In and around the Bosherston Lakes and Lily Ponds:
The Earl’s of Cawdor created these lakes between 1790 and 1840 and today are home to otters, waterfowl and dragonflies. The lakes also contain good stocks of coarse fish including pike, tench, roach and perch. In late spring and early summer parts of the Ponds are covered with large white flowers of the white waterlily.
This is an intensely atmospheric environment from which to observe the following birds: |
Grey Heron - A bird of patience, the lakes offer the perfect habitat for colonies of heron that make their home here. The heron's diet includes fishes, small mammals, young ducks and amphibians - they find frogs particularly easy to catch at mating time. Herons breed in communal nesting sites called heronries. These are collections of nests built of large sticks and usually lodged in the tops of tall trees. Often you will see several heron nests in one tree. Herons will also sometimes nest in the surrounding marsh or nearby cliffs.
Mute Swan - Mute swans have a distinctive deep orange bill and make nests of vegetation and down in the reedy margins. Water plants and aquatic insects are the main
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food of these semi-domesticated swans. In April they produce between five and twelve cygnets and are very good parents.
Cormorants - Large, long-necked black birds that swim low in the water and are able to dive and move about under water with great agility making them excellent at catching fish, on which they feed. Much of the year is spent near the coast but they move inland when the rivers are low in summer and the food there is easy to catch. They are considered a serious predator of trout and coarse fish on still-water fisheries and on some rivers.
Goosander - A handsome diving duck that uses its long serrated bill to catch fish. A largely freshwater bird, the goosander was bred in the UK in 1871. It built up numbers in Scotland and then since 1970 it has spread across N England and into Wales. Found on the lakes mainly in winter, it moves inland in search of its favourite fish- salmon and trout- throughout the summer.
Mallard - This is a common, large and heavy looking duck. It has a long body and a long and broad bill. They feed on insects, worms, slugs, snails, frogs and various kinds of shellfish, as well as grasses and other bank-side vegetation. They live on the lakes throughout the year and usually nest on the ground, often in dense undergrowth beside the lake. They will also nest in holes in trees, sometimes well above ground level. Between March and May the female lays between eight and fourteen eggs in a nest of grass and sedge lined with fine down.
Gadwell - A rare bird in Wales, a little smaller than the mallard, and with an obvious black rear end. It is a grey-coloured dabbling duck and shows a white wing patch in flight. When seen close up the grey colour is made up of exquisitely fine barring and speckling. It nests in low numbers in the UK and is endangered specie.
Long-Tailed Tit - A shy, yet energetic, noisy and pretty little bird with a fluffy and untidy appearance! They nest in the surrounding bushes using moss, wool, feathers and spiders' webs to create a deep dome with a tiny side entrance. In the winter colonies of two or three-dozen can be heard and seen with their disproportionately long white-edged tails working along the edge of a wood, searching for insects.
Wren - Its upturned tail and small size are distinctive features, as also is its amazingly loud warble. The male and female are very similar in appearance. Wrens are communal birds, often nesting in groups of eight or ten together. They will make use of nest boxes, but more commonly they nest on scrubby slopes or scree, and in cavities in trees, bridges and walls.
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