Nature Bites Back

We spent this week at home on the Heritage Coast (http://www.visitwales.co.uk/server.php?show=nav.10312). On the way fishing we spotted some Great Mullein....

Great Mullein

Its a really tall plant with yellow flowers that look like a sword.

We did a spot of fishing hoping to catch one of the many fish on the list.......

Fishing

We didn't manage to catch anything. But i did get attacked by some barnacles which scraped my ankle......

Ouch!!

But it was OK because they were on the list....

Barnacles

We also spotted lots of Limpets.....

Limpet

Then my Dad showed me something i didn't expect to see in Wales, a coral reef.

Along long time ago the bit of land that is Wales used to be in the tropic zone. The surface of the world is covered with plates that float on top of the lava in the middle. These plates slowly move around so that our bit of land used to be where Africa is today. Back then South Wales was a shallow tropical sea full of corals. Over time bits of sediment and dirt fell on top of the corals and over the years the sediment turned into rock and turned the corals into fossils. More recently the sea has worn the rock away and you can now see fossilised corals on the beaches of the Heritage Coast if you want to know more, have a look at this (http://education.gtj.org.uk/en/item1/26445). The ones in my pictures are Caninia. A cool trick to see the fossils better is to rub some water on the stone, this darkens the stone and lightens the fossil so you can see it better.....

Caninia

Caninia

We finished off the week camping at the Heritage Coast camp site (http://perfectpitchcamping.co.uk/). It was really good fun, we watched the sun set and roasted marshmallows on the campfire. A Little Owl woke us up in the night screeching but i had my best nights sleep in the wild ever, the owners are really nice and will even cook you breakfast and bring it to your tent in the morning.....

Heritage Coast Campsite

Our camp

Sunset

Sunset

Nice and warm by the campfire

Roasting Marshmallows

Thats 3 off the list....


Limpet (Patella vulgata)
These are little things that live in a shell on rocks, they feed by grazing on algae growing on the rocks. When the tide comes in they move around over the rocks feeding. Each limpet has a home which is a small dip on the rock and the limpet always returns to this spot when its finished feeding.

Barnacle (Balanidae)
These little creatures feed on plankton and attached themselves to rocks in the intertidal zone (the area between low and high tide). They have a hard sharp shell which is what cut my ankle.

Great Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)
This is the biggest Mullein, that's why its called Great Mullein. The leaves of this plant look really soft because they are covered in tiny hairs. These hairs catch fire really easily and used to be used to make 'wicks' for lamps in the old days.

Late Night Visitor

Late last night we had a 6 legged visitor tapping at our kitchen window, It was a chunky Cockchafer....

Cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha)
These are also called 'May Bugs' as they usually emerge in May. They are quite big and some people think they are cockroaches which they are not. They fly around at night and are attracted to light. This one was attracted to our kitchen light and kept flying into the window. When we released it we turned the light off so it would stop banging the window, the sound was quite load like someone tapping the glass.

Our local river usually dries up in the summer but because of all the rain it still had water in it so for the first day of our summer holidays we strapped our nets to our bikes and rode to the river for some stickleback fishing. There were lots about but we couldn't see and minnows.....

When we were riding home we saw a plant called Comfrey growing in a hedge

Comfrey (Synphytum officinale)
It likes to grow in damp areas. People used to grow it in their gardens and it was used to help heal wounds and mend broken bones. The flowers are shaped like little tubes and can be white, pink or violet.

Another 2 things off the list....

Comfrey
Cockchafer

Skomer

We finally made it to Skomer, today it was not raining/windy/foggy and my Dads ankle is better. We got up early and drove there in the car, thinking of Puffins all the way.

Waiting for the boat we saw Sea Beet growing on the cliffs....

There were Swallows nesting in the toilets....

On the boat across to the island we saw......

 A greedy Gull

 Gannets

 More Gulls

Guillemots

As we got near to the Island we saw our first ever Puffins......

We had to walk up the steep steps above the beach, there were Puffins everywhere, when we got to the top we could see a pod of Dolphins jumping around out at sea. The water on the beach looked really clean....

After walking we stopped for a pasty picnic, but we were being watched.....

We saw lots more Puffins, some were nearly walking over our feet....

We also saw lots of Kittiwakes nesting on the cliff, shouting "Kittiwake" at each other....

As we walked we saw a juvenile Wheatear....

Wild Black Rabbits....

Seals.....

Shags.....

And a pair of Harbour Porpoise...

By the time we got back to the boat my feet were aching but i was smiling. In the car i slept all the way home.


There are no Puffins in Tarka the Otter but i bet Henry Williamson would have liked them. So, i can cross 3 things off my list....

Guillemot (Uria aalge)
Gullimots live in colonies on steep cliffs. They like hanging around together and dive underwater chasing fish using thier wings to swim.

Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)
This is the commonest and smallest cetacean in European waters. It is dark grey above and white below with a low, blunt dorsal fin. Unlike most dolphins the snout is not extended into a beak, it has quite a blunt head. They are not as energetic as dolphins and do not leap out of the water.

Sea Beet (Beta vulgaris)
This is the wild ancestor of Beetroot and spinach were. It likes to grow in rocky and pebble places by the sea. It has long green flower spikes between June and September.

Wet Weather

Despite the wet weather and my Dad spraining his ankle we have spotted a couple of things. We were out on a bike ride when we spotted a sick looking hedghog near a friends house. They took him in for the night and fed him some cat food to give him energy. In the morning he had escaped from the shed and was back out in the wild.

We had one sunny day and went down the beach. I caught loads of blennies and prawns and we found this whelk on the beach which was unusual because they usually live out in deep water.

We had a good day at Wildlife Watch Group at Margam discovery centre even though it was raining again. We saw lots of damsel flies, heron and coot at the pond.

We caught some cool creatures pond dipping including caddis fly larvae, lesser water boatmen, water hoglouse and a selection of leeches.

Off the list

Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus)
Everybody knows what a spiky hedghog looks like. Unfortunately when people see them they are usually dead on the road. They like to eat worms. A baby hedgehog is called a hoglet.