Willow warbler (Pete Wood)This is a bit of a catch-up, as we've had a busy few weeks. Remember that you can keep up-to-date with our nature news on Twitter or Facebook in between our blog posts. This brilliant photo of a willow warbler was our April Photostream Conwy Picture of the Month, and will be used in our social media throughout May.

Despite getting their nest washed out by last weekend's rain and winds, the pair of great crested grebes will not be defeated and have built a new nest, that looks a bit more substantial. Fingers crossed for better weather. We're hoping that some better conditions will also help the first lapwing chicks that hatched on Thursday.

There are still a couple of pairs of little ringed plovers around the reserve, but neither seems to have settled yet.  Waders have been a bit slow coming through, but a few whimbrels and dunlins have been here the last few mornings, along with bar-tailed and black-tailed godwits and a smart summer-plumage knot.

We've had quite a good number of Sandwich terns in the estuary this spring, including six on Thursday 3rd, perhaps pushed in to shelter by the northerly winds.  A whinchat was a nice surprise this morning, feeding alongside four wheatears on the saltmarsh.  A few yellow wagtails have been among pied and white wagtails on the estuary this week, but the wagtail passage has diminished in the last few days.  A grasshopper warbler was on the Ganol Trail on several dates, most recently on Wednesday (2nd).  The cowslips are still looking spectacular around the coffee shop, but get here in the next few days to see 'em, as they'll soon be over.

Dave and Phil repairing Benarth Hide

The swallows, swifts and martins have been a spectacle over the last few weeks, feeding low over the lagoons during poor weather, and around your head over the estuary track if it got a little warmer.  Other highlights during late April include six white storks over Llandudno on Monday 23rd (but seen from the reserve by standing on a picnic table!), ring ouzel in the paddocks on Sunday 15th and redstarts on Sunday 15th and Monday 30th.

Not all our visitors are welcome
The first visitors to the reserve on Friday were greeted by the sight of the Benarth Hide with part of its roof ripped off and the guttering wrecked: we'd been visited by some undesirables (that's not the culprits in the picture, even though they might look a bit suspect...).  Thanks to our alert visitors and social media, we knew about this before we'd even arrived on site!  Two of our brilliant outdoor volunteers, Dave and Phil, came in this morning and did some temporary repairs, at least to ensure that it's watertight over the next few weeks, but ultimately we'll have to replace the whole roof, at a cost of hundreds of pounds.  That's hundreds of pounds raised by volunteers, donated by visitors and members, which we can't spend on something else.  What a shame!

The man from planning, he say "yeah!"
On a more positive note, we were delighted to receive confirmation last week that Conwy County Borough Council has approved our plans to create new outdoor visitor facilities, the centrepiece of which is Y Maes.  We've also appointed a Project Officer, to organise the programme. Laura Kudelska starts here on 21 May, and we look forward to her helping us transform the area between the Visitor Centre and the Coffee Shop.

Get out and enjoy the reserve
The Summer Evening Strolls have restarted for the summer, every Wednesday evening at 7 pm (you don't need to book). The reserve is a brilliant place to spend a couple of hours on a summer's evening.  And we've just posted our June events online, so see if there's something that grabs you. 

PS. We still have a few places left on our Birds for Beginners course on Sunday 27 May.

Julian Hughes
Site Manager, Conwy