Sorry for the lack of updates recently...

Sarah's on holiday (something to do with crawling around the clifftops to count Manx shearwaters on a small island in the North Atlantic, I think) and Julian's been ill, so hopefully normal service is being resumed in time for the weekend.

This week's big news is that the two bearded tits have been seen daily.  Usually from the coffee shop, and sightings are more frequent some days than others (they've been elusive most of today).  We're hoping to hear the sound of pinging youngsters in the next few days, if they've got  nest hidden in the reeds as we hope they might.  The birds are best seen when they're collecting food from the edge of the reeds, around the muddy margins of the lagoon - a resource shared with house martins collecting mud for nests, presumably in Llandudno Junction.

Long-tailed tit young have been much more evident, however, usually near the bridge pond where a male lesser whitethroat is still singing loudly.  The three mute swan cygnets are still doing well, and there are young mallards, coots and moorhens around too.  Single male shoveler, goldeneye and teal make us wonder where they're mates are (well, we can dream...), but we can confirm our first shelduck nests for the first time in several years.  And the great crested grebe nest is still going strong right in the middle of the lagoon - another week of calm weather and we could be on for a result.

Wader passage is pretty much over, though 11 black-tailed godwits from the coffee shop yesterday (2nd) were a nice surprise.  A redshank on Tuesday (1st) was either very late leaving or very early returning, and a snipe on 26th/27th was also unseasonal. 

An escape snow goose briefly joined the escape black swan earlier in the week - a sight that you'd never see in the wild anywhere on the planet.

The carpet of yellow has to be seen (and smelt) to be believed.  It's bird's foot trefoil and this is one of the best showings ever.  It's rich in honey bees and butterflies at the moment and, while I hesitate to say you can see it from space, I was sitting on top of Drum yesterday (one of the Carneddau mountains that rise above the Conwy estuary) and could see the yellow splash of RSPB Conwy with the naked eye.  Fantastic!

All that nectar is making this a better spring for butterflies: red admirals, peacocks, brimstones and green-veined whites have all been seen today, while common blues have been dancing in front of the coffee shop each lunchtime.  And, coming very soon are the bee orchids - none in flower yet, but several stems are rising from the soil, preparing to stun us with their pink flowers.  If this is summer, bring it on...

And if you're coming to see us this weekend, don't forget that we've got a binocular and telescope demonstration from 10 am to 4 pm each day - come and get advice from our experts.