After weeks of Arctic conditions and nervous anticipation, survey season is well underway at Lake Vyrnwy. So far its been enjoyable, variable, and a steep learning curve. There are several key species which are monitored and surveyed individually, in addition to more generalist surveys to assess complete bird diversity. The first real survey work to take place was for Black Grouse, for which unsociable hours are a mandatory requirement! It certainly came as a shock to my body clock hauling myself out of bed at 3am for several days, but being up at dawn allows you to witness the sights and sounds of nature from a new perspective. Starting a route in the dark also means testing your navigation skills, and that is certainly an area I have improved upon, having being hopelessly lost a couple of time early on when the mist descended! The nature of surveys requires them to be a process of elimination, and not seeing or hearing a species provides just as important, if generally less positive, data, both for if species are present at all and to find specific areas of the reserve they use. For Black Grouse surveys, weather is also crucial, and wind speed has to be low to hear the unique sound of lekking males, which are the focus of the count for the survey. The secret weapon employed here is, somewhat bizarrely, a Norwegian weather forecast, deemed to be more accurate than a range of UK alternatives, and this had a mixed record, not getting off to a great start by providing a disastrously inaccurate forecast for the first morning, leading to that area having to be re-surveyed! For me personally, it was great to finally see and hear Black Grouse, they are a spectacular moorland bird fully deserving of the efforts being made to conserve them. Currently, the main focus of our work is to monitor areas for Merlin and Hen Harrier, involving sitting in one place for long periods of time and making meticulous notes on any activity seen, such as the amazing 'skydance' display by the male Hen Harrier, and this type of survey is excellent for learning about bird behaviour. At one point of such a survey, I had Red Kite, Hen Harrier and Buzzard in my view, a real festival of raptors! I'm certainly looking forward to seeing how things develop over the course of the breeding season for these species, hopefully with some even better sightings to come! I have also been on a Curlew survey, watching over a feeding area to see how many individuals use it and also to plot their movements and a pair was identified. With bad weather forecast, I drew the short straw and chose a viewpoint where I had to sit in the Landrover in the dry and warm, completely at odds with survey tradition! Also taking place are the surveys which record all species seen, and the methodology of this type of survey is to walk within a set area at points of equal distance, in short, a lot of walking! It also creates conundrums of whether birds have been counted twice, it can feel as though Meadow Pipits follow you around deliberately. An important lesson has been learnt during the upland surveys, namely 'avoid the fluorescent green moss'! This species of Sphagnum has a habit of plunging the unsuspecting surveyor knee deep into muddy water, a miserable and unforgettable experience. Fortunately the fantastic views of wildlife and the feeling of gathering important data more than compensate. For the foreseeable future its more of the same, with surveys lasting into July, so hopefully in the near future I will be writing about woodland surveys and new experiences, good and bad!