Cold nights bring desperate conditions

The frost bites deeper in the fields west of St Davids and the coastal fringes of the Peninsula.

The flock of C500 Lapwing that have been resident at Pencarnan throughout December has broken up, its members now reduced to small scattered groups foraging forlornly in the ever hardening fields.

During the final days of December Golden Plover (max flock 180) appeared in the fields bordering the Point St John headland giving us excellent views from our caravan. A feature of the past three days has been the very visible cold weather movement of this species, together with Lapwing, flying down the north coast, crossing Whitesands bay, before heading south.

Likewise Redwing, with the occasional Fieldfare, that joined the Goldies in the fields before they too flew on.

With the arrival of daylight this morning, it was sad to see all these species flying in from their roosts only to find yesterdays feeding grounds frozen over. A few more nights of these sub zero temperatures could very well see all these wintering visitors have exited the county.

We were unable to locate any Short-eared Owls on Trefeiddan Moor last night.