Llanelli Naturalists Newsletter - June 1998 - No 63
Ian Morgan

About ten members gathered in sunny weather to walk down the recently constructed footpath the 'Pontyates Heritage Trail'.  The footpath was entered near Ynys-fawr (SN 465077), where a British Coal - excavated pond was inspected, and plants noted included Curly Waterweed Lagarosiphon major, a larger relative of the familiar Canadian Pondweed Elodea canadensis.  A planted Black Poplar Populus nigra var. betulifolia was inspected.  Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps sang from adjacent bushes.  Along the footpath, an established plant of Traveller's Joy Clematis vitalba (and many seedlings) were noted, as were many common species of wet woodland (dense carr dominated by willows and Alder covers much of the length of the disused Kidwelly and Llanelly Canal and the margins of the adjacent former Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway).  The party passed but did not see (due to intervening vegetation) a pond/wetland area below Pont-newydd Golf Course. This now supports a breeding pair of Cetti's Warblers, which have occupied this site since at least 1995.  The birds are seldom seen but they betray their presence by their almost explosively loud song; they can also be heard along the footpath at the Ffrwd Fen Reserve near Pembrey.

Later, towards Pont-newydd, the party was excited to find Otter prints in muddy sediment, further confirming this species' presence on the Afon Gwendraeth Fawr