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Recent sightings

• 13 May 2013

  A slow spring

  Despite the occasional sunny day spring has been rather slow to arrive here. The majority of our summer migrants are now in with lots of pied flycatchers, wood warblers and redstarts busy making a home for themselves in the woodlands. An occasional cuckoo call in the low temperatures reminds us that it is really spring although, at times, it feels more like autumn. Our lapwing and redshank are also a bit late this year. Last year the lapwings were incubating full clutches of eggs on March 20th but things did not start this year until mid-April; 53 lapwing pairs are nesting on the reserve this year and recent rain, after a lack of rain for some months, has improved feeding conditions on the lowland wet grassland. No spotted flycatchers have been seen yet but they should hopefully arrive soon. As with everything this spring, better late than never!

  Posted by Russell Jones

• 31 October 2012

  Wildfowl and waders

  The monthly co-ordinated wildfowl and wader count on the Dyfi was carried out at high-tide this morning. I covered the Ynys-hir RSPB reserve section whilst others counted the other three sections further down the estuary. The barnacle geese, all 321 of them, were feeding on the remaining grass not covered by the high-tide. Most of the waders were roosting on the flooded fields near the Breakwater hide with over 200 curlew, 60 redshank and a few bar-tailed godwits hunkered down in the increasingly strong winds. The highlight amongst the waders was a spotted redshank, the paler body, longer bill and pronounced eye-stripe distinctive even at long range. From tomorrow we will be closing the path along the railway until April 1st to reduce disturbance to the wintering ducks and waders on the Breakwater fields. 16 Greenland white-fronted geese were feeding on the lowland wet grassland only 150m from the Breakwater hide; all were adults and the low productivity of this race on the breeding grounds is an increasing cause of concern. The rarest county bird of the day though was a male pochard. A common and familiar bird on most areas of water in England and parts of Wales it is a very scarce bird in Ceredigion and is only the second record of a pochard in the county this year. Strange to say but it is rarer in the county than both eider and long-tailed duck! 

  Posted by Russell Jones

• 26 October 2012

  Winter arrivals

  Colder weather over the last few days has seen an increase in winter visitors to the reserve. Yesterday there was a strong passage of redwings through the reserve and the first goldeneye of the winter was on the Dyfi. 278 barnacle geese are feeding on the salt marsh and ten Greenland white-fronted geese were feeding on the lowland wet grassland with large numbers of Canada geese. Wader numbers on the lowland wet grassland are slowly increasing too with 750 golden plover, 2000 lapwing and 100 curlew. Birds of prey are now a regular feature with a ring-tailed hen harrier, a juvenile marsh harrier, merlin and peregrine seen yesterday along with the more usual red kites, buzzards and sparrowhawk.

  Posted by Russell Jones

• 7 September 2012

  Early winter arrivals

  Despite the sunny and warm weather a few winter visitors are already here. 63 barnacle geese have arrived on the salt marsh, some 3 weeks earlier than normal. Wigeon numbers have incresed to 400 and teal numbers are building up too with 600 counted yesterday. Some summer migrants like spotted flycatcher and blackcap are still here but most are moving on. A juvenile marsh harrier was hunting over the salt marsh today and a few passage waders are on the freshwater pools with 3 green sandpiper, 7 black-tailed godwit and a juvenile little ringed plover yesterday. At low-tide good numbers of other waders have been seen on the exposed mud and sand with 250 ringed plover, 800 dunlin and a few knot, sanderling and turnstone present.

  Posted by Russell Jones

• 27 March 2012

  Warm weather and new arrivals

  Astonishingly warm weather for March here at Ynys-hir. The winds have been ideal for migration with a trickle of migrants arriving daily. First here, as always, were sand martins, closely followed by wheatear and chiffchaff. Yesterday, the first blackcaps were singing and this morning a few willow warblers have arrived, the latter's song a lovely descending trill. Any day now, if the weather remains as it is, I expect redstart or an early pied flycatcher; definate harbingers of Spring. Celandines, marsh marigolds and wood sorrel are all in bloom but my favourite, the wood anemone has still to appear in splender. Reptiles are waking from hibernation with a few grass snakes seen in the wetter areas and on the lowland wet grassland, lapwings are displaying in good numbers with some already incubating a full clutch of eggs, the earliest I can recall. The grey herons are back in the heronry and, to my suprise, 12 little egrets were lined up on the salt marsh just below appearing eager to join their larger cousins. Reserve staff are arriving earlier and earlier too, eager to be the one to see the first pied flycatcher or redstart of the year. It is rather unfair, though, that the Area Manager lives on-site and invariably gets most of the year ticks. I will have to set my alarm clock earlier and earlier I think, to beat him to a redstart or pied flycatcher tomorrow.

