- Every nest box has been checked once and the second round has started this week! At the end of the season every nest box will have been checked at least three times. The Great and Blue Tit chicks are developing and the Pied Flycatchers are still incubating their eggs.
Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) chicks.
- On Lodge Farm, the electric fence has been adjusted to allow Lapwing chicks to move from field to field. Most of them have now fledged! They cannot fly yet and need their parents to help them find food and water.
-This week, the volunteers carried out the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) on the reserve. This survey monitors non-breeding water birds (waders and wildfowl) all over the UK. It is an important event where water birds are counted on the same day to get an idea of bird population trends on the national scale. Thankfully the weather was agreeable and some of the more notable counts were: 41 Curlews, one Goosander, four Common Sandpipers and 95 Oystercatchers.
- This week we had the chance to get help from three more volunteers known as "The three Musketeers". They arrived for their annual week on the reserve from England to help the Conservation team. They have been coming on Ynys-hir for more than 20 years!
- Every fortnight a couple of Moth enthusiasts from the local Ceredigion Moth Group, Ina and Tony, come trap on the reserve. It was the best trap session so far this season. If you are interested in knowing more about these nocturnal beasties, Ina and Tony are running a Moth event on the reserve on the 6th of June and the 5th of July!
Brimstone moth (Opisthograptis luteolata)
Scorched wing (Plagodis dolabraria)
Peppered moth (Biston betularia)
Spectacle (Abrostola tripartite)