A legendary year to birdwatch in North Wales

Happy New Year! The Christmas break is a good chance to review the year and to catch up on some reading. There's plenty to be proud of at Conwy in 2016, as you can read in last week's blog.

Two things that I've read this week provide good reasons to spend time discovering nature in North Wales this year.

Firstly, the travel-guide people Lonely Planet have named North Wales as the fourth best place in the World to visit in 2017. In the World! To be listed up there with other amazing parts of the world is pretty epic, and surveys by Visit Wales show that the natural heritage is a major reason that people come to North Wales.

Then a good friend of the reserve David Lindo (who on BBC's The One Show described RSPB Conwy as his favourite nature reserve in Wales), pointed me in the direction of an article by Conde Nast, another travel publisher, about "Why Birdwatching really is 2017's unlikeliest craze" . The focus of the story is on urban birding, and particularly the first London Bird Festival, but I think it has wider application. And anyway, to a flying bird, Conwy's position on the edge of residential and industrial estates does look a teeny bit urban.

So, birdwatching is hip, and North Wales is one of the best places in the world to spend your free time. Of course, you know that already, but it's nice to see the rest of the world catching up. So what better for a new year's resolution than to spend time in North Wales discovering birds and other wildlife?

2017 is the Year of Legends in Wales, and there is plenty to celebrate. We have a rich cultural as well as natural heritage, and legends come in many forms.

For me, real legends are those who step up and do things for nature, whether it's at home, in their local community or at a special place, such as a nature reserve. We'll be featuring some of these legendary volunteers in our blog through the year.

One legend who we know well is Iolo Williams, who has brought Wales' wildlife into millions of homes, in both English and Welsh languages, for more than 15 years. He is passionate about our wildlife, stemming from his childhood in the uplands of mid Wales and through a career with RSPB Cymru. His passion and knowledge shine through when you speak to him. If you're not one of the 27,000 people who have watched his speech at the Welsh Assembly launch of the State of Nature report, devote 15 minutes to watching this.

Iolo wants everyone to get out and enjoy Wales' wildlife, demonstrating how important it is to the nation's tourism industry, in his new book Wild Places: Wales' Top 40 Nature Sites. Judging by sales in our shop, quite a few of you will have found a copy under your Christmas tree last week. 

Tickets for our evening event 'An Audience with Iolo' later this month have sold out, but he will be here on the afternoon of Friday 27 January to sign copies of Wild Places (and any of the other books he's written that we sell), so if you want to meet a legend of Welsh wildlife, don't miss out. Full details on our website.

By the way, a new series of Iolo's Great Welsh Parks starts on BBC1 Wales tomorrow evening at 7.30pm, featuring the Great Orme, a superb place for nature just a few miles north of Conwy. If you miss it, or don't live in Wales, you can catch the programme on iPlayer from Monday evening.