New year, new birds and a new offer for schools in North Wales

Is it boring to start with the subject of rain? Today is our 60th consecutive day of rain at the reserve - the last dry day here was 11 November! Some of the paths are now pretty wet, and we recommend wellies or walking boots over the next few days. But there is snow on the peaks of the Carneddau mountains and it's certainly colder today, so perhaps we'll start to see a few more birds arriving here from farther north and east.

The reserve's bird tally was 150 species last year; how many will we see in 2016?

Our firecrests are still here; we're not sure how many, but they are seen in the reedbed next to the boardwalk, around the Bridge Pond and near the railway, so there are probably four or five. At least one chiffchaff is overwintering, but the Siberian chiffchaff seen last Saturday (2nd) hasn't been seen since. Siskins and lesser redpoll have been seen, but in smaller numbers than before Christmas. A treecreeper has been spotted regularly here over the last few weeks, and a few goldcrests have been seen too.

The goldeneyes have been on the shallow lagoon this winter, and the males are now actively displaying to the females, throwing back their heads in a sign that the breeding season is just around the corner. A goosander was with the flock of a dozen red-breasted mergansers on the deep lagoon this morning. A short-eared owl was seen flying onto the reserve over the A55 on Friday at dusk, while a kestrel over the Paddocks this morning was the first of the winter.

Before Christmas, we cut the reeds near the Benarth Hide, and the snipe just love them. You need to get your eye in because they are so well camouflaged but if you look closely, there can be a dozen or more in there.  Not all are quite as showy as the one in Colin Jones' excellent photo posted to our Flickr page. A couple of black-tailed godwits roost regularly with the curlews, while a couple of bar-tailed godwits remain on the estuary. A woodcock was seen at dusk on New Year's Day, the same afternoon that a hooded crow was reported on the estuary. The water pipits that were on the saltmarsh in December haven't been seen since 1 January, but could still be on the estuary.

Starling numbers have started to increase, with a roost of around 3000 here each night this week. They've been tending to head straight into the reeds, without a spectacular murmuration, but if it goes even colder this week, the fun may start. No sign of the stoats yet this year, but we've recorded otter on our trailcam on several nights in recent weeks, and a weasel was seen on the reserve trails during the week.

Finally, a couple of other bits of news from the reserve:

• The Coffee Shop will be closed from Monday to Friday this week, as we are having some work done to the kitchen and having solar PV panels fitted to the roof (of both buildings). The reserve trails, toilets and shop will be open as usual, and the Coffee Shop will reopen next Saturday morning (16th).
• We are delighted that Michelle Rogers is our new Learning Officer, who started last week. We're taking school bookings for 2016, and the even better news is that the costs of visits to the reserve by primary schools from North Wales (Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham) is being funded by Aldi, which is donating the profit from the sale of plastic bags to the RSPB in order that we can help to connect half a million children with nature (not all at Conwy!). So, schools just have to pay for their transport, and Aldi covers the rest. If you know a primary school teacher in North Wales, why not tell them about our learning programme.  Full details are here.