Birds and bees

Imagine being a chick. For the last few weeks, you've been cosseted in an egg, warmed by the downy feathered lining of your nest and the warm belly of your parent(s). Most birds - generally females - have a 'brood patch' of bare feathers so that eggs and chicks get warmth from the adult's blood vessels.

Then, when you're too big to stay in the egg any longer, you fight your way out of the egg, chipping away the inside of the shell with a little 'egg tooth' a temporary spike on your tiny bill. This world is a very different place now you've hatched, and all seems fine until your Mum gets off the nest, and you feel the chill Arctic winds blowing over you.

That's how I'd imagine the first mallard and Canada goose chicks have been feeling this week, but with plenty of downy feathers of their own, they're well equipped for cold air and cold water. The oystercatcher chicks are still inside their eggs under brooding adults on the islands in the lagoon. Let's hope the weather improves by the time they hatch so that there are plenty of insects for them to eat.

The last couple of weeks has seen all of our remaining summer regulars turn up. Since our last blog, we've recorded our first whitethoat and whimbrel (both 12 April), swift and reed warbler (both 17 April), garden warbler on 21 April and lesser whitethroat on 24th. In fact, whimbrels have been here in good numbers, with counts of 28 on Saturday (23rd) and 31 on Tuesday 19th. Other migrants to occur in number include five common sandpipers on Tuesday this week (26th) and a remarkable 54 wheatears on Tuesday 12th. Another good count was of 237 shelducks on Friday (22nd), gathering in the lower estuary before heading upriver to find a nest in an old rabbit burrow.

April should be the peak wagtail month, but so far only small numbers of white wagtails have been spotted, though a blue-headed wagtail on the deep lagoon islands this morning was a welcome visitor, our first for a couple of years. Large numbers of sand martins are feeding regularly over the water, perhaps their only source of insects in the cold wind. Other scarce visitors seen recently include stonechat on Wednesday/Thursday (20th/21st), a twite on the same two days (which had been colour-ringed on the Dee Estuary in February and is perhaps heading back to the small breeding population in Snowdonia) and a redstart (Tuesday 19th). A spotted redshank was seen on the estuary at high tide over the weekend (22nd-24th) and a few dunlins have been feeding on the deep lagoon islands

Some of our winter birds haven't quite felt the urge to leave yet, with a few teal and gadwall, a pair of wigeon and a male goldeneye still here; a single male pochard was here until last Friday (22nd) and a pair of shovelers until last week.

The warmer, sunny weather last week brought out some early butterflies: comma, speckled wood, peacock, orange-tip, small tortoiseshell, green-veined white and brimstone, and our insect surveys have been finding plenty of bumblebees too. Sarah added a new mining bee species to the reserve list last week, when she found a colony of Clarke's mining bees (Andrena clarkella). Thanks to Richard Knisely-Marpole for taking a series of excellent photos for us. There are lots of common dog violets in flower along the sea wall, and cuckoo flowers (also known as ladies' smock) in bloom around the reserve.

With May just around the corner, there are still plenty more migrant birds to come, more flowers to emerge and lots of insects to hatch. Who knows what you'll find here over the bank holiday...