The Dee and Thereabouts

Month: April 2026

RSPB Conwy

(Sunday 19^th April, 2026)

We were at RSPB Conwy in the borough county of Conwy this morning. Although only 11°C, it felt much warmer: the day was sunny with barely any wind. The nature reserve is family-friendly with a play area and sandpit near the entrance, and Conwy Castle and the surrounding hills and mountains provide an impressive background.

Looking across the river towards Conwy Castle

    There were several Canada geese nesting by the main lagoon while Oystercatchers and Lapwings roved the shallows. Shelducks and Coots bobbed along the water and Moorhens moved furtively around the undergrowth.

    Top: Canada goose; bottom left: Lapwing; bottom right: Oystercatchers.

There was also a pair of Gadwalls, a species of duck that we hadn’t encountered before. In fact, we almost missed them as they were amongst a group of Mallards and we initially assumed them both to be female Mallards, before noticing the white tail feathers and dark grey bill of the male Gadwall. While the females of both duck species are very similar at first sight, the differences do become more apparent once you take a closer look.

    As we walked between hides, we heard the distinctive sound of a Chiffchaff calling from a nearby tree. It’s difficult to separate the Chiffchaff from the Willow warbler as they are both very similar in size and appearance. Willow warblers have pale brown legs whereas Chiffchaffs have dark brown or even black legs but you don’t always get a clear view of them. You can, though, differentiate the birds through their songs: the Willow warbler has a descending trill kind of song, while the Chiffchaff’s song is a steady two-note repeated phrase – supposedly it sings its own ‘chiff-chaff’ name. Luckily for us, then, that this Chiffchaff sang for our benefit!

Chiffchaff

    Trichomonosis is a word we’ve all become more familiar with in recent years: this parasitic disease affects many birds by making them unable to swallow food or water, which inevitably leads to emaciation and often death for those birds. The disease is transmitted via saliva and regurgitated food, so it can be passed by parent birds feeding their young and through courtship feeding. It can also be passed via contaminated food or water at bird feeders: the RSPB has recently advised against the use of flat bird tables and tray feeders in particular as well as limiting feeding during summer months.

    Particularly affected by trichomonosis in recent years have been Greenfinches and Chaffinches and, while we still come across Chaffinches on our travels, we’ve struggled to see any Greenfinches at all in the last couple of years, so it was very pleasing to see no less than three of them appear together at one of the RSPB feeders. Let’s hope that circumstances are improving for them and other birds.

Above: Greenfinches; below: a great shot of a Greenfinch coming in to land.

    One of the unlooked for consequences of feeders – and I’m not referring to that awful bird disease here – is that rodents such as rats and squirrels are attracted to the overspill that lands on the ground. Those that we saw today were having a grand old time with this free food!

Squirrel and rats feeding on overspill from feeder.

    Blue tits and Great tits skittered from tree to tree and were clearly enjoying the balmy weather. We heard Dunnocks and Wrens amongst the avian choir, although we didn’t catch sight of any. We did see our old friend, the Robin, though!

   Robin and Blue tit

There are lots of plants flowering now and it was great to see the ground awash with colour: the pale lilac of Cuckoo flowers (also known as ‘Lady’s smock’ I believe); the bold yellows of cowslips and marsh marigolds, the daintier pale yellow of primroses, and the purple of the many dog violets scattered at the sides of the paths. Hawthorn has also begun to produce its white blossom. It seemed as if everywhere was beginning to flourish.

     From left to right: Marsh marigolds, Cowslips, Cuckoo flowers (also known as Lady’s smock)

Talking of dog violets, the caterpillars of several butterflies, including the Pearl bordered fritillary, the Silver washed fritillary, and the Dark green fritillary like to munch on these particular flowers. So, something to look out for in the coming months.

Dog violets

The important stuff

Having burnt off so much energy, we went to the spacious café for replenishment: Stu had a Caramel Slice with his cappuccino and I had a slice of Bara Brith (and butter) with mine. Very nice!

    Suitably topped-up, we went outside and took one last look through the binoculars before we left. We saw several Little egrets nesting high in the trees on the far side of the estuary, although they were that far away we didn’t notice them until they were pointed out to us by a helpful member of staff. Well worth a visit.

26.04.2026
Four Seasons in One Day

(Sunday 12^th April, 2026)

Over to Wirral Country Park at Thurstaston this morning where we experienced sunshine, wind, rain and hailstones during our brief excursion!

    The morning began well enough with a moderate temperature of 12°C which felt much warmer when the sun came out. However, the south-westerly wind was very gusty, particularly as we traversed the exposed part of the path near the cliffs. But at least it was dry at this point.

