It's all gone Cuckoo

If you walk in the hills around North Wales, you'd be forgiven for thinking that cuckoos are still a common summer visitor, and in some places they are. But in the lowlands, they've become an all-too-rare symbol of spring. In my ten Summers at RSPB Conwy, I've only previously seen one cuckoo, and most years, none are recorded. So it's been nice to see one daily this week, and by the descriptions we've received, we think that both a male and female have been spotted. As they have stayed for several days (the female was first seen on Sunday, most recently this morning, with a male seen yesterday), perhaps they are seeking out reed warblers that are laying a second clutch of eggs. Will we see a fledged juvenile cuckoo later in the season? Thanks to Dave Williams for the use of his photo (not taken at Conwy).

Male cuckoos, at least, are already heading south - as seen from the individuals satellite-tracked by the British Trust for Ornithology - and we're seeing other signs of southbound migration this week: 13 black-tailed godwits, 50 redshanks and 50 curlews today, little ringed plover yesterday (27th), and there have been lots of sand martins feeding over the lagoons over the last couple of days.  Up to four common sandpipers are on the reserve (we suspect a pair bred here, but we've seen no chicks this year) and four snipe on Monday (26th) are the first of the 'autumn'.

The large flock of moulting Canada geese, that have arrived here from all over the region, are still present, with up to 20 greylag geese and a barnacle goose. There are still lots of young mallards, moorhens and coots on the lagoons too. A wheatear has spent a couple of weeks on the estuary, although has not been seen since Sunday (25th), and a spotted flycatcher was a surprise visitor last Wednesday (21st). Many of our warblers have started to sing again, having reared their first brood of chicks and preparing for their second. Lesser whitethroats have been particularly noticeable this week.

We've been counting orchids over the last couple of weeks, and while bee orchid numbers are down on last year, it's been a record count of the other four species on the reserve. Most are now over, but you may find a few southern marsh and early marsh orchids on the Ganol Trail this week, and some fresh common spotted orchid spikes in front of Benarth Hide.

Sunny days last week brought the first meadow brown and ringlet butterflies out, plus red admirals, common blues, red admirals and small tortoiseshells, and it's a good time to look for six-spot burnet moths, especially along the estuary.

Finally, you may have seen us on television recently, as we featured in a repeat showing of BBC Wales' Weatherman Walking, with Derek Brockway and Nicki Cockburn. If you missed it, it's on iPlayer for another couple of weeks.