Big Garden Bird Watch weekend was a great success with the usual suspects making an appearance to our hide in the car park: great tit, blue tit, robin, nuthatch, coal tit, marsh tit, greater spotted woodpecker, bullfinch, siskin, goldfinch, brambling and chaffinch.
The Lake itself is still buzzing with Canada Goose, goldeneye, little grebe, mallard and teal being spotted at the weekend.
Our wardens are happy to see the black grouse making an appearance up on the moors, and visitors at the weekend were pleased to spot a pair of kestrels at the far side of the lake.
Redpoll and redwings are taking over the forestry on our blue trail walk, as well as song thrush and large flocks of crossbill.
Goshawk is making a regular appearance on the red trail and on the blue trail walk, a welcome surprise for some walkers on Sunday :-)
Great to see all of our usual little garden friends visiting our feeders outside the shop and down in the hide by the Car Park; blue tits, great tits, siskin, chaffinch, coal tit, marsh tit, goldfinch, nuthatch and robins galore :-)
The Lake is coming alive too with mallard, 3 little grebe, 7 comorant, 2 wigeon, goosander, goldeneye and teal having a good swim around the place. Around the dam and by the river we have grey heron, dipper, kingfisher, pied wagtail and fresh otter tracks!
In the woodland, on our blue and red trails, we have crossbill, goshawk, redpoll, redwing, willow tit and a fab find of a great grey shrike!
Lovely to see large flocks of long-tailed tit around the reserve, all huddling together in the tops of our deciduos woodland.
The male peregrine is being spotted daily from our lakeside hide, sitting on the cliff face marking its territory and awaiting its mate who will return in early March.
This year the RSPB celebrates100 years of working in Wales and has come a long way since its humble beginnings.
The charity's work protecting birds, wildlife and habitats in Wales started in 1911 with a Mr and Mrs Jones carrying out a small project to look after roseate terns on the island of Llanddwyn, off the coast of Anglesey in North Wales.
Llanddwyn Island on Anglesey. Image courtesy of the RSPB.
In 1948 RSPB bought it's first nature reserve - Grassholm Island, to protect the third largest gannet colony in the UK.
RSPB Cymru now manages 18 nature reserves, covering nearly 17,000 hectares and has already helped save a number of birds such as the red kite, chough and black grouse here in Wales.
In 2004, the magnificent osprey nested in Wales for the first time in recorded history, sparking the beginning of the RSPB Glaslyn Osprey Project near Porthmadog.
The Glaslyn osprey pair has now successfully raised 15 chicks and last year the site attracted almost 35,000 visitors.
RSPB now employs 150 staff members and has over 800 volunteers; attracting over 300,000 visitors and tourists every year to its nature reserves which also offer environmental education experiences to over 9,000 children every year.
Aerial view of the gannetry at the RSPB Grassholm nature reserve. Image by John Archer-Thompson, RSPB Images.
RSPB Cymru Director, Katie-Jo Luxton, says: "RSPB Cymru's centenary year is something for us to really celebrate as it marks various milestones in conservation in Wales and shows what a difference we've made."
"Through our increasing number of nature reserves, we're helping more and more people to enjoy the wildlife of Wales and giving them first hand experiences."
"One of the key species that urgently needs our help and we will be fundraising money towards as part of our centenary celebrations, is the curlew."
"An RSPB Cymru survey in 2006 showed a decline of 81% in curlew breeding numbers in Wales. It is believed this large wading bird is suffering because much of its habitat has been degraded."
A curlew coming in to land in the River Dee by Ashley Cohen.
To help celebrate the centenary, RSPB Cymru has also formed a partnership with Girl Guiding Cymru and as part of this, the girls will help survey birds across Wales by taking part in the Big Garden Birdwatch and Volunteer Famer Alliance project.
Every Girl Guide in Wales, including Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, leaders and members of the Trefoil Guild, will also spend a day at one of RSPB Cymru's nature reserves, learning about nature and taking part in different activities.
To find out more about RSPB Cymru's centenary celebrations please visit www.rspb.org.uk/wales/centenary.