Male Peregrine circled us calling while his offspring was having his maiden flight from the nest. I told Majella I thought that was what was happening and fortunately we bumped into the monitor who was checking up on them and she confirmed I was correct(for a change).

  Back at base I also trapped some new Moths in the garden.
Yellow Barred

Lilac Beauty (my 1st ever)

Lobster Moth

Green Silver-lines

Marbled White Spot

 Add to this a Fox turning up on my trail cam in the garden and all the work John has done is paying off as his own personal Nature Reserve is producing amazing wildlife :)

  Tune in to Day 23 for Puffins on Skomer.