It’s going to be a really busy fortnight for work here on the reserve, so unfortunately there may be a wee bit of disruption for a while.
Swapshop: the floor of the Visitor Centre is being replaced, and we’re taking the opportunity to refurbish the reception area and some parts of the shop. From 31 January to 11 February, the shop will be in the education room at the back of the Visitor Centre. We won’t have all stock on display but we’ll definitely have all the bird food and feeders that you’ll need to help your garden birds through the winter. The sightings board and details of membership will be in the Coffee Shop for those two weeks.
Happy hour: every weekday throughout February, we're having a Happy Hour in the coffee shop. Between 10am and 11am each weekday, we're offering special meal deals that will save you £1 on every portion: a toasted tea cake and cup of tea/filter coffee is just £2.85, a bacon sandwich and cup of tea/filter coffee is just £3.85. Come and indulge yourself!Can we dig it? Yes we can! Over the years, some of the smaller ponds on the reserve have grown over with reed and dried out. Starting on 31 January, we’ll have a digger on site for a week to clear them out and restore them, so that they will become good freshwater habitats for pond creatures again. This means that at times some sections of the trails may be closed temporarily, but we’re hoping that access will still be possible to all of the hides – please contact the Visitor Centre on 01492 584091 for details if you’re planning a visit.
I can see clearly now: we are replacing two of the windows in the Tal Y Fan hide to improve them for both wheelchair users and small children. This means that the right hand side of the hide will be closed for two days while we complete the work. Weather permitting, we're planning to carry out this work on 7 and 8 February .
We’re very sorry for any inconvenience all this work may cause, but hope you will enjoy the work when it is completed!Recent sightings (just in case you thought we'd forgotten): Bird of the week was waxwing. Eight were reported on Tuesday, and then three were seen yesterday (Friday) in trees adjacent to the railway line - the second group were seen by Dave our cleaner as he was walking to clean out the hides. Just shows you should always carry your bincoulars with you. Almost as surprising were three pink-footed geese yesterday afternoon, a fairly scarce species here. There have been plenty of siskins around, with three lesser redpolls yesterday (wildlife garden is best) and 7 bullfinches this morning.Rock pipit has been reported from the saltmarsh on several days this week, over which a peregrine has been hunting regularly (and we think is the source of the bits of teal that we've been finding outside the Visitor Centre). Several visitors have seen stoats this week, including one with a distinctive white tail - keep your eyes open.