  Posted by Russell Jones

• 31 October 2011

  The first day of winter

  Now the clocks have changed the dark, gloomy late afternoons and evenings of winter are upon us. Wader numbers on the lowland wet grassland are increasing with over 1400 golden plover and 1500 lapwing daily with smaller numbers of curlew and redshank feeding in the wetter areas. Birds of prey are now a regular feature with up to four hen harriers (three ringtails and one adult male) hunting over rougher areas of pasture with peregrine, merlin, kestrel, buzzard, red kite and sparrowhawk seen daily. A pleasant surprise yesterday was a very late osprey over the Dyfi near the Domen las hide; it should have been in it's winter quarters by now. Interesting waders include a spotted redshank and a common sandpiper, presumably the same individuals that have wintered on the reserve for the last few years. Redwing and fieldfares are goprging on the abundant hawthorn berries with an occasional brambling and crossbill putting in an appearance. Wigeon numbers have reached 1500 so far and the barnacle goose flock has built up to 336 individuals with 37 Greenland white-fronted geese also in. It is now too dark to spend a pleasant hour after work to birdwatch on the reserve so I will have to set the alarm clock a bit earlier to enjoy the reserve before settling down in front of the computer.

  Posted by Russell Jones

• 29 September 2011

  Late summer and early winter migrants

  A very high tide this morning and waders were pushed up the estuary from their usual high-tide roosts further downstream. At the Breakwater hide a steady stream of oystercatchers and curlew flew past with smaller numbers of dunlin, redshank, bar-tailed godwit, grey plover and ringed plover looking for an uncovered area to roost. A sanderling was unusual for so far up-river as were two sandwich tern amongst the black-headed gulls. Also seen was a juvenile Mediterranean gull, a ring-tail hen harrier, a yellow wagtail and a latw willow warbler. Winter visitors are increasing in numbers with almost 300 barnacle geese, 800 wigeon and a few pintail. The Indian summer (or haf bach Mihangel for the welsh among us) is very welcome at the moment with higher temperatures than we have had all year. From now on, I shall be scanning the skies to the north west, hoping to hear and see the arrival of our Greenland white-fronted geese; to me a sign that winter will soon be upon us, despite these rather unusual temperatures.

  Posted by Russell Jones

• 9 September 2011

  Waders

  On a falling tide this morning, good numbers of waders were feeding on the exposed mud and sand opposite the Breakwater hide. There were around 550 dunlin with a few ringed plovers, 3 little stints and 4 curlew sandpipers. Further out was a group of 17 knot and 5 bar-tailed godwit. Other odds and ends included a few wigeon, a wheatear, whitethroat and small flocks of linnets and meadow pipits. 

  Posted by Russell Jones

• 31 August 2011

  Ynys-hir BioBlitz

  From 4pm on Saturday 6^th August to 4pm on Sunday 7^th August 2011 we had a BioBlitz at RSPB Ynys-hir.  Experts and novices joined forces to count as many different species as they could on the reserve. It was an exciting 24 hours of events looking for birds, mammals, fungi, moths, insects, plants and more.  The weather wasn’t as kind as it could have been, the cool, windy and rainy conditions meant the animals were taking cover and more difficult to find.  However, we still counted 391 different species!  Here is a synopsis of the results: 

  Eighty species of birds were counted including: black tailed godwit, common sandpiper, garden warbler, goldcrest, goosander, kingfisher, kestrel, little egret, meadow pipit, osprey, pied flycatcher, raven, red breasted merganser, red kite, sand martin, shelduck, snipe, spotted flycatcher, stonechat, whitethroat, whinchat and yellowhammer. 

  Of the 11 species of bat we know are present on the reserve, only three were recorded during the bioblitz, the common pipistrelle, soprano pipistrelle and lesser horseshoe.  

  Ninety one species of moths were found in the moth traps.  Four had not been recorded at the reserve before, these were three micro moth species mompha raschkiella, rhopobota naevana and zeiraphera isertana and the larger moth epirrhoe galiata (Galium carpet).   

  Eighteen species of fungi were present including dog vomit fungi and fly agaric. 

  Four species of dragonfly; black darter, black tailed skimmer, common darter and southern hawker, and four species of damselfly; common blue, emerald, large red and small red were seen. 

  Ninety nine species of plant were counted by an enthusiastic plant walk.  Also thirteen species of lichen and twenty one tree species.

  Seventeen species were found by the pond dippers including stickleback, palmate newt and water scorpion.  The bug hunters discovered twenty five species of insect. 

  Although this is not a conclusive survey of the species on the reserve, it offers an interesting snapshot into the 24 hours.  We aim to hold one BioBlitz a year for the next three years to survey during the other three seasons. 

  We would like to thank everyone who was involved, we hope you had as much fun as we did!  Particular thanks go to:
  Tony Allenby for gathering as many knowledgeable people as possible and for guiding the dragonfly, damselfly and butterfly walk.
  Bob Relph and John Davis for their knowledge of birds and guiding the two bird walks.
  Ceredigion Moth group, for spending the time putting out all the moth traps on the Saturday evening and checking them the following morning. A special thank you goes to Carol and Evan Lynn for writing up the list of moths for our results.
  Arthur Chater for his encyclopaedic knowledge of plants.
  Dave Purdon for finding as many lichens as he possibly could.
  Jack Grasse for his time in putting out mammal hair traps out and checking them.
  Russel Hobsen from butterfly conservation.
  Bob Chilton and Penny David for hunting out the fungi of Ynys-hir.

  Posted by Cathy