​In a week that was warmer and drier in North Wales than parts of the Med, some of the visiting birds had a southern European feel: a Bee-eater over Rhosneigr, a Hoopoe at Parc Glynllifon, seven Cattle Egrets near Valley and a White Stork that wandered around Anglesey, feeding with gulls behind the plough on a farm near Llyn Alaw. It, or another, was over Gronant on Monday, and later on the Wirral peninsula. A study published recently shows that Iberian breeding storks have lost their migratory urge over the last 30 years. More than 70% now stay in southern Europe through the winter, compared to just 18% in 1995. Tracking shows that birds only travel to Africa in the first winter after they hatch and then become more sedentary, driven by year-round food availability at landfill dumps in Spain and Portugal.

​The first Little Terns were seen at Gronant at the weekend, where Denbighshire Council is appealing for volunteers to help set up the fences that are so essential to keeping predators, dogs and other visitors away from the nests of one of the most productive colonies in Britain.

Other summer migrants arriving before the weather turned inclement included the first Cuckoos at Dyserth last Thursday, and Mynydd Llandygai and the Aber Valley on Saturday, an influx of Willow Warblers on Holy Island, a Blue-headed Wagtail on Bardsey and more than 100 White Wagtails at Cemlyn. A Slavonian Grebe remains in the Menai Strait, a Surf Scoter off Llanddulas with four Velvet Scoters, and a Tree Sparrow sang at Uwchmynydd, on the tip of Pen Llŷn.

Rarest visitor was a Bonaparte’s Gull, present on RSPB Conwy’s lagoons and the adjacent estuary at the weekend. This North American vagrant has occurred in North Wales on fewer than a dozen occasions, and this was the first record in the Denbighshire vice-county used for wildlife recording.
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It's not too late to sign up for the Heathland Bird Survey, which is seeking to find Dartford Warblers between now and June. Later in the summer, evening visits will be required to find churring Nightjars. I made the first of two visits to one of my allocated squares and was pleased to find Dartford Warblers present, a species that is moving north with a warming climate but with only a toe-hold in North Wales. They nest in gorse and heather, so are especially vulnerable to the spate of fires across the region in recent weeks. Volunteers to survey for Dartford Warblers are needed in western Anglesey, Pen Llŷn, the Carneddau and on moorland north of Llangollen. Details at bto.org/our-science/projects/heathland-birds-survey.

Black Grouse surveyors in northeast Wales will hope that the high-pressure system with its clear weather holds through April. Counting birds requires a calm dawn to locate a lek – the gathering that is often a precursor to mating – by the male’s characteristic bubbling call. One bird in Mynydd Hiraethog took the unusual step of displaying on top of a pole carrying low voltage powerlines, caught on video by Dave Parry. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see the clip. Some have speculated that the Black Grouse, which roost in trees to avoid predation, was responding to its own reflection in the glass insulators. Survey volunteers will be scouring the forests and moors, rather than electricity poles, this month to see whether last year’s population increases have been maintained.

Three Hoopoes on Bardsey and one in an Anelog garden were among at least 150 reported in southwest Britain and the south coast of Ireland in recent weeks; a Wryneck on seacliffs across Bardsey Sound made a similar journey from Africa. These overshot their breeding areas in mainland Europe during recent warm weather, as did a Black Kite that flew over my head beside Anglesey’s Llyn Penrhyn on Friday, where the Red-necked Grebe is developing its colourful summer attire. A White Stork wandered widely over Anglesey on Monday and Tuesday, and being unringed was also likely to be a European breeder. Multiple Ring Ouzels were at South Stack and the Great Orme. Other summer migrants included the region’s first Reed Warblers at RSPB Conwy and Gronant on Monday, Sedge Warbler at RSPB Cors Ddyga on Sunday, while Saturday brought a Yellow Wagtail to the Clwyd estuary, Whinchat at Aberffraw and Pied Flycatcher at Llanberis. Common Sandpiper, Tree Pipit and Whimbrel were also recorded in North Wales last week, and eight Little Ringed Plovers paused at RSPB Cors Ddyga. Three Glossy Ibises that flew along Nant Llugwy near Capel Curig were not relocated.

Last week’s call for dog-owners to protect nesting birds by using a short lead prompted readers to remind owners to deposit dog hair in the bin, not to leave it for birds to use as nesting material if dosed with insecticide tick and flea treatments. A study by the University of Sussex showed that several types of insecticide were found in more than 90% of Blue Tit and Great Tit nests sampled, and that a higher number of dead chicks or unhatched eggs were found in nests exposed to the pesticides. Previous studies have highlighted the toxic effects of pet treatments on aquatic life from dogs treated with spot-on, spray or shampoo flea treatments containing chemicals such as fipronil, which was banned for use in agriculture more than a decade ago.

