Muddy margins great for waders

Sorry for the lack of updates recently; as you know, our Centenary Birthday Party has consumed the last couple of weeks, so normal service is only now being resumed.  But you can always check sightings more regularly at http://twitter.com/rspbconwy.

One of the highlights of the Birthday Weekend was a 60-minute bird race between two teams of current and former RSPB Conwy wardens and some of the youngsters from the reserve's Wildlife Explorer Group.  Modesty prevents us from naming the winner, but the teams saw 50 and 47 species respectively, with a total of 55 species between the two, illustrating that even a quick visit in the middle of summer is worthwhile.

Waders provided almost a dozen of the bird race total, and throughout the last week the lagoons have hosted green and common sandpipers, greenshanks, and black-tailed godwits (between 15 and 25 each day).  Some days have also included dunlin, sanderling, whimbrel, ringed plover and little ringed plover, and there's also a snipe out there, but it's hard to see!

Rarity of the week was a nuthatch reported on the bird feeders in early August, a species that is rarely seen on the reserve.  Meanwhile, the summer theme of juvenile redstarts has continued, with at least one bird here most days, and sometimes two or three.  On the water's edge, young little egrets have now fledged, and there are around 30 in the estuary, many still perched in the heronry across the river in Benarth Woods.  And although most chicks have long since grown up, two great crested grebes have hatched and are on the back of the parent birds, and a young moorhen made its way into the world this week.

Sunny spells bring out the butterflies, with plenty of meadow browns and gatekeepers this week, but look also for six-spot burnet moths, with their shiny black-and-red wings.  The stoat family are more widespread now, so you have to be lucky to see one, though the last few days have seen more sightings of fox, and we think a badger was responsible for a night-time raid on the compost bin to get at the grubs in a wasps' nest there.