While people queue at the airport for their Summer getaway, birds are lining up to follow them south. Not for two weeks in the sun or a theme park, but to survive the northern Winter in the humid habitats of the central African rainforest or the scrubby Sahel. But first they must pack away some proteins and fat to fuel them on their journey. And for that, they need plenty of insects, which they can find at Conwy.
The first week of August has seen Autumn migration get properly underway. Most mornings, there have been lots of warblers around the reserve; some are doubtless our local birds that still have young in the nest, but we're sure that some of the reed warblers, chiffchaffs and lesser whitethroats (photo above by Bob Garrett) are passage migrants. Movement is evident on the wet bits of the reserve too, with dunlins, black-tailed godwits, common sandpipers and greenshank feeding and roosting among the redshanks on the lagoons, and a few whimbrels on the estuary, alongside the more numerous curlews (which are also migrants, but which will perhaps go only as far as Ireland, not west Africa). Dozens of swifts, house and sand martins feed over the reserve each morning, perhaps their first stop after crossing the Irish Sea, before heading south to cross the English Channel.
A Cetti's warbler was reported from the Bridge Pond last Monday (31 July), while other scarcer visitors include a turnstone on Sunday 30 July, little stint on Saturday/Sunday 30/31 July, hobby on Thursday 27 July, and kingfisher on several dates. Late summer sees a build up of little egrets, as our local nesters are joined by birds from other colonies to feed in the estuary. A count of 138 little egrets in late July was a site record, though numbers seem to have fallen subsequently.
Our family of young redstarts are still present, for their third week; after my last blog, local birder Bill Myerscough got in touch to say that a pair of redstarts held territory on the outskirts of Glan Conwy, so we guess that's where they've come from. And after a summer of seeing a pair of linnets regularly, we saw a male feeding a fledged juvenile on Friday, so they've obviously bred nearby too - but where? Shelducks seem to have had a good season in the Conwy Valley, with dozens of fledged juveniles on the lagoons and the estuary, left to fend for themselves as their parents head to northern Germany to moult their feathers. They'll be back here just after Christmas.
It's not been a great season for dragonflies here so far, but our new pond has attracted common darter, and there have been lots of butterflies, especially gatekeepers and meadow browns. We've recorded our four species of grasshopper this week, including the impressive speckled bush cricket, and the numerous six-spot burnet moths continue to provide interest for visitors of all ages along the trails. Stoat and weasel have been seen regularly in recent weeks, but you have to be lucky - and quick - to catch sight of one.
Julian HughesSite Manager, Conwy