Penparcau Wildlife Group
This is the Nature of our Village project. Our aim is to record all the wildlife that lives in Penparcau. Thanks to all who have contributed materials and funding, especially The Nineveh Charitable Trust and D’Oyly Carte.
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The Nature of our Village Project – Annual Report (3rd March 2021)
The Nature of our Village Project (12th March 2021)
Dear all,
There’s plenty to update you all on from the last fortnight, and we are especially delighted to be able to share the achievements of Meg and David Kirby, who wrote this great article for the British Dragonfly Society on the success of the newly-mended pond at Parc y Llyn. Here is the link:
We’ve been able to carry out 2 Mermaid’s Purse surveys, looking for the eggcases of Sharks and Rays for the Shark Trust, and as expected, numbers are now declining as we head in to spring, with fewer than 40 cases being found on both occasions. We will carry out the last Eggcase survey of the season next week and then it will be over until December.
Funding has allowed us to carry out some very useful Early Emergence surveys, so that we can be confident of the first appearance date for both our reptiles and our bees. We have had frequent sightings of lizards basking on Pen Dinas, especially at the ruins of the old farm house on middle path, and these have been when the temperature was only a few degrees in the surrounding areas. They don’t seem to mind as long as the sun is shining on them! We have even seen our first Slow-worm of the year, sheltering under a refugium.
Bumblebees have been making the best of the warm weather too, and we have now been able to record 3 species on the wing when the sun shines. Buff-tailed was the first, found right at the end of February, and was closely followed at the start of March by the Early and the Tree bumbles. They were all nectaring on abundant willow and the first of the dandelion blooms. Do let us know what you are seeing in your own gardens.
Best wishes
Chloe
The Nature of our Village Project (13th Feb 2021)
Dear all,
I’m pleased to say that we have had some great news on the funding front – thanks to the Ceredigion Local Nature Partnership, Community Cohesion Fund and the Local Conversations Group fund we have enough in the pot to keep going until the end of May this year. We were also delighted to have some great support from Debra Croft and the Reaching Wider project, who gave us a much needed book money donation of £100, and also some fantastic wildlife spotting kits, for both adults and children, that we will be able to use later in the year. A big thank you to them all!
Thanks to this funding I have been able to run extra surveys this month, and most recently added in an “Early emergence” survey for reptiles. It was wonderful to be rewarded with, not 1, but 4 Common Lizards, basking in some sunshine on Pen Dinas. I would never have known that they could be out when the surrounding temperature was only just above freezing, but now we know that when the sun is bright, they are able to make the best of it. I also checked for early emerging bumblebees, but haven’t seen any yet. Could you let me know if you see one locally please? Even if it flies away too quickly to identify which bumble it is!
In the recent cold snap I have been cracking on with the 5 year report and I’m about two thirds of the way through. The more I look at what has been achieved by the whole group over 5 years, the more impressed I am, and very grateful to all of you for the hard work and expertise you have provided.
More Mermaid’s Purse hunts have been happening, with a good selection at the last session. 158 have been recorded over the last 2 surveys.
Bullfinches are active in our area, particularly in the small wooded areas of Parc y Llyn, with a male and female seen feeding on the seed heads near the river. To see the brightly coloured male with his fabulous peach breast is a wonderfully cheering sight.
Finally, we were grateful to hear from a colleague that the first Palmate Newt of the year has been seen at the mended Parc y Llyn pond. This is great news, and we will be keeping a close eye on this pond to see when we get the first frogspawn and toadspawn. Do keep an eye on your own ponds and local water bodies, and please do get in touch when you see your first frogspawn, it’s such a hopeful sign of Spring on the way!
Best wishes to you all
Chloe
8th January 2021
Dear all,
I hope everyone is keeping well and safe, with the new announcements from Welsh Government today it seems that we will be continuing Lockdown for quite a while yet. Even though we can’t meet in person, here is a quick update of what’s been going on in the natural world here in Penparcau.
