Independence Day

Volunteer wildlife guide (and e-news editor), Paul Martin, has been in the Benarth Hide this afternoon and has had good views of two juvenile bearded tits.  The brood that hatched here last month hasn't been seen for weeks, so this is great news.  No sign of the adults, so is there another nesting attempt somewhere in the reeds?

The other highlight of the week is a marsh tit seen regularly on the Wildlife Garden feeders since Friday.  Marsh tits are a Red List species, whose population has crashed in recent years, and there are few places in North Wales that you can regularly see them.  There hasn't been one at Conwy for a number of years, so let's hope they're breeding not too far away.  A great spotted woodpecker has also been making occasional visits to the feeders, a bird that is infrequent on the reserve.

The great crested grebe chick is still going strong, its stripy feathers getting bigger by the day, but still not too large to hitch a ride on mum or dad's back.  A little grebe has also been seen on the reserve, the first for several months.  The parts of the lagoon that aren't bone dry are looking excellent for waders: whimbrel, ringed plover, black-tailed godwit, greenshank and common sandpiper are among those here over the last few days.  One or two juvenile black-headed gulls are feeding on the reserve now; they haven't nested here, but can only have fledged a few days ago.  We thought lapwing nesting was finished for the year, then yesterday a new brood of four chicks popped up on the sand dunes (er, lagoon) outside the coffee shop.

The long-staying black swan has been joined by another collection escapee, a lesser white-fronted goose.  This bird has been wandering the North Wales coast for several years, so despite his suspect origin, it is like welcoming back an old friend.

The stoats have been seen occasionally along the estuary path, but are less showy than a couple of weeks ago.  Small tortoiseshells seem to be having a better season (good news for a butterfly whose population has crashed dramatically in recent years), and broad-bodied chaser has been a regular visitor to the dipping pond.  There are lots of red-tailed bumblebees around at the moment too.