Into the cold, brisk wind Swallows and Sand Martins flew over Holyhead Mountain on Sunday and quickly headed out to sea. Willow Warblers hovered in gaps among gorse bushes, selecting tiny insects with their tweezer bills, too hungry to sing after a long flight. I missed the Black Redstart at South Stack, but enjoyed watching aerobatic Choughs collect wool and dry grass to line nests in the sea-caves. Territory occupation and nesting success of the red-billed crow has fallen in North and Mid Wales, so every nest counts.

It was good to see dog owners on The Range following the law on open access land, which requires the animals to be on a lead no more than two metres long between 1 March and 31 July to protect ground-nesting birds (and throughout the year around livestock). The Skylarks singing in exultation – a collective noun in use for at least 700 years - above the heath will have been grateful too. Natural Resources Wales and RSPB Cymru issued a reminder about dogs and nesting birds and charity Curlew Action has produced a range of bilingual signs for use where birds are nesting.

Summer migrants reported elsewhere in the last week include Ring Ouzels at Aber Falls and the Great Orme, Little Ringed Plovers on Llyn Trawsfynydd, an early Whinchat on Minera Mountain and the first Pied Flycatcher of spring beside the Dyfi estuary at RSPB Ynys-hir.

A Kumlien’s Gull has been sporadic at Aber Ogwen, where Slavonian and Black-necked Grebe fed in the Menai Strait. A Lapland Bunting has associated with Golden Plovers at RSPB Cors Ddyga all week; at least 1000 of the plovers left via Cemlyn on Sunday, heading for Iceland, or perhaps even beyond to western Greenland. Other winter visitors yet to depart include Twite at Flint Castle and a Long-tailed Duck on the Inland Sea. A couple of Egyptian Geese, not a native but which breed widely in England and nested in mid Wales in 2023, are at Burwen, west of Amlwch.

News that the number of booming male Bitterns has increased again, to 283 across Britain, including seven in Wales last year, is hugely welcome. In the late 1990s, I remember when there were only 11 in England and none in Wales, the last having been heard on Anglesey in 1984. As the population shrank, researchers raced against time to understand the ecology of this secretive reedbed heron, whose deep bass call carries up to 1km on a still morning.

Science informed a major programme of wetland restoration, in which pools within reedbeds were deepened to enhance fish populations and the habitat opened up to enable birds to feed more easily. But with most Bitterns on coastal wetlands in eastern England that will be lost to rising sea levels, conservation organisations also created suitable habitat at sites that had been drained or abandoned more than a century previously. At one such site, RSPB Cors Ddyga in the Cefni Valley, five males boomed last week, fortifying further their presence on the island.

Cors Ddyga also hosted a Lapland Bunting and Green-winged Teal on Sunday as well as four Ruff that have overwintered and its first Willow Warbler and Little Ringed Plover of the year. Elsewhere on Anglesey, seven Cattle Egrets and another Little Ringed Plover were on a flooded field at Valley and the first House Martin on Sunday at RSPB South Stack, where up to four Black Redstarts and eight Twite dropped in on migration. At least a dozen Twite remain at Flint dock. The first Sandwich Terns are back at Cemlyn lagoon, Wales’ only regular breeding colony, while single Ospreys have returned to Cors Dyfi, Llyn Brenig and the Glaslyn Valley, where a replacement nest site was constructed recently using branches thrown by Storm Darragh. Viewing centres at all three locations have reopened for the season.

A Hoopoe sang briefly on Bardsey, where staff returned to the region’s only Bird Observatory last week and ringed Jack Snipe and Woodcock making journeys to northeastern Europe. Other winter visitors still in North Wales include 46 Whooper Swans from Porthmadog Cob that will soon be heading for Iceland, Kumlien’s Gull and Slavonian Grebes irregularly at Aber Ogwen, with more grebes and a Long-tailed Duck in Beddmanarch Bay, but the origins of a Gyr Falcon that plucked a Herring Gull near Rhosneigr remain a matter of conjecture,
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Many seaducks that wintered off Old Colwyn have already left east over northern England, including presumably the several Surf Scoters that remain on the wrong side of the Atlantic. Following them east were Little Gulls feeding in the Menai Strait at the weekend, while Short-eared Owls dotted around the Anglesey coast are also moving to their breeding areas.

In windless sunshine off Anglesey’s Penmon Point on Saturday, the sounds of Eiders carried ashore. A group of 30 courted, black-and-white males and females in subdued browns to hide on the nest among foliage or seaweed. The male’s ‘ah-ooo’ call carried far while the females response is a quieter, chuckling “ak-ak-ak”. The Welsh breeding Eider population is small, perhaps a few dozen pairs, and among the southernmost in the world. Most nest around Anglesey but nothing is known about where these individuals spend the rest of the year.

