Black-tailed godwit by Adrian Foster
We might only be half way through July, but as far as the breeding season goes for birds we’re now seeing the first signs that Autumn is not far around the corner. But there’s no need to be disheartened by such a thought, as we’re moving towards an exciting time of year for bird watching and over the coming weeks we can expect a build up to our peak numbers of wading birds, and no doubt a few exciting scarcities will make an appearance.
We’ve already been seeing the more common species such as curlew and redshank build up into the hundreds, while the first few whimbrel have also begun to move southwards from their northerly breeding grounds with sightings on the estuary since 9/7. A green sandpiper was present on 12/7, a greenshank since 14/7, and several Icelandic black-tailed godwits have been appearing with colour rings, some still in full breeding plumage. Small numbers of dunlin have also been present.
Another recent highlight has been a gargany which has remained on the shallow lagoon and visible from the Tal y Fan hide for most days during the past week since 8/7. Our individual is probably a male in eclipse plumage, a stage of moult which ducks go through after breeding where the males lose their bolder colours and briefly look similar to females in order to remain camouflaged from predators as they moult their flight feathers.
Other birds on the move have included a juvenile stonechat on 11/7, and redstarts on several days including an adult male and at least one fledgling which has been frequenting the area around the Carneddau hide. Kingfishers have also been seen with two on 9/7 and one on 13/7, and a winter plumaged great crested grebe has made appearances on the deep lagoon along with a recently fledged juvenile. Little egret numbers have also been building up with around 30 birds now frequently present around the lagoons. These are likely to include fledged young from the nests across the estuary in Benarth wood, along with birds which have moved in from other breeding areas.
But summer is far from over and reed and sedge warblers can still be heard singing around the reserve, particularly between the bridge pond and the Carneddau hide, and along the Ganol trail. Meanwhile a brood of seven gadwall have recently appeared on the shallow lagoon, and there are still young coot and moorhen chicks present.
It’s also a great time to see the many six-spot burnet moths which have recently been emerging around the grassland areas, along with butterflies including meadow brown, comma and gatekeeper.