It's been a rather grey start to 2017, but in the moments of sunshine, the reserve has looked stunning, as this view across the estuary (by Rob J. Davis) illustrates. As regular readers will know, I do like a bit of rain in the Winter, as we can raise the water levels on the lagoons in readiness for Spring. We have, finally, been able to pump a reasonable amount of water onto the Shallow Lagoon (the one closest to the Coffee Shop), but still have a long way to go.
It's been good weather for ducks*, as they say, with three goldeneyes, 24 red-breasted mergansers, four goosanders, and pochards, shovelers and gadwalls today. As you may have seen in the media, a female teal found dead here in late December was confirmed by Defra as having the H5N8 strain of avian influenza ('bird flu'). We were not completely surprised, as this strain has been found in other wild birds across Europe this winter (see our blog), and with lots of pairs of binoculars looking at nature reserves, this is probably where we'd most expect a dead bird to be noticed. We have worked with Defra vets and other experts and have been assured that there is no risk to public health. The reserve remains open to visitors, and we recommend you wash your hands following any visit (as is sensible to do after you've been outside anywhere).
Other bird highlights since the start of January include jack snipe (to Tuesday 10th at least), firecrest (to Monday 9th), water pipit (to Sunday 8th), Cetti's warbler (to Friday 6th), kestrel and rock pipit. A common scoter was an unusual visitor on 1st to 4th. There have been lots of bullfinches, too, with several people reporting numbers into double figures.
If you've visited since Christmas, you may have noticed that we have been cutting down some of the small trees around the pond used by schools for pond-dipping. We have removed trees near the Dipping Pond in preparation for the construction of a second pond and boardwalk, which will start this week. The new pond will double our capacity for schoolchildren to do this always-popular activity. Our thanks to The Big Lottery Fund for the funding to do this work, which is being undertaken by Kehoe Countryside. There will be no access through the wildlife garden or to the pond for the next few weeks; to get onto the trails, please follow the signs and use the boardwalk.
The cut trees were not wasted, however; a group of students from Coleg Llandrillo this week helped us construct some new logpiles, another bug hotel, and cut back a few of the trees alongside the footpath, allowing more sunlight to reach the ground, and so benefitting flowers and insects in the summer.
Finally, don't forget that it's the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch at the end of this month, and we have organised activities for the whole family next weekend (21/22 January). Visit our website for more details, including performances of The Record-breaking Bird Show on Sunday.
* I wrote the phrase "good weather for ducks" as it was one that my Grandpa often used when I was a boy, and writing it now got me intrigued as to its origins. From a quick bit of research, it seems to have been used since the first half of the 19th century, and Charles Dickens used in The Old Curiosity Shop: "from which appearance he augured that another fine week for the ducks was approaching and that rain would certainly ensue". This morning, there was a heavy hailstorm for a few minutes around 9am. Thankfully I was in the Benarth Hide at the time, but it was interesting to see how the birds reacted. Every single duck took off from the lagoon, as did the flock of 100 lapwings. Within seconds, the lagoon was empty save for the family of mute swans. All the birds returned within a few minutes as the hail eased. We can conclude that hailstones are not good weather for ducks!
Julian HughesSite Manager, Conwy