Each March, larger numbers of Europe’s largest duck appear in the Menai Strait and Conwy Bay. I counted 200 Eiders off Puffin Island a couple of years ago, and this weekend 40 were off Dwygylfylchi, with dozens more off Llanfairfechan and Llanddona. Are they pausing en route to the Isle of Man or farther north? How little we know about some of our maritime neighbours, even the big and showy ones.

Two Iceland Gulls were off Aber Ogwen last week: a ‘Kumlien’s Gull’ from Arctic Canada and a pale-billed subadult from northern Europe, with an adult at Gresford Flash briefly. At least two dozen Hawfinches feed around Caerhun church, although difficult to see all at one time. Twite are at Flint Castle and RSPB South Stack, where the first Puffins were seen on Saturday; another six of the parrot-billed auks were off Ynys Seiriol/Puffin Island.
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The first Ring Ouzel of spring was spotted at Llyn Mwyngil, also known as Tal-y-llyn, on Saturday, and although a few Wheatears and Sand Martins were seen this week, forecast southeasterly winds should accelerate migration. Ospreys have returned to nest sites elsewhere in Britain, with the first Welsh birds expected early next week. Long-stayers that will soon leave include a Snow Bunting on the Great Orme, four Cattle Egrets at Llanfwrog, and Black Redstarts in Trefriw and Aberdaron.  A dozen Great Northern Divers are in Caernarfon Bay and an impressive 140 Red-throated Divers off Llanfairfechan.

Few bird spectacles make non-birdwatchers stop the car and take out their smartphone, but many people working or shopping around Llangefni Industrial Estate were in awe of a huge murmuration of Starlings last week. At least 50,000 swooped over the Cefni Valley late each afternoon before roosting in reedbeds, shifting their shape as a Peregrine attempted to pick off one for dinner.

The Starlings will shortly head to Russia and the Baltic States, where their arrival will be heralded as a harbinger of spring. Last week’s warm weather triggered Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps to sing here, some of which had probably arrived from southern Europe. The year’s first Sand Martin in the region was at Aber Dysynni on 5th, with more over the weekend at RSPB Cors Ddyga and Valley Wetlands, where a wintering Red-necked Grebe remains. A small number of Wheatears were scattered along the coast, with a couple in Eryri and Mynydd Hiraethog at the weekend, and a Swallow was at Talacre on Monday

An adult male Surf Scoter in Red Wharf Bay is almost certainly a different individual to those that wintered off Old Colwyn. A flock of Snow Buntings was a great find on the summit of Carnedd Llewelyn, while singles were on the Great Orme, Point Lynas and RSPB South Stack. A Black Redstart is in Trefriw, while the long-staying male on the Great Orme continues to pose for photographers.

A pledge made by shooting organisations to replace lead shot with non-toxic alternatives by 2025 has failed, according to research by Cambridge University, working with the University of the Highlands and Islands. Recent studies found that of Pheasants (which contained shot) bought from butchers, game dealers and supermarkets across Britain, 99% were killed with lead ammunition, while 100% of Red Grouse tested in the 2024/25 season contained lead shot.

Lead was banned from use in paint and petrol several decades ago because it is toxic to humans when absorbed by the body and there is no known safe level of exposure. The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust estimates that 100,000 waterbirds die from ingesting fragments of lead shot that they eat, and raptors are also vulnerable because they scavenge wildfowl and deer killed by lead ammunition. The studies come as Welsh Government Ministers have to decide, along with Scotland and Westminster, whether to ban lead shot and large calibre bullets outdoors. The voluntary pledge was made in February 2020 by the UK’s nine leading game shooting and rural organisations and aimed to benefit wildlife and the environment, and ensure a market for the healthiest game meat food products.

Birdwatchers across the country were stunned to learn that a White Tern had been picked up in a Gwynedd hotel garden more than a dozen miles from the sea, but more significantly at least 5000 miles from its nearest nesting grounds – and much farther if it had followed the coast.

A staff member at the Royal Victoria Hotel in Llanberis, at the foot of Wales’ highest mountain, picked up the bird last Thursday, uncertain what it was. By chance, naturalist Sam Whitton was in hotel reception when the tern was brought in and, certain that it was not a European species, quickly identified it online. “It was poorly but still had some energy, pecking at the fingers of its rescuer,” said Sam. He used local contacts to arrange for it to be taken into care, but it was very underweight, in poor condition and died on Saturday. “It’s a real shame but I’m incredibly grateful for all the effort the team put into this beautiful animal,” he said.

