"What's happened to your water?" is the question I've been asked most frequently this week. Well, I'm afraid the rain over the last few days has done little to replenish levels either in the lagoons or on the Afon Ganol, the river that runs adjacent to the reserve. And if it doesn't rain, our lagoons don't fill. And all this lovely sunshine evaporates the lagoons quickly, especially when combined with a breeze and all those growing reeds. The forecast is for at least another week of dry weather, so the lagoon in front of the coffee shop is going to be quite small!
Still, the weather is proving good for insects, and so good for chick-feeding. This morning I spotted our first two oystercatcher chicks on the island in front of the Foel Fras screen - there are several other pairs sitting on nests, as there are at least two lapwings; the most obvious is on the causeway in front of the Benarth Hide. Reed buntings, sedge warblers, whitethroats and chiffchaffs are among the smaller birds feeding young over the weekend. The bearded tits have become hard to see since they fledged more than a week ago - last Thursday (10th) is the last sighting that we're aware of.
It may not yet be midsummer, but already there is a hint of autumn around the place. Our over-summering young male goldeneye is still with us, as is the male shoveler. Both are starting to go into their eclipse plumage, losing the sheen of coloured plumage. A couple of teal have been here for the last week, and then yesterday a pair of pochards turned up. Will they stay? Have they already attempted to breed elsewhere and failed? Meanwhile, on the estuary, the high tide oystercatcher count remains regularly into three figures, and there are several curlews back already.
Other bird highlights of the last 10 days include two greenshanks (Thursday 10th), hobby and red kite (Sunday 6th), black redstart on the Carneddau Hide and white stork over Marl Woods (Saturday 5th). The bee orchids are less showy than the last couple of years, just a handful of spikes on the estuary path, but there's a pyramidal orchid in front of the coffee shop. A family of stoats has been wowing visitors on the estuary track, while cinnabar moths and broad-bodied chaser dragonflies have been around the Visitor Centre and dipping pond respectively.
Finally, please note that we've got livestock back on the reserve: two Carneddau mountain ponies grazing the fields to keep it tip-top for lapwings. Please enjoy them from a distance, close the gates and don't feed them, as we want them to get a taste for grass and reeds, not apples and mints!
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Julian HughesSite Manager, Conwy