Recently by Leah Williams

Whilst I was in the visitor centre the other day chatting to some visitors, a lady brought in a small margarine tub. 'Can you help me?' she asked, 'I can try', I replied. She proceeded to open the margarine tub, and inside, unfortunately, was a dead bird. It was small, about the size of a greenfinch, a dull olive brown colour with a bright white rump and white wing bars, what grabbed my attention first, though, was it's large, thick, black bill. 'It flew into my window*' the lady continued, 'can you help me identify it?' I had a vague idea of what it was, but just to be sure, I took out the RSPB Handbook of British Birds and flicked to the finch section. 'That's what it is' I said, pointing to a bullfinch on the page, 'it's a juvenile', 'oh,' the lady replied 'I get them quite a lot, I thought it would be something more interesting'.

Now, I would be absolutely delighted to have bullfinches in my garden, they're a stunning bird, especially the males, and are now getting quite rare in the UK because of persecution by people (they feed voraciously of the buds of various trees in spring and were once a 'pest' of fruit crops). But the lady's comment got me thinking, what is an 'interesting' bird? A small brown lesser-spotted whatjamacallit may be interesting to many bird enthusiasts, however, personally I find common birds much more exciting. I still get a thrill when I see a blue tit on my bird feeder or a jackdaw hoping by the road and I especially love the family of magpies that were nesting in the overgrown garden behind my house. Many people dislike magpies as they predate many small garden bird nests- however, I find their almost arrogant attitude fascinating. They strut around chattering noisily and are quite acrobatic when they want to be. And when looked at closely, their plain black and white plumage takes on a more alluring hue, with a purplish-blue iridescent sheen to the wing feathers, and a green gloss to the tail.

So next time your out and about, look again when you pass these common birds, and appreciate how beautiful, intelligent and interesting they really are!

* if you want to prevent birds flying into windows try bird window stickers which are available from the RSPB Shop or get them online by clicking on this link

RSPB Conwy Nature Reserve is best known for its fantastic bird spectacles, however there is a lot more to see here than just birds, there is a great variety of creatures on the reserve at the moment, the height of summer is the best time to look out for butterflies, moths, bees and much more
Insects like butterflies and moths are valuable early warning systems of changes in the environment. Many species suffered from the cold damp weather we had last year. We've had many visitors comment on the lack of these creatures in their gardens this year. However, now the weather is becoming brighter and warmer we're seeing a lot more here on the reserve. To help the butterflies and moths we've planted plenty of native flowers in our wildlife garden and are managing the grasslands to encourage nectar-rich wild flowers on the reserve. This week, we've been seeing meadow brown, gatekeeper and small tortoiseshell butterflies as well as the fantastic black and red six-spot burnet moth- which are hatching all over the reserve!
Bumble bees are also abundant on the reserve, these too have suffered declines in recent years. Bumble bees are major pollinators, they're vital for the agriculture industry- many crops depend on bumble bees for pollination. Here on the reserve we're encouraging bumble bees with flowering teasels and thistles- if you come to the reserve you'll see these endearing insects buzzing around loaded with pollen!
All these insects are attracting mammals too. After dark, at least two species of bat have been flying, noctule and pipistrelles.
If you want to see any of these fantastic sights, RSPB Conwy are running many events over the summer to show visitors the fantastic array of wildlife on the reserve. For adults, there is a guided walk every Saturday at 11am and Wednesday evening at 7 pm. There are also family events every Wednesday and Sunday to help children and their parents get closer to nature. For more information email conwy@rspb.org.uk or telephone 01492 584091. For more information about our events click here.