Peacocks, coltsfoot and chiffchaffs - the weird winter continues

We've no idea where January went! We've been busy on the reserve, planning our events for this year, making some alterations to the kitchen in the Coffee Shop, cutting back bramble along the trails and creating new micro-habitats, and installing solar PV panels on the roof of the Visitor Centre to generate electricity - continuing towards our goal of reducing our carbon emissions at Conwy.

While we were busy, nature was skipping 'Winter' and hurtling headlong towards Spring. As well as snowdrops, we've spotted primroses and coltsfoot in flower this week, there are catkins on the alder trees and some of the blackthorn bushes are in full blossom. If it weren't so windy, perhaps we might have seen the first queen bee, but any sensible insect is probably keeping low, sheltered from everything the Atlantic has thrown at us in recent weeks. We have, though, had our first butterfly of the year - a peacock on Friday 22 January!

Although numbers of teal and wigeon have dropped in the last few weeks, there are still pochards and goldeneyes around, sometimes displaying to each other. A few more shelducks are starting to appear, returning from their moulting grounds in northern Germany, and the red-breasted mergansers are looking equally resplendent.  There are more little egrets too - with grey herons starting to refurbish nests in the Benarth colony on the west bank of the estuary. Two great crested grebes were on the lagoon this morning, one in full breeding 'headgear' but the other in winter plumage. A single barnacle goose has been present this week; it appears to have an injured wing, so may be around for a while. 

Our winter survey of water rails, undertaken by monitoring their response to a CD of their call, found 20 birds in mid-January, equal to the highest count we've ever had. Also using our reedbed are the starlings, around 10,000 of them roosting each night. On calm evenings, the 'murmuration' has been impressive; visitors have shared some great photos on social media, and judging by the number of younger visitors, children at Ysgol San Sior have all been enthused about starling roosts. A water pipit, presumably one of the birds present before Christmas, was seen last weekend (30th)

Small birds have been hard to see in the stormy conditions, but bullfinches have become more obvious this week and treecreeper and goldcrest were seen yesterday (4th), but the last sighting of a firecrest was on 24 January. At least one chiffchaff is still overwintering, but siskins have become far scarcer, perhaps having exhausted the supply of alder cones. Choughs have been seen on several mornings, usually a pair or two, flying south to feed on the hills above the Conwy Valley.

With the half-term not far away, our thoughts are turning to the events we have planned for the week, and if the weather is favourable it's not impossible that the first summer visitors from Africa will start arriving in Britain before the end of this month. We are just left wondering whether there will be any daffodils left in flower by St David's Day!