Conwy

The annual wintering water rail survey was carried out on 16/1 with 26 birds responding to the taped calls played at various survey points around the reserve. This is a record high count with the previous highest count being 24 birds in 2018. Numbers over the years have typically fluctuated between around a dozen and twenty birds, and very much depend on weather conditions both locally and elsewhere in the country and…

It’s been a fairly quiet few weeks for sightings, with a typical variety of species for the winter season seen around the reserve. The most notable birds have perhaps been a Siberian chiffchaff on 10/12 and a Scandinavian rock pipit on 13/12, both sub species and scarce winter visitors to the UK.

Whooper swans are also relatively scarce on the reserve, with recent sightings of two birds on the estuary on 19/11…

Some of the highlights over the past few weeks have included a woodlark which was seen and heard flying over the reserve on 23/10, a rare species here with only one previous record from January 2010; a jack snipe on 2/11 which flew from the estuary and later gave good views on the deep lagoon; and two avocets close in front of the Carneddau hide on 9/11 (library photo by Ben Andrew, RSPB Images).

Other waders have included…

Autumn migration is now well underway with a nice variety of wading birds seen over the past few weeks. Some of the highlights have included little ringed plover with one on 29/7, two on 7/8 and a further single bird on 9/9; individual green sandpiper on 2/8, 17/8 and 19/8, spotted redshank on four dates between 30/8 and 12/9, two curlew sandpiper on 29/8, 31/8 and 6/9, a single ruff from 31/7 to 3/8, and a little s…

This month we have been celebrating the reserve for its dragonflies, with the British Dragonfly Society designating us as an official ‘Dragonfly Hotspot’.

A launch event was held on 13^th July with guided walks, pond dipping and various other dragonfly related activities taking place.  Although the day was mostly cool and cloudy and not the best for seeing dragonflies on the wing, there were sightings of common…

June can be a quiet month for birds but it’s a great month for seeing flowering plants on the reserve, with the orchid species all looking at their best over the past few weeks. It seems to have been a particularly good spring for bee orchids (pictured) with at least a couple of hundred spikes this year, along with good numbers of southern marsh orchid and small numbers of pyramidal and early marsh orchid.

The…

As the spring has progressed we’ve seen further arrivals of our summer visitors that breed on the reserve, along with an interesting variety of passage migrants. While the numbers have continued to increase of species which had already arrived, we also recorded our first lesser whitethroat on 14/4 (library photo by Bob Garrett) and common whitethroat on 21/4 which completes the range of species which regularly breed…

The arrival of numerous summer migrants has been the main highlight on the reserve over the past few weeks, bringing about a refreshing change from a fairly consistent variety of species that were present over the winter.

With chiffchaffs already singing since mid-February (library photo by Ben Andrew), the next migrants to arrive were not surprisingly sand martin with one individual seen on 11/3 and many over the lagoons…

If you’ve visited the reserve over the past week or so then you may have noticed things getting rather messy with diggers around some of the pond areas.

Wetlands are by nature a constantly changing habitat with the process of ecological succession causing areas of open water to gradually become inundated with vegetation, and many of our smaller ponds have become overgrown with reeds, rushes and other aquatic plants…

The new year has begun with a variety of species of interest seen around the reserve.

With waxwings being very numerous around the country so far this winter, we almost missed out here except for one individual seen flying over the estuary track on 30/12, the first reserve record since December 2012 (library image by Andy Hay, RSPB images).

Other highlights have included Siberian chiffchaff and Scandinavian rock pip…

Bird sightings on the reserve have remained fairly steady over the past month with a nice variety of typical winter species present and good numbers of wildfowl on the lagoons.

Highlights have included a jack snipe on 3/4, woodcock over at dusk including one on 23/11 and two on 8/12, up to two spotted redshank seen on nine dates, and Siberian chiffchaff (a subspecies of our regular chiffchaff) on 3/12 and 11/12.

Shov…

A variety of interesting species have been seen on the reserve over the past month including a Lapland bunting which was present from 17/10 to 22/10 around the southern end of the estuary track (photo by Zak Spaull). This was only the second record of this species here, following a bird that was only seen briefly flying over in October last year. A cattle egret on 19/10 was also only the second reserve record following…

The last few weeks of autumn migration have produced a nice variety of species for the reserve and some interesting highlights.