Mallard drake

    Unfortunately, there weren’t a great deal of birds about, which we put down largely to the weather: the occasional crow or gull that was brave enough to take to the air was swiftly blown off course by the wind. Any other birds witnessing this spectacle would have had second thoughts, I’m sure.

Looking towards Welsh side of the Dee Estuary from Thurstaston, at low tide. (You can just make out Point of Ayr Lighthouse, Talacre, on the top right, next to the wind turbines).

    We also happened to arrive at low tide – this doesn’t mean that birds aren’t feeding, but because the estuary shoreline is farther out any birds that are feeding are themselves farther out and dispersed along the vast area at the edge of the water. So, further away from us and spread out wide too. If you look at the photograph (you may need to zoom!), you can see some wading birds, Oystercatchers mostly, and crows to the left of the two boats. We did hear the distinctive sound of a Curlew calling from somewhere on the beach, but we didn’t actually locate it visually. Still, it’s reassuring to know that there are still some about here, despite numbers declining (Curlews are on the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern).

    In the park itself, we saw a Wren skipping along the low branches of a hawthorn bush, but it was reluctant to have its photograph taken this particular morning. Likewise, we saw a Long-tailed-tit a little further along which didn’t hang around long enough for a photograph either. It was unusual to see one of these birds by itself – usually, you see several together chattering excitedly to each other as they flit about, but this one was alone.

    Luckily, it was business as usual for the Canada goose and the three Mallard drakes who were all pretty much unconcerned by the weather, happily swimming around in the little ponds of the park.

The important stuff

We went to Flissy’s Coffee Shop on Station Road and sat outside while we waited for our refreshments. It was quite pleasant because we were out of the wind now but, seemingly out of nowhere, we were deluged by a combination of hailstones and rain. We adjourned inside to dry out and finish our customary cappuccinos and Bakewell slices. Squelch!

17.04.2026
Down in the Woods

(Sunday 29^th March, 2026)

There was a south-westerly blowing this morning, although we escaped the worst of the gusts by virtue of being in the woods at Loggerheads Country Park in Denbighshire. It was still a bit chilly (8°C) but I think we’re all becoming accustomed to this topsy-turvy ‘spring’ weather. At least it was dry.

    Just as we joined the Leete path from the little stone bridge near the mill, we saw a Song thrush fly in and settle on a high branch of one of the trees upstream from us. We’ve seen both Song thrushes and Mistle thrushes in these woods over the years but we’re seeing them less and less as time passes – nationally, both are in decline.

    Nuthatches, on the other hand, have greatly increased their numbers since the 1970s and we often see them hopping up and down tree trunks, or flitting about filching nuts and seeds.

This Nuthatch used ‘diversionary’ tactics to conceal its food source…

Today was no exception and it is amusing to watch them fly from tree to tree, executing a sort of diversionary route – presumably to foil either predators or, more probably, to avoid revealing their food source to other birds. Mind you, there was little they could do once the Carrion crow discovered their source!

    …but the Carrion crow discovered it anyway!

Apart from the odd bit of hawthorn blossom here and there, the trees are generally free of any foliage (well, not counting the evergreens). But I don’t think it will be too long before everything begins to flourish. We noticed, for example, the aroma of wild garlic which reached us when the occasional gust of wind pushed through the woods. There is an abundance of garlic leaves to be seen on either side of the River Alyn, but no sign of the plant’s distinctive white flowers just yet.

False turkey-tail (we think!)

    There are other signs that spring (or should that be summer?) is finally on the way. We watched, transfixed as two Robins circled around us, flying close to the ground, disappearing then re-emerging from the undergrowth. Male and female Robins look very similar and are difficult to sex but, as neither of these birds was acting in the typical territorial mode that Robins usually display, we’re fairly confident that we were watching a male and female. One of them posed for the camera, as you can see below!

    We saw another pairing shortly afterwards: on a few of our visits to Loggerheads over the last few months, we’ve spotted a single Grey wagtail at various stretches of the river. Today we saw two together, although they’d separated before Stu managed to get a photograph of both of them simultaneously. It was encouraging to see though, and hopefully they’ll manage to breed successfully.

After last week’s success at Burton Wetlands, Stu managed to capture another Grey squirrel on film – it seems like they’ve finally grown tired of hiding from him!

The important stuff

Over to The Mill House café (Tŷ’r Felin) for a cappuccino each and a Blondie Jammie-dodger (Col) and Millionaire’s shortcake (Stu). Scrumptious!

03.04.2026