After last week's rush of scarce migrants, the weather returned to the east and it's the breeding birds that have taken centre stage. There are at least five lapwings sitting on eggs, the little ringed plovers have been sitting too, and the house sparrows in the nestbox are growing fast and should fledge early next week. And on Tuesday, our mare had a lovely, wobbly-legged piebald foal. After the 'aah's, Farmer Gareth took mum and youngster back to his farm to keep an eye on them, so we've just got the one Carneddau pony on the grassland for now, as all three mares have had foals this spring.
Surprise of the week was this morning, when a snow goose flew in from the sea, circled low over the lagoons and headed off up river. While likely to be a feral bird, small numbers do winter in East Anglia and Scotland; had this one headed the wrong way home to the Arctic? Migrant waders this week have included whimbrel (most days, including Friday), greenshank (Thursday) and snipe (Tuesday), while water rails continue to be seen from the Benarth Hide.
A great spotted woodpecker (Thursday) was the first for a while, a female wheatear (Tuesday) will be one of the last of the spring and a whinchat (also Tuesday) was a bonus. Our long-staying common scoter seems to have gone (bit it's done a re-appearing trick before), but the male goldeneye remains and looks very fine in his black-and-white summer outfit. Look out on the ponds for damselflies - we've seen blue-tailed and common blue this week; what can you find?
By the way, remember that the blog and the other Conwy Community pages will be down next week while the software is upgraded - but we're promised an even more useful and interactive experience when they return. In the meantime, how about switching off your PC and coming to see us...?
Julian HughesSite Manager, Conwy