Saturday 19 March 2011

Beside the Sea (3): Laugharne, Red Velvet Mite and Curlew

Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, Wales, UK
We took a trip to Laugharne and walked along in the shadow of Dylan Thomas. His famous Boat House home is the white building closest to the estuary, at the end of the path that skirts the castle. 

Eutrombidium rostratus. Order: Trombidiformes

We kept our ears open for the sound of the Curlew. We heard a few Oystercatchers. There were plenty of Cockle shells on the shore. My eyes alighted on this tiny red creature above. It was less than a centimetre in length and, thanks to Ray Wilson's photograph, I can say that it appears to be a Red Velvet Mite. My thanks to David for his photo (posted above) of this minute creature. It belongs to the class of Arachnida and the sub-class, Acari. You can read more on the BugGuide.



We noticed this bird of prey on a telegraph pole. I tried to photograph it, but I was shooting into the sun. I would be grateful if anyone can identify it from this picture and the one below. I think it was smaller than a Buzzard.



 There was no sign of the Heron on Dylan's 'heron-priested shore' - though we noticed a solitary Little Egret. Laugharne, however, would hardly be Laugharne without a Curlew ...




4 comments:

Crafty Green Poet said...

That little mite is certainly very brightly coloured! I'd say your bird of prey was a female sparrowhawk but I've been known to get it wrong....

Linda said...

That's quite a collection of subjects in this post!

J said...

It's easy to see why Laugharne should inspire those of poetic bent. Lovely shots.

Mary said...

I just love seeing your Welsh castles! I spent a week visitng them once....we went to 9 different ones plus one English one. The vacation of a life time and loved every minute of it. I haven't been to this castle, however. Lovely photos of everything.