Conwy

With the reserve having recently reopened to the public after several months, we’re long overdue an update of wildlife sightings stretching all the way back to almost mid-December. Once again much has happened with the changing seasons and lengthening daylight hours as the reserve gradually reawakens and comes to life as we move further into the spring. Winter visitors have mostly departed, spring migration is well…

Habitat management work has been progressing well over the past few weeks, with a particular focus on cutting back the vegetation on most of the lagoon islands to maintain good habitat for feeding, roosting and potentially nesting water birds, along with better opportunities for viewing them (picture above taken from one of the islands near Carneddau hide on the deep lagoon while work was being carried out). 

With the…

The winter season at Conwy generally means an increase in wildfowl on the lagoons, flocks of tits and finches feeding in the trees, and the presence of one of the reserve’s most sought after birds, the firecrest (library image by Bob Garrett). This year it seems this species arrived a little earlier than usual, with the first record on 12/9, and there have been regular sightings of at least one bird throughout the…

Great white egrets have remained one of the highlights on the reserve once again over the past month with a peak of six birds present together on the shallow lagoon on 13/9 and typically three or four birds seen on most days, generally moving between the estuary and the lagoons depending on the tide (photo by Mel Hughes). It’s almost three months now since the first bird turned up here so this is certainly the longest…

The main highlights over the past month were a juvenile black tern (photo by Martin Neale) which was present from 22/8 to 23/8, and a wood sandpiper from 31/7 to 1/8, both of which were mostly seen around the deep lagoon. Great white egrets have been seen consistently around the reserve for the last couple of months now, with at least two birds present on most days and up to four seen on several occasions.  

Other highlights…

With the reserve trails having reopened to the public on 8/7, we've been fortunate to have had the daily presence of great white egrets for several weeks running (library image by Simon Knight). The first appeared on 28/6 and was joined by a second bird on 13/7 with the two both being present since, and mostly feeding and roosting around the shallow lagoon. A third bird was also reported on the estuary on 18/7. Althou…

Cowslips beside the shallow lagoon in early spring (Jonni Price)

It’s been a while since the last sightings blog post for the reserve was published, and a lot has certainly happened over the last three months with seasons changing, migrant birds coming and going, and the reserve coming to life in its full glory as we approach mid-summer. With the lack of visitors and only a small number of staff working there may…

On 14 April 1995, after years of initial development, RSPB Conwy nature reserve opened it's gates to the public. Throughout April, we want to commemorate this milestone, and celebrate our 25th anniversary with you! As part of this celebration, we will be sharing what RSPB Conwy means to the people at the heart of the reserve - our fantastic staff (both past and present), and our amazing volunteers. Each blog has been…

On 14 April 1995, after years of initial development, RSPB Conwy nature reserve opened it's gates to the public. Throughout April, we want to commemorate this milestone, and celebrate our 25th anniversary with you! As part of this celebration, we will be sharing what RSPB Conwy means to the people at the heart of the reserve - our fantastic staff (both past and present), and our amazing volunteers. Each blog has been…

On 14 April 1995, after years of initial development, RSPB Conwy nature reserve opened it's gates to the public. Throughout April, we want to commemorate this milestone, and celebrate our 25th anniversary with you! As part of this celebration, we will be sharing what RSPB Conwy means to the people at the heart of the reserve - our fantastic staff (both past and present), and our amazing volunteers. Each blog has been…

On 14 April 1995, after years of initial development, RSPB Conwy nature reserve opened it's gates to the public. Throughout April, we want to commemorate this milestone, and celebrate our 25th anniversary with you! As part of this celebration, we will be sharing what RSPB Conwy means to the people at the heart of the reserve - our fantastic staff (both past and present), and our amazing volunteers. Each blog has been…

On 14 April 1995, after years of initial development, RSPB Conwy nature reserve opened it's gates to the public. Throughout April, we want to commemorate this milestone, and celebrate our 25th anniversary with you! As part of this celebration, we will be sharing what RSPB Conwy means to the people at the heart of the reserve - our fantastic staff (both past and present), and our amazing volunteers. Each blog has been…

On 14 April 1995, after years of initial development, RSPB Conwy nature reserve opened it's gates to the public. Throughout April, we want to commemorate this milestone, and celebrate our 25th anniversary with you! As part of this celebration, we will be sharing what RSPB Conwy means to the people at the heart of the reserve - our fantastic staff (both past and present), and our amazing volunteers. Each blog has been…

