Blackpool Mill

I was scouting around Blackpool Mill today and was impressed by the number of beautiful demoiselles I saw along the leet and upstream of the main road. I saw a couple of grey wagtails, a pied wagtail and a dipper along the stretch upstream of the mill.

Pond life

Where are my Emperor dragonflies? By this time of the year about 10 have emerged from the pond - this year none. Could it be the awful summer last year which meant that no eggs were laid? Or, more sinisterly, could it be the alarming proliferation of huge and fierce larvae belonging to both Great and Lesser Diving Beetles?? A bit of pond dipping yesterday by visiting children (and adults!) revealed these monstrous things which proceeded to eat everything else in the dipping tray! I caught an adult Great Diving Beetle in the moth trap recently so I should have realised .......  On a related topic there seem to be quite a few Cockchafers around this year - 5 in and around the moth trap yesterday and 1 by the outside light this morning.

Any ideas please?

I have 2 bird boxes that have had sparrow nests in. One also contains a camera. I was surprised yesterday afternoon to see that the three babies had gone from the nest I was watching.  Today I was gardening and under that nest box were the three half fledged babies, all dead but with no visible injuries.  I buried them and swept up my hedge cuttings then suddenly found 3 more tiny babies under the other box. Again, no visible injuries but probably just hatched.
They have none of them been taken for food, none were hanging out of the nest box hole as they were all too young and were deep inside, none showed injuries. One box had a perch so I guess something could have stood on that but the other had no perch.
I cannot fathom what animal would plunder 2 nests within hours of each other, what animal could get in there, why it would only throw the babies out and, if the babies had died so the parents threw them out, what could kill 6 baby birds in one go?
Any suggestions?

Water Shrew

On 13th May about 25m above the stream at Castle Beach was this (dead) water shrew.  I've neither seen nor heard of one being found there before.

The new title picture is by Guy Hageman who had a memorable 40 minute encounter with the Bosherston otters on the Western Arm a couple of weeks ago.

An odd place to find sandhoppers

Located near the entrance to Point Farm on the Dale Fort Road is a manhole containing the water meter for Dale Fort. While checking this the other day I disturbed a rock and to my great surprise several sandhoppers (Talitrus saltator) hopped out from underneath.  I've read of these creatures living high above the sea in caves and crevices on very exposed shores (subject to a lot of salty spray) but never in what I'd consider a purely terrestrial habitat.  Given the location I suppose there's a strong maritime influence.  Nevertheless, the site is about 30m vertically from the sea above what is a very sheltered shore.

Polecats

Not one but two!! I saw a polecat disappearing into the woodland at St. Brides Castle last night at 10.30 and then another a minute later along the road up to Windmill Farm.

A group from Tasker Milward School were lucky to see an adder on their Silver Duke of Edinburgh's Award practice expedition on the Preselis. It was seen at Bwlch Pennant on 31st March.

Flowers everywhere

I can't remember a time when it seems that all the flowers are out at the same time! The woodland at St. Brides Castle is already in full swing with a great display of bluebells and red campion. There is even the odd one out on Skomer although the ground is looking really parched, just like last year. It looks like the sea campion and thrift are going to struggle again. It seems that this event was triggered by the warm spell we had a few weeks ago.

Foxes galore

After not having seen any foxes for a while, I have seen 3 foxes in the last two days - one crossing the field behind our house in full sunshine at 5:30 pm, one at a similar time of day on the coast path below Waterston and one freshly dead by the road near Blackbridge. I don't know much about the timing of fox breeding but these all looked like rather scruffy females who were out and about as they were desperate for something to eat having been stuck in the den feeding hungry cubs. I see Derek also saw one in daylight eyeing the Glossy Ibises at Marloes Mere yesterday.
Rosemary