It's a black duck - but where is it now?

This was the highlight of the week, well, for a lot of North Wales birders anyway.  It's a black duck, a North American species, that was found from the reserve on the estuary on Wednesday (7th) by former Conwy site manager, Alan Davies.  OK, it looks a lot like a mallard and it's one you definitely need a good field guide to be certain of the identification.  It remained until the 8th, though was often distant because even the 'high' tides this week haven't come anywhere close to the shore.  Not surprisingly, it's the first ever seen on the reserve, and is the first in North Wales for many years.

The other highlight of the week is a lot smaller - it's a snake's head fritillary that Chris - our optics guru - spotted while he was walking round the reserve yesterday (10th) - on his day off.  It's also a first for the reserve, and is a remarkable find.  We've no idea of its origins, but it's growing right by an area where we recently turned the soil over to create some pools.

With the spring weather making life more pleasant for people, birds and insects, northbound migrants are arriving in greater numbers: wheatears, common sandpiper and sand martin this morning (11th), yellow wagtail on Thursday (8th) and white wagtails - the continental race of pied wagtail - are feeding daily on the saltmarsh, with up to 25 a day.  The willow warblers and chiffchaffs are now singing well, but where are the sedge warblers, surely any day now?

Wader-wise, we've got seven lapwing nests and several oystercatchers that are prospecting on the islands; a group of nine black-tailed godwits are regularly outside the coffee shop, this morning with lots of redshanks and a couple of dunlins.  A ringed plover was on the newly created shoreline by the Carneddau Hide yesterday and a greenshank was reported on Easter Monday (5th).  A single female goldeneye, a few wigeons and several teal are a sign that winter is still fresh in the memory, but two ruddy shelducks that set pulses racing yesterday (10th) proved to be hybrids.  A mute swan is on a nest opposite Tal-y-fan Hide and the pair of great crested grebes remain, though haven't started to nest yet.  Our water rail survey this week revealed two calling birds.

The sunshine has brought out the butterflies, with the first brimstone and speckled wood of the year yesterday (10th), and red admirals, peacocks and small tortoiseshells too.  Don't forget that you can get regular sightings updates at www.twitter.com/rspbconwy