And when the weather's like that, so are the birds. New arrivals come in with the warm southerly winds, then a cold northerly brings migration to a temporary halt. The first half of April has seen plenty of birds moving through: the first blackcap on 1st, sedge warbler on 5th, common sandpipers on 6th, reed warblers on 8th, grasshopper warbler on 10th and garden warbler on 11th. Wheatear numbers have finally picked up, with groups along the estuary on several days, where small numbers of white wagtails have been feeding (and sometimes in front of the coffee shop), though not yet the big groups we're used to.
Several ospreys have been spotted, with birds on 2nd and 4th and 11th, the last being mobbed by shelducks! Beside the common sandpipers, it's still a bit slow on the wader front, with a greenshank on 2nd and a few black-tailed godwits. A skylark over on 3rd is, sadly, all too rare a spring sound these days.
A taste of winter hangs on, with a male goldeneye re-appearing, a male pochard, a few wigeons and a good size group of 26 red-breasted mergansers. We surveyed the water rails this week, and it's not great news. The second successive cold winter, with a long period of freezing conditions, has taken its toll, and we recorded only a single water rail.
The warmer days have also brought out the butterlies, with plenty of peacocks, and the first orange-tips and brimstones.
We've finished upgrading the trails over the last couple of days, so all the hides are accessible for all visitors, including those in wheelchairs and pushchairs. We're keeping the last section to be completed, the 'return loop' of the redshank trail adjacent to A55, closed until the weekend so that it can firm-up, but it will be open by Saturday.
Julian HughesSite Manager, Conwy