There's no real theme to this week's wildlife news, other than that the stoats have undoubtedly played the starring role, and the photos that visitors have been putting on the reserve's Flickr photostream have been fantastic.  The one here by Adrian Foster is just one of many that he and other photographers have taken along the estuary track.  However, by the end of the week, the youngsters were roaming farther…

Every time I've said that so far, I've been moaned at.  "But what happened to summer?"

Of course, birds don't really do summer.  They do arriving, singing (normally males only), egg laying (always females only!), brooding, chick feeding, moulting and - in the case of migrants - leaving.  This week we've had plenty of fledglings making their first flights beyond the nest, with bullfinch, whitethroats…

Breaking news from the lagoon this afternoon: while we've only been seeing a single little ringed plover chick for the last 10 days, there are definitely two, and they're both now half grown.  With another pair nesting elsewhere on the lagoon, we're keeping our fingers crossed for a successful season.  Our Wildlife Guides also spotted a well-grown lapwing chick this morning, which we hadn't seen previously in…

Walk round the reserve at the moment and you'll find lots of busy birds.  Three common sandpipers are busy duffing each other up in a tussle for territory on the shallow lagoon; the first young blackcaps, robins and blackbirds are making their way in the world; whitethroats, sedge warblers and reed warblers are busy with parental duties, taking food to nests tucked away in the scrub and reedbeds; and bumblebees and…

The strong winds this week brought an abrupt halt to migration, but it was waning anyway (and, dare we mention, that it'll only be a few weeks before autumn migration begins?).  So, this week we've been looking out for young birds.  We've got at least two broods of lapwings and a brood of oystercatchers, with more birds sitting.  Our little ringed plovers are still sitting too, but sadly the waves were too much…

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…

After last week's rush of scarce migrants, the weather returned to the east and it's the breeding birds that have taken centre stage. There are at least five lapwings sitting on eggs, the little ringed plovers have been sitting too, and the house sparrows in the nestbox are growing fast and should fledge early next week.  And on Tuesday, our mare had a lovely, wobbly-legged piebald foal.  After the 'aah's, Farmer…

As the lagoons recede rapidly under the hot sun and easterly breeze, the mud has attracted a host of waders this week.  Top marks to volunteer Alex Jones who found the best bird of the week, a Temminck's stint, on Tuesday (3rd).  It attracted a good number of admirers as it's a scarce visitor to North Wales and classed as a Welsh rarity.  It was accompanied on the shallow lagoon by a wood sandpiper, which was here…

The male common scoter that has been here since 21 April seems in no hurry to leave.  Initially, we were concerned he wasn't well, but this week he's been swimming, preening and feeding as though being on the lagoons at Conwy is perfectly normal.  He should soon be making his way north to a loch in Scotland or an Icelandic lake to find a female.  It favours the island nearest the Carneddau Hide, but if it's out of…

It's a great time of year to get outside and enjoy the weather - just as lots of families are doing here right now on our Easter Egg hunt!  As they go round the reserve this morning, they'll hear the rasping songs of sedge and reed warblers, along with the mellow tunes of the many blackcaps and, perhaps, they'll here the machine-gun chatter of the lesser whitethroats that are now arriving from eastern Africa…

And when the weather's like that, so are the birds.  New arrivals come in with the warm southerly winds, then a cold northerly brings migration to a temporary halt.  The first half of April has seen plenty of birds moving through: the first blackcap on 1st, sedge warbler on 5th, common sandpipers on 6th, reed warblers on 8th, grasshopper warbler on 10th and garden warbler on 11th. Wheatear numbers have finally picked…

Trail news
This week, we've started work to upgrade another section of our trails to make them more wheelchair and pushchair-friendly, and to reduce the puddles following heavy rain.  We've started on the section to Tal-y-fan Hide, which is now open, and where you've traditionally required a small boat if it's been raining hard.  The guys are doing the section beyond the bridge pond today, and we hope that…

This week's warm weather has brought more early summer migrants.  Sand martins have been flowing through the reserve over the last couple of days, with a handful of swallows since Friday.  A willow warbler on Friday was the first of the year, and a week earlier than in the last couple of years.  Chiffchaffs and white wagtails have become more numerous as the week progressed, while on the estuary a greenshank on Monday…

Well, Julian’s letter to winter last week seemed to do the trick. The next day (12 March) we saw our first sand martin, then the following day a wheatear on the Estuary Track, and the first chiffchaff of the year was singing its little heart out on 15 March. It seems like we’ve suddenly burst into spring – the blackthorn is out in flower, hawthorn leaves are unfurling from their buds, bees are buzzing away and…

Dear Winter

Please go away.  There have been swallows and wheatears in North Wales this week (though not at Conwy yet), and they'll be unimpressed with more sleet, wind and rain. 

