Look east for ducks

It might seem odd to start this week's blog with news of what isn't here, but I thought it worth an explanation! There are relatively few ducks on the lagoons at the moment, and I was discussing this at the weekend with one of our volunteers, a retired meteorologist. He pointed me to this website, which shows the extent of the sea ice in the Baltic Sea in real time compared with the usual extent at this time of year. You'll see (at the time of writing) that the sea is several degrees warmer than usual, and that there is almost no ice at all.

That's important, because it's a stopover site for many of the waterbirds that visit Britain, and they'll only move westwards when impelled to do so by the ice, which makes it impossible to feed. It may be hundreds of miles away, but the numbers of birds wintering at Conwy partly depends on what is happening off the coast of Finland and Latvia. And the mild weather is eastern Europe also results in fewer Lapwings and Starlings making it this far west.

We do have some ducks, of course, small numbers of goldeneye and pochard, hundreds of teal and a few shovelers and gadwalls. Small flocks of redwings have roosted here each night, and around 2000 starlings, all having their origins to the east.

At least one firecrest has been seen regularly around the Bridge Pond, and at least one chiffchaff was still here today. Water rails are being heard regularly, and as we raise the water levels in the Shallow Lagoon (the one nearest to the Visitor Centre), they may become more visible.  A couple of great crested grebes were in front of the Coffee Shop on Sunday, unusual here in the winter, and a kingfisher has been regular too. A blackcap was seen on Saturday (13th) and jack snipe and common sandpiper were seen last Tuesday (9th).

Lots of people have been phoning to check our opening times over Christmas. It's pretty straightforward: we're open every day except Christmas Day, and the only day we close early is Christmas Eve, when the Coffee Shop closes at 2pm and the Shop and Visitor Centre at 3pm. We have lots of events planned for Christmas Week, so if you're off work/school, why not join us - but don't forget to book!