American duck draws a crowd

There's no doubt about the star bird of the last week. This smart male ring-necked duck was found by regular visitor Marc Hughes early on Sunday morning, and many local birders were keen to see it. Originating in North America, it's only the sixth ever recorded in North Wales, and it's the first seen at Conwy.* It arrived, and presumably went, with a gaggle of five pochards, which may prove to be the last here of the winter. Thanks to Martin Jones for the photo.

The second half of April has been mostly about arriving summer migrant birds: since our last post, we've had our first whimbrel (8 April), sedge warbler (9th), reed warbler (10th), whitethroat (17th), lesser whitethroat (19th), swift (20th), and garden warbler (22nd), which means all of our regular visitors have returned.

There are now good numbers of willow, sedge and reed warblers here, though common whitethroats seem quite scarce so far. There have been lots of white wagtails - up to 80 on some days - sharing the saltmarsh with up to a dozen whimbrels, and smaller numbers of dunlins and ringed plovers. There have been a few yellow wagtails among the whites, shining like beacons in the sunshine, a welcome sight, but far rarer here than they used to be.

A grasshopper warbler was reeling along the Ganol Trail on Sunday (22nd) and yesterday (24th) and a little ringed plover gave great views in front of Carneddau Hide over the weekend. Wheatears have been few and far between this spring, but 11 on Saturday (21st) was a respectable total.

A cream-crowned marsh harrier was here on a couple of dates, most recently yesterday (24th), and an osprey caught a flounder from the estuary this morning (25th) and headed upriver. A Cetti's warbler was reported last Thursday (19th).

Three or four great-crested grebes are on the lagoons, and a pair built a rather flimsy nest in front of Carneddau Hide but it doesn't look as though it will last. More substantial Canada goose and coot nests have been established around the reserve. A few teal and a pair of shovelers are lingering; most snipe have left, although we did spot one this morning.

Reeds are starting to shoot from under the water and a few more flowers are blooming; in particular look for the pale pink cuckoo flowers along the margins of the Shallow Lagoon, in front of The LookOut. Last week's sunny weather brought out small tortoiseshell, speckled wood, orange tip, brimstone, green-veined white and peacock butterflies, while bumblebees include buff-tailed, white-tailed and red-tailed, early, tree and common carder. A few dark-edged bee-flies have also been spotted, always a sign that we're well into Spring.

Also, if you're overlooking the Bridge Pond, look for three-spined sticklebacks. The water is so clear at the moment, you can easily spot these little fish, some of which are now bright red on the flanks and patrolling a territory.

Several visitors have been fortunate to have daytime views of otters, usually on the Deep Lagoon; these sightings have mostly been early in the morning, but sometimes in the middle of the afternoon! We've also seen up to three on our trailcams, and we glimpsed briefly a polecat on the trailcam too last week.

The pair of house sparrows on our nestcam, showing in the Visitor Centre, have been slow to build their nest - not least because Mrs Sparrow removed most of the material that Mr Sparrow brought in. But even with a skimpy nest, she started laying and now has three eggs. This year's sparrow soap-opera has begun.

* a ring-necked duck was reported on the pools in 1991 before the nature reserve was created, but it was never submitted to the British Birds Rarities Committee (that adjudicates on such things). However, this week's sighting has prompted a Manchester birdwatcher to dig out his notebook which contains a drawing of that bird. It may yet make the record books!