A bird survey at Parc y Llyn on the 6th allowed me to see the Kingfisher zooming down the river, such a thrill! I also saw my first ever Siskin, who was feeding on the Alder cones along the cycle path. A Moorhen was poking around along the bank and Coal Tit, Great Tit and Blue Tit were flitting about in the wet woodland area behind Morrisons. It has been great to see other people’s photos of birds they have seen in the village, so if you manage to get a good shot, do let me know!
I carried out a New Year Plant Hunt at the ver start of the year, and found an astonishing 20 species in flower, ranging from the familiar Red Campion and Primrose to Groundsel and Yarrow. Have you been seeing wildflowers actually in flower during your walks?
Mermaid’s Purse walks will be resuming from Monday, and I will keep people updated on our finds. I miss going out with you all and hope that before too long we can share nature together again.
Best wishes to everyone
Chloe
2020 Report on the Amphibian and Reptile Survey for Pen Dinas is available, click here to read!
International Bat Night 2020
For International Bat night 2020, North Ceredigion bat group teamed up with Penparcau Wildlife group for our annual bat walk at Parc-y-Llyn Local Nature reserve. This year, due to Covid restrictions we were unable to hold our usual public walk, and were reduced to a select group of 3 people – all socially distanced of course! We did however have fantastic views of Soprano pipistrelle bats feeding above the grassy area behind Morrisons, and were delighted to discover Daubenton’s bats flying along the river under the road bridge. Bats use echolocation to find their way around, and also to find food. The sounds they produce are usually too high-pitched for us to hear, but our bat detectors convert these sounds into a wonderful range of clicks, splats and crackles which help us to identify the species. The pipistrelle produces a series of slappy sounds which get quicker as it hones in on a midge. Daubenton’s produce a series of clicks. They are usually found around water, so the river Rheidol at Parc-y Llyn is a good location. They hunt by skimming over the water’s surface, and either grabbing insects with their large, hairy feet or scooping them up with their tail membrane. This year we were able to try out our new Echometer 2 bat detector, thanks to funding from the Ceredigion Local Nature Partnership (as used by Chris Packham on Autumnwatch!). This device attaches to a phone or tablet, and displays a sonogram (a bit like a graph) of the call, as well as an audible sound. It even suggests the type of bat it might be. Soprano pipistrelles are one of our smallest British bats, and often seen flying around gardens at sunset between April and September. You can help them find food in your garden by growing night-scented plants which attract moths and other insects – such as nicotiana and evening primrose. The Bat Conservation Trust produce a useful list of garden plants, and plenty of other information to help make your garden more bat-friendly. https://cdn.bats.org.uk/pdf/Resources/Encouraging_Bats.pdf?mtime=20181101151549&focal=none Thank you to Penparcau Wildlife Group for inviting us again this year, and we hope we can to return to our public bat walk in 2021. Aline Denton North Ceredigion Bat group
Pond Ponderings: Parc y Llyn pond, Aberystwyth
An introduction to a community pond in Wales, by Meg Kirby
The Parc y Llyn pond is situated in a rough grassland meadow between a housing estate and retail shopping centre on one side and the river Rheidol on the other side. The area is open to the public. It is County Council owned land managed for wildlife. The river forms part of a hydroelectricity scheme upstream so the flow rate is variable. Golden–ringed Dragonfly, Common Hawker and Banded Demoiselles are often recorded here and on one occasion a Beautiful Demoiselle was also seen. The pond was a good breeding site for frogs and toads but dried up 2 years ago with the apparent failure of the liner. 2019 saw Ceredigion County Council, with help and encouragement from local community groups, renovate this pond. Aquatic plants were introduced in the autumn and frog spawn and toad spawn were seen this spring. An evening visit recorded Palmate Newts. A first visit as part of a planned survey took place towards the end of March. There were plenty of Water Boatmen and Whirligig beetles, and some tadpoles. Emergent plants (Water Plantain and Iris) were growing well. Despite the Covid-19 situation it is hoped that further short, casual visits as part of the daily exercise allowance can take place. Let’s hope Dragonflies return. We will keep you informed.
Parc y Llyn Pond, Aberystwyth