On 14 April 1995, after years of initial development, RSPB Conwy nature reserve opened it's gates to the public. Throughout April, we want to commemorate this milestone, and celebrate our 25th anniversary with you! As part of this celebration, we will be sharing what RSPB Conwy means to the people at the heart of the reserve - our fantastic staff (both past and present), and our amazing volunteers. Each blog has been…

On 14 April 1995, after years of initial development, RSPB Conwy nature reserve opened it's gates to the public. Throughout April, we want to commemorate this milestone, and celebrate our 25th anniversary with you! As part of this celebration, we will be sharing what RSPB Conwy means to the people at the heart of the reserve - our fantastic staff (both past and present), and our amazing volunteers. Each blog has been…

On 14 April 1995, after years of initial development, RSPB Conwy nature reserve opened it's gates to the public. Throughout April, we want to commemorate this milestone, and celebrate our 25th anniversary with you! As part of this celebration, we will be sharing what RSPB Conwy means to the people at the heart of the reserve - our fantastic staff (both past and present), and our amazing volunteers. Each blog has been…

On 14 April 1995, after years of initial development, RSPB Conwy nature reserve opened it's gates to the public. Throughout April, we want to commemorate this milestone, and celebrate our 25th anniversary with you! As part of this celebration, we will be sharing what RSPB Conwy means to the people at the heart of the reserve - our fantastic staff (both past and present), and our amazing volunteers. Each blog has been…

On 14 April 1995, after years of initial development, RSPB Conwy nature reserve opened it's gates to the public. Throughout April, we want to commemorate this milestone, and celebrate our 25th anniversary with you! As part of this celebration, we will be sharing what RSPB Conwy means to the people at the heart of the reserve - our fantastic staff (both past and present), and our amazing volunteers. Each blog has been…

Along with the recent warmer weather, longer daylight hours and new leaves emerging on the trees, the sound of chiffchaffs singing around the reserve (photo by John Bridges, RSPB images) is a clear indication that spring has begun. These are one of our earliest migrants to arrive from Africa with the first one heard on 13/3. Another early arrival as usual has been sand martins with the first ones seen on 14/3. Reed Bunti…

The last few weeks have seen several notable things happening on the reserve. Around the end of January and into early February we were enjoying spectacular aerial displays from up to 60,000 starlings as they came in to roost in the reedbeds in the evenings (photo by Jonni Price).

The first week of February saw extensive habitat management work successfully completed with many large areas of mature bramble scrub removed…

Plans are underway for some large scale habitat management work on the reserve during the first week of February. This will see mature bramble scrub cleared from various areas in order to maintain a more diverse range of habitats as well as improving some of the views from the trails. 

The areas opened up will help to create a patchwork of different habitat types and structures, with increased edge features. These chan…

Having arrived in mid-Novemeber, Firecrests have continued to be the star attraction on the reserve over the past month, with daily sightings of at least three birds putting on a good show for visitors who've travelled to see them. The birds have been frequenting various locations along the discovery trail, usually up as far as the Bridge pond and Tal y Fan hides, with occasional sightings close to the visitor centre…

With the summer migrants long gone and autumn migration drawing to an end, the variety of birdlife around the reserve is now typical of the winter season. One of the latest arrivals was the first firecrest of the winter reported near the Bridge Pond on 16/11, one of our most sought after birds on the reserve during this time of year (photo of a bird seen previously by Bob Garrett).

Wildfowl species have been nicely building…

The arrival of birds for the winter season is now well under way, with further increases in wildfowl, winter waders and other species typical of this time of year. 

Numbers of wigeon and teal (photo by Steve Knell, RSPB images) have steadily built up around the estuary and lagoons and these have been joined by other wintering wildfowl including a female pintail on 26/9 to 27/9, up to two pochard, five shoveler and several…

With autumn now only just around the corner, we have seen a further increase in the variety of wading birds passing through the reserve, along with the first arrivals of some of our winter species. 

Wader highlights over the past month have included ruff on 20/8, spotted redshank on 24/8 and 14/9 (photo of a bird seen previously by Bob Garrett), and curlew sandpiper and little stint on 1/9. Small numbers of whimbrel continue…