Citrine wagtail photo by Stuart Gillies
The undoubted highlight of this week was the male citrine wagtail, found on 15th May by Tom Giles, which very obligingly showed right in front of the Coffee Shop for much of the 15th and 16th, before leaving the reserve and relocating briefly to Cemlyn Bay on the 17th. With only a few records per year, a fair few birders made the journey to see this little performer, and at one point there was a bit of a queue up to the boardwalk screen to see it! Whilst talking to folk at the screen, I overheard a great conversation between two visitors, one of whom had just been shown the wagtail through a helpful birder’s telescope. He asked what he had just been looking at, and on being told “it’s a citrine wagtail”, asked “like the car you mean?” and was told “yes, I think so”. That’s a new one for the British list, a citroen wagtail.
Citrine wagtail twitch
It’s been a good week for birds generally here at Conwy. This week we also had a wood sandpiper for a couple of days, a female marsh harrier passed through on 17th May and a hooded crow on 15th May. Adding to our “wildfowl of dubious origin” list was a bar-headed goose on 14th May. The last of the summer migrants to return, a spotted flycatcher, was seen on 18th May. There’s also been a great selection of less common birds to be seen on a daily basis – greenshank, bar-tailed godwit, a handful of whimbrel and up to four little ringed plovers. Our house sparrow family that we have been watching on the nestbox cam in the Visitor Centre all fledged successfully, and we spotted the first lapwing chicks this week too. It’s all happening here!