Sometime on the 5^th a flock of 60 Canada Geese arrived in front of the Benarth hide. Another notable arrival was 7 Goldeneye appearing on the 11^th. A lone Whooper Swan was on the estuary on the 4^th briefly. Shelduck numbers are now in their 20’s in front of the Tal-y-fan hide. 10 Gadwall, 2 Tufted Duck and 2 Pochard complete the waterfowl counts.

3 Black-tailed Godwit and 20 Ringed Plover were the most interesting…

The decorations are down, but the evenings are getting lighter (just!), and you’ve made your new year resolutions.  It’s time to gear yourself up for 2012, step up for nature with the RSPB and spend 10 minutes over a cup of tea with our latest e-newsletter (1.3MB)

It’s almost time for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, and you’ll find details in here of how your family can get involved.  There’s also…

The Firecrests have been seen almost daily over the festive period with three together on the 22^nd of December. One of the Chiffchaffs has been seen almost daily too. A second Yellowhammer of the year turned up on the 22^nd calling on the top of a bramble bush, along the Ganol trail. 2 Grey Wagtails and a flock of 30+ Redwings flew over the same day. A Rock Pipit along the estuary track on the 23^rd completes the passerine…

This week we have carried out our Wetlands Bird Survey Counts for the reserve and estuary. Some of the high counts of Waterfowl include 354 Teal, 79 Wigeon, 5 Goldeneye, 3 Tufted Duck, 2 Pochard and 59 Mallard. Other water birds seen this week include our first Great Crested Grebe since the summer and 10 Whooper Swans flew south on the 18^th.

It has been a good week for raptors again with sightings of Peregrine over…

The 2 Firecrest’s have been showing well on and off this week in the bushes towards the end of the back-track. They have been showing with two Chiffchaffs. The crests showed particularly well on the 14^th calling and fly-catching high in the willows. The Yellow-browed Warbler was last seen on the 7^th.

A Male Hen Harrier hunted around the reserve on the 10^th. It was showing off its acrobatic skills. Let us hope…

We've recently had two great pieces of news that mean we can give the green light to plans that visitors, staff and volunteers have been dreaming up for at least four years. The Countryside Council for Wales has granted the RSPB up to £179,000 towards a programme of work that we're calling Conwy Connections, and the volunteers in RSPB Conwy Support Group have raised an impressive £30,000 towards the match-funding…

The Yellow-browed Warbler has been seen in the same place at the end of the back track for at last 9 days now. It was joined by a Chiffchaff on the 5^th. A male Blackcap on the 7^th completed the Warbler sightings.

2 Snow Buntings were seen outside the Benarth hide and on the estuary on the 2^nd throughout the day. Unfortunately, the staff did not hear about this reserve rarity until late in the day.

A pair of Chough have…

Highlight of the week was a Yellow-browed Warbler that turned up on the 28^th. This visitor from Siberia is a first for the reserve. It disappeared on the 29^th in the windy conditions but re-appeared in the same place with a Firecrest the following day. Then on the December 1^st two Firecrests were seen together all in the same bushes again with the Yellow-browed, which is still present on 3rd December

The drake Common …

One of our birds of the week was a drake Common Scoter that turned during the Low-tide Wetland Bird Survey. It looked tired as it sat on the far bank from the Carneddau hide.

Other ducks seen on the low-tide count  included a drake Goldeneye, 4 Shoveler, Pochard, Gadwall, 3 Shelduck, 76 Teal, 64 Wigeon, 3 Red-breasted Merganser and a pair of Goosanders all seen on or from the reserve.

We are getting more and more sightings…

Our first Greylag Goose for a while arrived on the 12^th to keep our two Canada Geese company. Shelduck started arriving back from their breeding grounds this week with at least 10 on the estuary, occasionally popping onto the reserve. A pair of Gadwall arrived on the 14^th with a Tufted Duck and Pochard. A pair of Goldeneye and 6 Red-breasted Mergansers have also been on the deeper lagoon.

A pair of Sparrowhawks have…

3 Whooper Swans dropped in on the 6^th. Our first Shelducks have starting arriving back from their wintering grounds along with a Pochard, Tufted Duck and a pair of Goldeneye 8^th. Our highest Wigeon count was 195 on the 7^th. Goosanders have been seen on and off on the estuary, with a pair together on the 9^th looking towards Glan Conwy.

A pair of Sparrowhawks were seen on the 9^th circling over the wildlife garden again…

Our Wigeon and Teal numbers are increasing day by day now. Five Pintails dropped in for two minutes on the 26th before flying up the river. Red-breasted Mergansers are displaying on the deep-water lagoon. A Peregrine has been seen almost daily on the reserve and a Sparrowhawk has also been seen circling over the wildlife garden.

