Llanelli Naturalists Newsletter - March 1983
Ian Morgan
The area between Pwll and Burry Port
This area has changed greatly over recent years due mainly to excavations and dumping of ash from the Burry Port Power Station. Also during the last few years Dutch Elm disease has decimated the large and numerous elms that once graced the old tramway or “Ffordd-y-Wagen”, as it is known locally.
These elms once held the beautiful Barn Owl and one could regularly see this species hunting silently over nearby pasture and rough ground. During the day they used an old elm for roosting. Now these owls have gone but they still appear irregularly - as in the summer of 1982.
The rare White-letter Hairstreak - which in its larval stage feeds on elm leaves - has probably also deserted the area, but the wide, deep ditch that runs parallel to Ffordd-y-Wagen boasts a rich dragonfly-damselfly fauna. Species recorded there include:- Pyrrhomsoma nymphula (Large Red Damselfly), Enallagma cyathigerum (Common Blue Damselfly), Agrion virgo (Demoiselle Agrion), Libulella depressa (Broad-bodied Libulella), Lestes sponsa (Green Lestes) and Ischnura elegans (Common Ischnura).
The early autumn of 1974 was notable for the rare birds which were observed in the vicinity of Burry Port Power Station. At least too extremely tame Grey Phalaropes, blown inshore by severe gales, frequented the water’s edge allowing excited ornithologists superb views. Amongst the more usual terns, a Black Tern was noted and photographed by E.J. Smith sheltering from the wind.
Offshore, two Little Gulls - an adult and an immature - flew with ubiquitous Black-headed Gulls. The jet-black head of the adult, the pink flush to the breast and the darkish underwings were clearly observed. Since the warm-water outlet of the Power Station has ceased these diminutive gulls and the terns are no longer regular autumnal visitors, but offshore Grey Seals and in winter Red-breasted Mergansers can still be seen. Turnstones and Ringed Plovers feed amongst the seaweed and shingle and the Rock Pipit has bred here. Black Redstarts sometimes winter.
Interesting plants near the Power Station include the Duke of Argylle’s Tea Tree (Lycium chinense), Verrain (Verbena officinalis) — a ‘general purpose’ plant of the old herbalists, Sand Catchfly (Silene conica), and the rare prostrate toadflax (Linaria supina), which according to a well-known botanical guide is only found in South-west England!
In suitable habitat, the area holds the following butterflies:- the Small Blue, Comma, Marbled White, Clouded Yellow, Brown Argus, Large Skippers, Silver-studded Blues and the Latticed Heath Moth (Chiasma clathrata) in addition to commoner species.
At the small pond - known to local bird watchers as the “Ashpits Pond”, Water Rails used to breed but are now only winter visitors, heard rather than seen. Goldeneye sometimes visit the pond in winter and one year an autumn passage Osprey put in an appearance!
Nearby the following plant species can be seen: -
Carduns nutans (Nodding Thistle), Glaucium flavum (Yellow-horned Poppy), Coronopus didymus (Swine Cress), Trifofium arvense (Hair’s foot Clover), Foeniculum vulgare (Fennel), Oenothera erythrosepala (Large-flowered Evening Primrose). On estuarine mud, Salicornia ramossissima grows and early in spring Saxifraga tridactylites (Rue-leaved Saxifrage) is common on light, sandy soils. April 1977 saw the emergence in quantity of the Morel Fungus (Morchella vulgaris). Other species of interest which favour the light, sandy/ashy soils are Erigeron acer (Blue Fleabane), Linum bienne (Pale Flax), Blackstonia perfoliata (Yellow-wort) -and Odontites verna (Red Bartsia).
The sea wall itself has the Rock Sea Lavender (Limonium binervosum), the pink-flowered Scurvey Grass (Cochlearia danica), the White (Cochlearia officinalis) and Rock Samphire (Crithnum maritimum). The latter plant was once made into a strong aromatic pickle and was collected for this purpose.
Towards Pwll itself an area of waste ash has been grassed-over and frequently is flooded to a shallow depth. Here amongst the grazing ponies and commoner birds such as Snipe, Dunlin, Redshank and Teal, rarities have been recorded and are listed below:-
Little Stint - 13 December 1975
Pectoral Sandpiper - 12 July 1977
Wood Sandpiper - 29 August 1977
Killdeer - 10 February 1978 (and other dates)
The Killdeer resembled (and is related to) an outsize Ringed Plover with a rufuous rump and prominent wing bar. It has a distinctive “kill...dee” call. The Pectoral Sandpiper and Killdeer were both Trans-Atlantic vagrants from North America.
Behind Bethlehem Chapel, the saline marsh, now almost completely filled-in, held a wealth of salt marsh plants and many birds including Bramblings and Water Rails in winter. Further east, where the “Brickworks Road” meets the railway line there is a thriving colony of the Crow Garlic (Allium vineale), its shoots emerging before Christmas.
Ffordd-y-Wagen, the Old Tramway itself holds many interesting species. The Large Periwinkle (Vinca major ssp. major) decorates the steep landward bank with its large blue flowers from February onwards. On disturbed ground Veronica sublobata (with whitish anthers that help to distinguish it from Veronica hederifolia with pale blue anthers) was noted in April 1977. Behind some houses, and no doubt like the Periwinkle, a garden escape, the hybrid Comfrey (Symphtum x uplandicum) grows. Wetter areas hold the mints Mentha aquatica, Mentha longifolia and the hybrid Mentha x niliaca. The attractive cup fungus Peziza scutellaria grows on rotting, dead elm trunks.
Two interesting insects are to be found along Ffordd-y-Wagen, Dark Bush Crickets (Pholidoptera griseoaptera) in the undergrowth and the carnivorous Green Tiger Beetle (Cicindela campestris) in dry, sandy areas. In connection with the former it should be noted that the large Great Green Bush Cricket (Tettigonia viridissima) with its continuous, loud song was recorded near Burry Port during the hot summer of 1976. It has a marked “southern” distribution in the British Isles.
Finally, some additional notes on the birds of the area. In early spring, along the shoreline is a good place to see early passage Wheatears and sometimes in summer, Gannets may be seen fishing offshore following shoals of Mackerel. In autumn, the Ashpits Pond has Common and sometimes Green Sandpipers. One autumn evening a Short-eared Owl with distinctive long wings and yellow and black eyes hunted over the rough grassland behind Pwll beach. On 5 October 1975 Dave Powell recorded a female Snow Bunting amongst a flock of pipits at Burry Port. Late December of the same year saw two over-wintering Chiffchaffs near the Ashpits Pond and this January a Chiffchaff and a Blackcap were again present.
There are several access points such as east of the Power Station, near the Ashpits Pond and from behind Bethlehem Chapel, Pwll.
