The new year has so far produced a nice variety of bird sightings for the reserve with some surprises thrown in among the more regular suspects.
A small number of brent geese have been wintering around the mouth of the Conwy estuary recently, some of which have evidently made their way a little further up river producing sightings from the reserve with eight seen flying over on 10/1, and a single bird over on 12/1. Being a scarcity here on the estuary, there have only been five previous records of this species on the reserve. There are more regular wintering populations locally around Foryd Bay near Caernarfon, along with several areas around Anglesey including the coast near Beaumaris, and the Inland Sea and Beddmanarch Bay areas adjacent to Holy Island. Almost all of these birds which winter in north Wales are of the pale-bellied race which breed at high latitudes in Greenland and the Canadian arctic. With birds currently present in the local area, it will certainly be worth keeping a look out for more around the reserve, particularly along the estuary.
A great white egret, which may also be wintering on the Conwy estuary and has been seen from time to time on the reserve, made it's first appearance of 2018 on 7/1. A jack snipe was also present on this date, while a single golden plover was among the lapwing flock on 13/1. The latter, although recorded annually here is a lot scarcer than might be expected. A Mediterranean gull was present with the black-headed gulls on 6/1, and two pintail were on the estuary on new years day.
Of our more regular winter specialties, firecrest has continued to be seen on most days, again with up to two birds present on several dates. Water pipit has also made appearances on several occasions, while scaup have been present fairly consistently with an adult female and immature bird up until 5/1, an individual female bird present on most days since, and a moulting drake which seems to have appeared on 14/1. The explosive bursts of cetti's warbler song have also been a regular sound often heard from the reedbed boardwalk.
Other wildfowl has included up to two pairs of goldeneye with the drakes beginning to give their comical displays to the females close to the Tal y Fan hide on the shallow lagoon. Pochard and shoveler have both peaked at 7 birds on 13/1 and 14/1 respectively, while goosander have put in a couple of appearances with a female present on 8/1 and two females on 10/1 among the more regular red-breasted merganser.
Wading birds have also included a knot on 1/1, a single black-tailed godwit which seems to have stayed put on the deep lagoon in recent weeks, and joined by a second bird on 14/1. A single bar-tailed godwit has also been seen on several occasions, while snipe continue to be present in good numbers with a high count of 110 just before new year on 28/12.
Other birds of note include a stock dove seen flying over on 4/1, treecreeper seen on several days which seems to have been a little more regular than usual in recent weeks, and peregrine which has been seen almost daily hunting over the reserve. Siskins have also been regular with some nice flocks numbering over 20 birds on 5/1 and 6/1, and at least one over wintering chiffchaff which has also been making regular appearances.
Water rails also continue to be seen regularly though there have not been quite so many sightings as earlier in the winter since the water levels have been raised which have flooded the reedbed areas.
We get asked a lot about the water levels in the lagoons, with queries as to why they are so high at this time of year, and so low at the end of the summer. The simple answer is, we have very little control over them as there is no natural water course flowing into and out of the lagoons. We rely mostly on pumping freshwater from the river Ganol (a small river which runs along the edge of the reserve) during the winter to bring the water levels up. It's essential we get levels as high as possible during this period, otherwise the lagoons would completely dry out by the end of the summer through gradual evaporation resulting in no suitable feeding habitat for wading birds.
Other habitat management which has continued over the past couple of weeks is the removal of vegetation from the islands on the deep lagoon to maintain short vegetation for feeding and roosting birds through the winter, and potentially breeding waders and gulls in the spring time. They have so far proved highly favorable for roosting snipe and lapwing.