Late spring is a great time to see flowering plants on the reserve, with carpets of bird's-foot trefoil and creeping buttercup creating a blaze of yellow across the open grassland areas, and a variety of orchids in flower including numerous southern marsh and smaller numbers of common spotted, early marsh, pyramidal and bee orchids among them (library photo by Julian Hughes).
There’s also been a nice variety of other wildlife sightings on the reserve in recent weeks, with the highlight being an unexpected icterine warbler present on 7/6, the first record of this species here. The bird sang intermittently during the afternoon and evening from the willow trees around the bridge pond, but remained rather elusive, giving only a few brief views for visitors and unfortunately no photographs were taken. Icterine warblers belong to the Hippolais genus of warblers, and within a different family to the similar looking willow warblers and chiffchaffs, in comparison to which they have a distinctly thicker and heavier bill and a more pointed head shape. As with most warblers however, the song is the easiest way to identify them. The closest they regularly breed is in northern France with their breeding range extending across northern Europe into central Asia, though there are breeding records from Scotland in recent years, and all birds winter in sub-Saharan Africa.
Two avocet on 3/6 were another highlight, this now being the third consecutive year they’ve been recorded here, following a twelve year gap before then since 2009. Other wader highlights have included regular little ringed plover with up to three present over the last few weeks; two bar-tailed godwit seen from 31/5 to 1/6, an unusual record for late spring; and small numbers of whimbrel moving northwards to breed in Iceland up until 18/5. 10 dunlin on 24/5 and a single snipe on 26/5 were also unusual for the time of year with most birds away on their breeding grounds elsewhere. Meanwhile a pair of oystercatcher had three chicks hatch which were first seen on 31/5, and a pair of common sandpiper appear to be breeding around the river Ganol.
Two great white egret were seen on 13/5, along with further individual sightings on 28/5, 30/5 and 10/6, and the presence of these birds at this time of year gives further encouragement that they may begin breeding in the area in the near future.
Other breeding waterbirds have included a great crested grebe on a nest, while coot, moorhen, little grebe, mallard and Canada geese all have young. Good numbers of gadwall and tufted duck remain around the lagoons, and its possible we may still see some broods from these species yet. A single shoveler was also present on 14/5, a wigeon on 15/5, and there have been a small number of teal present recently as well. We’re now starting to see the arrival of large numbers of Canada geese which visit the reserve annually on their moult migration, along with smaller numbers of greylag geese. We can expect numbers to build up further towards the end of June when there are often several hundred present.
A further four osprey sightings over the reserve between the middle and end of May have certainly made this the best year yet for sightings here. There have also been occasional red kite sightings, including an unusually high count of 10 birds together on 26/5.
Other passerines of interest included two garden warbler on 7/5 and a male whinchat on 1/6, while all the regular breeding warbler species are still present around the reserve feeding their young, though can be tricky to locate now they are singing less than they were earlier in the spring.
A good variety of butterflies have also been recorded with new species for the year including common blue since 15/5 and meadow brown since 7/6. Sightings of small copper on 13/5 and 15/5 were of particular interest, while other species seen include brimstone, holly blue and red admiral.
Dragonfly sightings around the ponds and lagoons have included emperor, southern hawker, four spotted chaser (pictured) and black-tailed skimmer, while common blue, azure, blue-tailed and large red damselflies have all been seen regularly.