I never tire of watching jays - there's something magic about that flash of blue in the wing. They're not common on the reserve, owing to our lack of mature trees, so to find at least three this morning (and there may have been more) was a nice surprise. A juvenile bullfinch was another nice bird this morning; I wonder whether they hatched nearby, we've been seeing the adults here for a few weeks? High tide this afternoon brought two greenshanks, 19 black-tailed godiwts, a whimbrel and some dunlins, while at least two of the common sandpiper juveniles are thriving, and the juvenile bearded tits were seen today.
There's a family of grey wagtails (2 young) on the Afon Ganol at the moment, where a kingfisher on Tuesday was the first of the autumn. Great to have them back - let's hope they're going to be regular through the winter. A wheatear and eight linnets on the estuary (Wed) is a sign of birds moving from the hills to lower ground before starting longer journeys. Speaking of long journeys, a swift and a sand martin this morning were the first for a few days, and a juvenile redstart was reported yesterday.
Despite the drizzle, gatekeeper and speckled wood butterflies are flying today, and there are plenty of six-spot burnet moths around - check the thistle heads.
Julian HughesSite Manager, Conwy
Audrey Parry emailed me last night, wondering "Do you think it could have anything to do with the Anthills on the reserve, as Jays will flap about on anthills to get the ants onto and into their feathers to rid themselves of mites - apparently the formic acid does the trick". Good point, Audrey, there are loads of active anthills here at the moment, so perhaps that's the reason.