A record count of redshanks, late swifts and other early September sightings

A quick update from us this week, to mention the highlights from the reserve:

• Big daily movement of house martins, with a smaller number of sand martins and swallows. Swifts has been seen almost daily, up to at least Sunday 10th, which is quite late for Conwy; they've usually left the area by the end of August
  
  
• Numbers of warblers are dwindling, with plenty of chiffchaffs still here but other species becoming harder to see. The latest dates we have are Friday (8th) for lesser whitethroat, Thursday (7th) for blackcap and Sunday (3rd) for reed warbler and garden warbler. Three or four wheatears were on the saltmarsh on Monday (4th) and four stonechats were along the sea wall the same morning.
  
  
• Greenshank, common sandpiper and whimbrel continue to be daily visitors to the lagoons, and three ringed plovers were seen on Saturday (9th). A bar-tailed godwit was seen several times last week, most recently on Wednesday (6th), and a knot was present last Sunday (3rd). Thanks to Alun Williams for sharing his greenshank photograph on our Flickr page.
  
  
• Kingfisher, water rail, white wagtail and grey wagtail have been seen daily.
  
  
• Four choughs flying over the reserve on Wednesday (6th) were the first of the autumn.
  
  
• Sunday's Wetland Bird Survey recorded a record number of redshanks on the reserve and the adjacent estuary: 961 in total, plus another 237 roosted downstream of Conwy Cob. We also saw ruff, greenshank and twite during the survey, the latter a bird that is typically recorded here just once each year.
  
  
• Speckled wood and red admirals continue to be numerous, with a few rather tatty meadow browns still around the paddocks.  A few comma butterflies have been seen, and sunny afternoons have brought out migrant hawker dragonflies and common darters.