Choughs - the commendable crow

When I was a child, the RSPB Film Show coming to town was a highlight of my autumn. Other kids might have looked forward to the funfair coming to town, but that was the kind of child-geek I was.

Each November, the Prince of Wales Theatre in Colwyn Bay (now Theatr Colwyn) would be packed with people for an evening of RSPB films. One of the first that I went to see - I must have been age 10, cos I've just looked up the year it was made - was The Commendable Crow, a brilliant film about choughs. I'm pretty certain I hadn't seen a real chough then, but nagging my parents, we went to RSPB South Stack Cliffs the following summer and I saw my first. Amazing birds, capable of aerial manoeuvres that the Red Arrows cannot achieve, it was their ringing 'chee-ow' call that I most remembered from the film, and which I loved hearing echo off the cliffs.

Back then, I couldn't see choughs around Conwy, but in the last 30 years they have moved into several local sites, though they are still rare over the reserve. Each morning since 23rd December, I have seen one or two pairs of chough flying south over the reserve each morning, presumably to feed somewhere in the Conwy Valley. Yesterday afternoon, warden Sarah saw nine choughs flying northeast, and we suspect that they may be birds that roost on the Little Orme. We are guessing that this is the highest count ever over the reserve.

Two firecrests continue to be seen regularly around the Bridge Pond, yesterday a male and female, and there are several goldcrests and a chiffchaff in the same area. Bullfinches are very obvious at the moment, with up to 10 seen among the scrub. Siskins have been very scarce so far this winter, but some were seen yesterday (Tuesday 30th).

On the lagoons, a few more goldeneyes have arrived, and the pochards and red-breasted mergansers look very smart as they come into breeding plumage. A small flock of black-tailed godwits are semi-resident on the lagoons, numbering between 15 and 25. There are lots of snipe around the reedy edges, and water rails in various places around the reserve. A couple of woodcocks have been seen, but these tend to be early in the morning, and usually in flight.

A merlin was seen over the Paddocks on Sunday (28th), the second sighting in 10 days; a greenshank was here on Christmas Eve; two whooper swans flew up river on Tuesday (23rd) and a kingfisher was seen on Sunday 21st. But it's the ringing call of the choughs that has made my Christmas week.

Stoats have been several times this week, and a weasel was photographed in the Wildlife Garden at the weekend.

Happy new year to all our readers and visitors, and we look forward to seeing you here in 2015 - our 20th anniversary year.

*As a post-script, I discovered on the British Film Institute website that The Commendable Crow was filmed by Mike Potts, who lives in Colwyn Bay, and also worked on various BBC Natural History Unit films - he's a talented stills photographer too, check out his website.