Idle speculation

This is a late posting based on a visit to Llandegfedd Reservoir on Sunday 16th June. I was a little concerned that the meadows around The Island were being grazed heavily in early spring this year. But it seems Welsh Water has got the balance right as the floristic diversity is as good as ever, with many thousands of orchids and yellow rattle dominating the sward. Nonetheless, this success masks some concern within ornithological ranks that the SSSI is being neglected and therefore contributing to declines in species such as wigeon. There will of cause be many reasons why wildfowl numbers fluctuate but trends in numbers do appear downward - although no definitive survey has been conducted. I certainly remember from the 1970's/80's clouds of grazing wigeon using The Island to feed. As you can see from the image below the same area is now out of bounds to wildfowl (other than Canada Goose) due to a thick mature shroud of willow around the shoreline that prevents access for grazing birds.