December has started off with some interesting sightings and some of the coldest days of the winter so far, though it has now warmed up again. During our monthly checks of rain gauges around the reserve on 1 December a great grey shrike was spotted distantly on top of small conifers along the moorland edge above the red trail. This is a typical spot for these shrike as it is close to open clearfell and open moorland with scattered trees where they can hunt for small mammals, beetles and also small birds.
On the same day a little egret was spotted from the office windows flying over the dam where it thought about going further up the lake but soon had other ideas and turned around and flew back high down the river. The day before a moorhen had been spotted on the lake off the dam by one of our volunteers. These are rare here at Lake Vyrnwy so I was pleased to add it to my list, not long after also adding the little egret, to take me to 79 species for the winter (since 1 October).
Great grey shrike by Gavin Chambers
I had unfortunately missed the shrike, though egret and moorhen were far more unexpected, but a couple of days later on 3 December, while out hunting for willow tit, I got really nice views of a great grey shrike along the roadside between Llanwddyn and Hirnant (80th on my list). It sat on a few tree tops before moving away further up the valley. Having no camera with me at the time I decided to try and sketch it instead using an image from the internet that was similar to how it was seen.
In recent weeks we have spent some time cleaning out many of our nest boxes scattered across the reserve. It is important to get them cleaned out during the winter months after the birds have stopped using them and before they start to think about nesting. Removing old nests and other materials will help remove bugs and fleas which could influence the successfulness of next year’s nesting birds.
Nest box full of acorns (photo by Gavin Chambers)
Nest boxes can however be used during the winter and therefore care should be taken not to disturb roosting birds and small hibernating/wintering mammals. During our checks we found wood mice, pipistrelle bat, long-eared bat and wasps inside boxes, all of which had their lids tied back down quickly and quietly to leave them in peace. A few boxes also had whole acorns cached (stored) inside them. Generally just a few acorns were found but one box was heaving and after a quick count found to have 150! They have probably been cached by wood mice so that when the weather turns really cold they have an easy food source.
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