You haven't managed to cool the ardour of the mute swans, which are busy testing out potential nest sites on the lagoon, and the lapwings are doing their noisy, tumbling displays over the islands.  The cowslips are starting to emerge on…

Ignore the fact that there's a cold wind blowing today, as there are more signs of spring on the reserve.  The daffodils are out, we've seen the first frogs starting to spawn, the lapwings and oystercatchers were noisily vying for territory this morning, and I even saw a ladybird yesterday.

Birding highlights this week include red kite on Saturday and Sunday, the three pink-footed geese still present (to Saturday…

The snowdrops are out, the gorse is in bloom and the first newt eggs of the year have been spotted, and each day's sunshine brings a bit more warmth.  Birds are on the move, too, with goldeneyes shipping out during the week (the last of the regular birds was seen on Sunday).

We're also seeing black-tailed godwits more frequently, with 11 stopping here yesterday as they start their journey north to their Icelandic…

Our brighter, better shop reopened yesterday, so it’s a big welcome back to our regular and a big welcome new customers.  Chris Lusted explains what we’ve been up to.

With better, more efficient lighting that reduces our carbon footprint, a new and improved binocular and telescope display, and new entrance and shop displays, the Visitor Centre has taken on a new look.  We’ve had a really busy first Saturday…

This week has seen big changes in the look of parts of the reserve – a digger has been in and in just a few days has transformed the area between Tal Y Fan and Carneddau Hides. There’s open water again in the Bridge Pond, and he’s also opened up several of the old pools that were here originally but had become choked with reed. John the Digger Driver, who also created the island in front of the Coffee Shop last…

It’s going to be a really busy fortnight for work here on the reserve, so unfortunately there may be a wee bit of disruption for a while.

Swapshop: the floor of the Visitor Centre is being replaced, and we’re taking the opportunity to refurbish the reception area and some parts of the shop.  From 31 January to 11 February, the shop will be in the education room at the back of the Visitor Centre. We won’t…

We have a lodger.  We haven't actually seen him or her, but they've been leaving some telltale signs at the back of the Visitor Centre.  To be honest, they're a bit messy and keep regurgitating their lunch.  For the last week, we've been noticing pellets of undigestable food by the back door, so we'd narrowed it down to peregrine, sparrowhawk or barn owl, but the pellets contain birds' bones so we'd pretty much…

The weather's been a bit grim here this week, but in between the rainstorms, people have got out and about on the reserve.  Bullfinches have been especially showy, with several little groups, perhaps amounting to a dozen birds in total.  Three golden plovers have joined the lapwing flock, which itself is now more than 100 strong, while half a dozen siskins are regular visitors to the alder cones in the wildlife garden…

 Photo by RSPB Images

The lagoons finally thawed last weekend, and the wildfowl have made a welcome return. Numbers of teal and wigeon haven't yet recovered to pre-Big Freeze levels, but shoveller, gadwall and red-breasted mergansers are back on the lagoons, and the 6 goldeneyes we've been seeing regularly have decided that they can sense Spring in the air and have started displaying to each other.  Seems a long…

I don't know about you, but I'm quite glad to see some greenery again!  The reserve trails have now completely thawed, and the lagoons are de-icing too, though it's taking a long time.  Many of the ducks went somewhere else during the cold snap, but the goldeneyes are lining up in the estuary, waiting to get back on the lagoons.  Birds had a tough time, and we were sad to learn that 'our' barn owl was found dead…

A week of lying snow means that we get to see the journeys made by birds and mammals on the reserve.  It's amazing to see where things get to, especially across the middle of the lagoons!  Both our waterbodies are still frozen solid, so all the waterbird action is on the estuary, with more than 100 dunlins and 40 ringed plovers unusual here in winter and presumably pushed away from wetlands that are frozen even more…