Where does the water go?

It's that time of year when we need to explain about the water levels in the lagoon outside the Coffee Shop. During the winter, we take advantage of the rain (it sometimes does that in Wales) to fill the lagoon. We rely on rain that falls directly into the lagoons, but can also pump from the Afon Ganol, the stream that runs along our southern boundary, next to the railway line.  In summer, evaporation caused by the wind and the sun, plus transpiration as those hungry reeds suck up water to grow, means that the water level goes down 1 cm every day. Even heavy showers in the summer won't replace that, so most days the water level drops.

As the water drops, the muddy margin exposed is brilliant for wading birds to feed on invertebrates.  It may look a bit dry in front of the Coffee Shop, but farther down the same lagoon, it is just brilliant for waders that are stopping at Conwy for a few days between their Arctic breeding grounds and their wintering areas, which could be as far away as West Africa.  Look from the boardwalk viewpoint or Tal-y-fan Hide and you'll see what we mean.

Green sandpiper has been a daily sighting here this week (with two on Thursday and Friday), several common sandpipers are also on the mud, and the black-tailed godwits look superb in their orange plumage - there are 14 here today.  A few dunlins have been seen (three today, for example), and there are already hundreds of redshanks and curlews roosting and feeding here, with whimbrel seen most days.  A knot was seen on the estuary and on the lagoons last weekend, and two greenshanks on Sunday. Best bird of the week was a wood sandpiper last Saturday, but it didn't stick around. The next few weeks should bring more waders to the lagoons, providing we have some nice mud.

Great news from the reserve this morning, when we sighted one of our young little grebes. It's nearly full-grown, but we hadn't seen them for a few weeks, and we feared the brood had been lost. Are there others hiding in the reedbed? The juvenile great crested grebe is now independent on the shallow lagoon, while the two parents are spending more time on the estuary or the deep lagoon.

The first little egret chicks have now fledged, and it means that the egret count on the estuary is getting ever higher. 75 were seen today, and the usual peak is not until next month, so it seems likely that we'll top the reserve record and easily break 100.

Pupils from Ysgol Carreg Emlyn visited the reserve yesterday, the last school visit here this term, as schools break up today.  They were treated to something quite special while pond-dipping: an emperor dragonfly - the largest that occurs here - metamorphosing from its larvae to its adult stage. Thanks to our Learning Officer Clare for getting a photo. Common darter, broad-bellied chaser and common blue damselfly have all been spotted too.  Quite a few red admirals have been on the wing, while a ringlet here last Saturday was a good reserve record, and there have been a few more migrant silver-Y moths this week.

A juvenile redstart on Tuesday is a sign that young birds are moving away from their nesting areas - they nest just a couple of miles from the reserve.  The stoat family has been elusive this week, reported by a number of visitors, but never in the same place twice!