A cattle egret on 26/9 has to be the most notable record, being a first for the reserve and certainly long overdue here given the frequency of sightings in areas such as the Dee estuary and the Cefni valley on Anglesey in recent years (library photo by Ben Andrew, RSPB images).

Raptors included…

Autumn migration has certainly been picking up over the last few weeks with some of the highlights being a hobby on 10/8 (library photo by Ben Andrew, RSPB Images), yellow wagtail with sightings of individuals on nine dates, an osprey over on 20/7, and a green sandpiper on 17/8.

Wading birds have also included greenshank on four dates with four birds on 3/8, individual knot on 19/7 and 24/7, ringed plover on four dates…

With autumn migration already underway, the variety and number of birds around the reserve has been gradually increasing again over the last few weeks.

One of the highlights from the past month has been a spoonbill which roosted on the lagoons on 6/7 and 7/7 (photo by Zak Spaull). Spoonbills are relatively scarce here with only five previous records, the last one being just over five years ago in June 2018.

A 2nd year…

Late spring is a great time to see flowering plants on the reserve, with carpets of bird's-foot trefoil and creeping buttercup creating a blaze of yellow across the open grassland areas, and a variety of orchids in flower including numerous southern marsh and smaller numbers of common spotted, early marsh, pyramidal and bee orchids among them (library photo by Julian Hughes). 

There’s also been a nice variety of other wildlife…

It’s been another busy few weeks of sightings on the reserve with more summer migrants arriving, an interesting variety of passage birds moving through, and increasingly more insects being seen as we move further into spring.

The appearance of a red-rumped swallow on 11/4 was undoubtedly the overall highlight (photo by Sophie Dorman), another species normally found no closer than southern Europe, with their breeding…

It’s been a busy few weeks for sightings with summer migrants beginning to arrive and many other birds moving through on passage, but the overall highlight has to be the presence of up to two Alpine swifts (photo by Steve Culley), part of a large influx into the country that has been making headline news in the bird world since mid-March. Individuals were seen over the reserve on 28/3 and 29/3, then two were seen…

A good variety of wildfowl has remained on the reserve over the past month with highlights including the long staying female scaup which has been here since 8/11, a drake common scoter on the deep lagoon on 20/1 and 21/1, and a drake pintail (library photo by Ben Hall, RSPB Images) which has been present on the shallow lagoon since 4/2. Pochard have gradually increased in number through the winter with a maximum of nine…

The new year has begun with a nice selection of winter birds around the reserve, with water rails being a particular focus of attention (pictured). This charismatic species is more often heard calling from the cover of the reedbeds than it is seen, though the reserve certainly offers a better than average chance of catching a glimpse of these elusive birds as they creep around the lagoon edges while feeding.

Water rails…

While the weather may have changed considerably from milder conditions to sub-zero temperatures with snow and ice in recent weeks, the variety of birds around the reserve has remained fairly consistent with a nice selection of winter species present.

Two female long-tailed ducks both remained up until 17/11, when the first bird left, which had been present for just over a month since 13/10. The remaining bird which arrived…

After a hot and dry summer with little rainfall, the last two months have been considerably wet, allowing us to put some much needed water back into the lagoons. With the water levels steadily rising, the numbers and variety of wildfowl has also increased.

Long-tailed ducks have been a particular highlight since around mid-October, with one bird present from 13/10 and a second bird joining since 7/11 (photo by Mike Spence…

With the water levels still very low following a hot and dry summer, the opportunity to carry out some major re-landscaping work on the islands in the lagoons has been one not to be missed.

When the reserve was originally developed around the early 1990s, many areas were reshaped to the RSPB’s specification following the industrial process of dumping material on to the site that was dredged from the Conwy estuary during…

Water levels in the lagoons may be at their lowest that we've recorded here for many years, but this certainly hasn't deterred the presence of a good variety of autumn migrants and other bird species around the reserve. 

Kingfisher sightings have been regular over the past month as they often are at this time of year, with sightings on 12 dates including two individuals seen together on 3/9 (library photo by Ben…

With the breeding season drawing to a close, autumn migration is already well underway with large numbers of birds on the move. The low water levels in the lagoons due to the warm and dry weather in recent months are providing extensive additional areas for birds to roost, particularly around the deep lagoon. This seems to have resulted in some relatively high counts of birds, particularly black-headed gulls (pictured…