At least 3 Water Rails have been calling in the reeds with the occasional sighting from the…

The undoubted highlight of the week was a great white egret, found on the estuary by Dave O'Hara, a visiting RSPB staff member, on 14 October. It started out near the reserve entrance gate, but flew upstream along the River Conwy to past Glan Conwy, so views became a little distant. Very helpfully though, it was standing near (or maybe dwarfing would be a more accurate description!) a little egret, so it made it very…

From the modest to the magnificent we will have a good range of binoculars and telescopes here for the weekend, along with Stuart, optics expert from Viking, from 10-4 both days.

Don’t forget for some of us there are only two pay days left to Christmas, a sobering thought in these austere times, so if you are considering purchasing as a present or upgrading your own equipment call in and see us for the best support in…

Autumn migration here on the reserve is still in full swing, with each day seeing a different suite of waders feeding up on the lagoons before they leave us and head off further south. The grey phalarope stayed with us until 26 September, and was seen busily picking insects from the surface of the water and also catching them from the air too, but has now moved on to pastures (waters?) new. However, the lagoons have been…

Here's our latest e-newsletter, bringing you up to date with news from the reserve.  In it, you’ll find out what beasties we found at our Bioblitz, why we plan to flood the lagoons with saltwater, what a wheelchair user thinks of the reserve, and why I was on the receiving end of a lot of wet sponges last month.

 We’ve got lots of events and activities lined up for October, especially during half-term; don’t…

Barely had we got over the excitement of watching the buff-breasted sandpiper last weekend, when another wader brightened up this weekend.  A grey phalarope was found yesterday and is still here this morning, busily bobbing along the shore in front of the Carneddau Hide.  Strong winds brought several to north Wales last week, though this is the most easterly.  Adrian Foster got this photo of it on Saturday, and posted it…

This weekend's highlight has been yet another wader, but this one's a bit special.  A first for the reserve, a buff-breasted sandpiper found on Friday afternoon and here throughout Saturday at least.  It's a North American wader, and amazingly, there are about 50 in Britain and Ireland at the moment, brought here by ex-Hurricane Katia (there were 15 together at Loup Head in Ireland, which is remarkable!).

It’s been a real week for waders in front of the Benarth Hide, as autumn migrants stop to rest and feed up on the muddy edges of our lagoons. The highlights have been a little stint (seen on 1 and 3 September) and up to 7 curlew sandpipers throughout the week. Helpfully, both species have been feeding in amongst a small flock of dunlin, which makes them much easier to pick out, as the size difference really stands…

Another week without rain, and the receding water levels continue to reveal more mud.  The Benarth Hide gives the best views, though not in the mornings when you're looking straight into the sun.  This morning's haul included a ruff (present since Friday), 9 dunlins, 9 ringed plovers, 3 greenshanks, green and common sandpiper, 2 snipe and several black-tailed godwit, while we've also seen knot (yesterday) a…

Sorry for the lack of updates recently; as you know, our Centenary Birthday Party has consumed the last couple of weeks, so normal service is only now being resumed.  But you can always check sightings more regularly at http://twitter.com/rspbconwy.

One of the highlights of the Birthday Weekend was a 60-minute bird race between two teams of current and former RSPB Conwy wardens and some of the youngsters from the reserve…

It's been a good week for birds that start with the seventh letter of the English alphabet.  Green sandpiper is a bird that can be hard to catch up with in North Wales, but we usually get a handful each autumn.  We've had at least one every day since Thursday (28th), with three here on that evening.  With their dark upperparts and white rump, green sands look like a big house martin, and take flight at a moment's…

We did our Big Butterfly Count in yesterday's sunshine,  noting speckled woods, red admirals, small white and commas, and we spotted cinnabar moths, emperor dragonfly and common hawker too.  It's a great way to spend 15 minutes of a warm day, and contribute your sightings to a 'citizen science' project.

Highlight of last weekend was a summer-plumaged little stint which stayed from Friday to Sunday, feeding…

Last weekend was our first ever Bioblitz, a 24 hour audit of the wildlife on the reserve.  It's only a snapshot, of course, but we had lots of experts assisted by hundreds of eyes and ears.  There's still plenty of data to be added to the total, as several plants and insects were taken for later identification.  The total so far is 250 species, including 9 UK Biodiversity priority species and an impressive 44 Conwy…

June and July are traditionally the months when birders turn their attention to butterflies and dragonflies (and in our case, stoats!) as it all goes a bit quiet on the bird front. However, we seem to have a good mix of birds on the reserve just now, with summer wader chicks, ducklings and returning “autumn migration” waders all thrown into the mix.

We still have a solitary lapwing sitting, due to hatch…