Egrets, we have a few...

With the breeding season over, Autumn and Winter are the seasons for reserve management work, and we've been busy in recent weeks undertaking various activities, and haven't had an opportunity to update the blog. And there's a lot to tell you about!

Regular readers and visitors will know that we have had a great white egret on the reserve since mid-July (photograph above by Simon Knight). There was just one previous record here, and they are becoming more common in Britain, with a couple of pairs nesting on an RSPB nature reserve in Somerset. However, nothing prepared us for this week, when former Site Manager Alan Davies counted 6 on the estuary on Thursday 6th (in the best traditions of the BBC sport vide-printer, that's SIX!). This is the most ever seen in Wales at one time (a record set just a few days earlier when there were six in Gower). With our nature reserve at Burton Mere Wetlands also hosting six and a couple more in Anglesey, these have - in two days - doubled the number of great white egrets seen in North Wales since records began. They are spending most of their time on the estuary, where the tide is still bringing large numbers of small fish in each day, along with hundreds of gulls and a new site record count of little egrets: 132 this morning!

The tide also brought a new species to the reserve foreshore, but not a bird: this huge barrel jellyfish (Rhizostoma pulmo) was washed up on Tuesday, and you can see from my size 9 boot, that it was pretty large!

Several birds are clearly so loving their stay at Conwy that they don't want to leave: a garganey remains with teal on the shallow lagoon; a female-type scaup is with tufted ducks on the deep lagoon (though a male that had been with it in late September seems to have gone); and there are still several chiffchaffs singing and blackcaps feeding in the scrub.

And wader migration isn't done yet: curlew sandpiper and a jack snipe have been here the last couple of days, a little stint was on the estuary yesterday (7th), ringed plover and bar-tailed godwit on Wednesday (5th), grey plover, knot and spotted redshank on Monday (3rd)

More waterbirds are arriving by the day, with 173 wigeons counted this morning (8th), a pintail here for the last two days, a couple of pochard on the deep lagoon and water rail sightings (and sounds) becoming more frequent.

A nuthatch was a good find on Thursday (6th) while on Tuesday morning (4th), the reserve awoke to the sound of dozens of redwings, having arrived overnight but departing quickly. A firecrest was around the Tal-y-fan Hide from Saturday 24th to Tuesday 4th, and may still be present. A couple of choughs are a near-daily occurrence at this time of year, but nine flying over the Paddocks at eye-level on Monday (3rd) was a real treat. A late wheatear was here on Sunday (2nd), with six swallows and a house martin on Saturday (1st) that will probably be our last of 2016.

Red admirals have been numerous this week, enjoying the mild weather and feeding on the blackberries during sunny spells, and comma and common darter have been regular too. Another new species for the reserve came in the form of a knotgrass leaf beetle (Chrysolina polita), a deep-red coloured insect, found by two visitors on 29 September.

Management work

Warden Tim and the volunteers have been taking advantage of the prolonged dry weather to start the brushcutting season. You'll already see the difference around the trails, with the reed cut from the Bridge Pond and our 'bumblebee bays' re-cut next to the footpath. The islands in front of the Carneddau Hide have been cut, with the vegetation raked into the water (which the snipe love), and the recreation area behind the Visitor Centre has been tidied up too. There's still plenty more to do, over the winter, so we expect to hear the whine of brushcutters for some weeks to come, as we make the reserve good for plants and invertebrates.

We've also had the diggers in, enabling us to replace a damaged section of underground electric cable that runs the water pump. Now we need some rain so that we can use the pump and top-up the lagoons! There will be more digger work this week, as we are installing a new soakaway, which will use a new, small reedbed to clean the grey water that comes from our sewage system. This is within the scrubby area close to the A55, so there may be periodic access restrictions there over the next week or so. Then, in early November, we will be installing a new permanent fence in front of the Carneddau Hide, to prevent foxes and badgers getting onto the islands. More on this in a couple of weeks, but please note that there will inevitably be disturbance on that part of the reserve for a few days while the work is completed.

Finally, tickets are on sale now for our Celebrate the Night event on Saturday 22 October. It promises to be a very special event, with a journey through the solar system in a pop-up planetarium and an evening of magical family activities after dark. Click here for details, because tickets for this special event must be booked in advance.