We did our Big Butterfly Count in yesterday's sunshine, noting speckled woods, red admirals, small white and commas, and we spotted cinnabar moths, emperor dragonfly and common hawker too. It's a great way to spend 15 minutes of a warm day, and contribute your sightings to a 'citizen science' project.
Highlight of last weekend was a summer-plumaged little stint which stayed from Friday to Sunday, feeding with more than 20 dunlins on the wet mud along the edges of the deep lagoon. Our little flock of black-tailed godwits is still with us, but the common sandpiper and little ringed plover chicks have now fledged and are wandering more widely. A greenshank has been here for much of the week, with the occasional whimbrel spotted and an impressive 884 oystercatchers in the high tide roost on Sunday (yes, we counted every one!). A little grebe is back for the winter, yet our pair of great crested grebes are still incubating their eggs and should hopefully hatch before the end of the month.
Rarity of the week was... a stock dove! Although not uncommon in North Wales, they are localised in Conwy county and we rarely see them on the reserve, so one feeding at the side of the Ganol Trail last Friday (15th) was a surprise. A hobby was seen the same day, our third sighting this year of a species that we don't usually see annually here. We've had more sightings of redstarts this week, in an excellent year locally for this summer migrant, though the luckiest people of the week are the visitors who saw a family of four otters along the riverbank!
Julian HughesSite Manager, Conwy