White Terns breed on islands across the southern oceans and from the photograph, experts suggest that it’s the candida form, from the Seychelles, Maldives and Mascarene islands in the Indian Ocean. Dr Alexander Lees, co-author of Vagrancy in Birds and chair of the British Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee (BOURC) that will consider the details for inclusion on the British List, commented on BlueSky that “we were anticipating a record from the Azores rather than Wales, but life is full of surprises”. He highlighted that the species has been recorded in Bermuda and the Bahamas, and 70 miles inland in South Korea following a tropical storm. Analysis of feathers dropped by the Llanberis bird may help to confirm the origins of the most unexpected potential addition to the 460 bird species recorded in Wales.

Some have wondered whether the bird may have hitched a ride on a ship, but that is not necessarily a bar to acceptance on the British List provided the bird was not confined, sheltered or provided with food or water during its journey.

Other sightings last week seem rather tame by comparison: Black Redstarts remain at Kinmel Bay and on the Great Orme, Surf Scoters and Long-tailed Ducks off Old Colwyn and a Red-necked Grebe on Llyn Penrhyn. A Snow Bunting was at Gronant on Saturday, Slavonian Grebe in the Menai Strait and a Swallow was reported on Anglesey. Avocets have returned to Connah's Quay nature reserve this week.

Thanks to North Wales birder Alex Humphreys-Jones for the images below of Indo-Pacific White Tern taken in the Seychelles (left) and Hawaii (right). White Terns lay a single egg in a slight depression on the bare branch of a tree.

The British Trust for Ornithology has expressed delight at the ‘remarkable’ response to its new raptor monitoring project, Cudyll Cymru, which focuses on the more widespread species – Buzzard, Kestrel, Red Kite and Sparrowhawk – as well as Ravens. BTO Cymru is making a last appeal for new volunteers, especially those who have never participated in bird surveys beyond their gardens, to adopt a patch and visit it each month through from now until late summer. Details at bto.org/cudyll-cymru.

The RSPB and BTO Cymru are also asking more experienced birdwatchers to help the UK Heathland Bird Survey. Assistance is needed to look for Dartford Warblers in 1-km squares in north Berwyn, Y Carneddau, this spring, western Anglesey and Pen Llŷn, while summer evening visits to listen for Nightjars are required across the region, including in forestry in Meirionnydd, Gwydyr, Clocaenog, Llandegla and below Moel Famau. Click on the maps below for details.

The first Iceland Gull of winter in North Wales was on the mudflats off Aber Ogwen on Monday. A Long-tailed Duck and a couple of Scaup are on the Inland Sea, with both Slavonian and Black-necked Grebes there at the weekend. With a Red-necked Grebe on Llyn Penrhyn, some birdwatchers have seen all five European grebes on Anglesey in a day. Other Long-tailed Ducks remain off Benllech and Old Colwyn, with at least two Surf Scoters among the latter’s flock of seaducks.

Rhuddlan’s Glossy Ibis made a brief reappearance near the by-pass on Saturday, and is probably still in the area. Bramblings have been reported more widely as birds that wintered in southwest Europe head through Britain en route to Scandinavia; at least 10 were around feeders at Llyn Brenig visitor centre. Firecrests remain at Llangwstenin and Llanfairfechan sewage works, a Twite flock off Flint Castle and Hawfinches feed at Caerhun. Long-staying Black Redstarts are on the Great Orme and at Kinmel Bay, while one paused briefly in an Aberdyfi garden.
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The first Welsh Swallow of spring was in Carmarthenshire on Monday, following the first Sand Martins in the same county the previous day. When will the first in North Wales be found?

Maps of 1-km squares for which volunteers are needed to survey Dartford Warblers (left) and Nightjars (right), as on 24 February 2025. For details of the survey and current maps, visit bto.org/heathland-birds-survey

No more than a couple of dozen Black Redstarts winter in Wales, presumably from the Baltic or Low Countries, although there are so few ringing recoveries that their origins remain a mystery. A male is overwintering at Great Orme’s Copper Mine, another in Aberdaron, but one at Kinmel Bay seems to have moved on.

Hawfinches remain around Caerhun church, with nine in Clocaenog Forest and a couple at Anglesey’s Plas Newydd at the weekend. Hawfinches go under the radar easily, their soft call often un-noticed. After last autumn’s mass arrival across Britain, there may be more in North Wales as they make the journey back to Scandinavia. For the breeding population in the Mawddach valley, a radio-tracking study published last week shows the foraging range of nesting birds is highly variable, probably depending on availability of favoured tree species. For their conservation, the study urges woodland planners to think at a landscape scale, with Beech, Cherry and Rowan allowed to reach maturity and these species to be included in new plantings.

At least two Surf Scoters remain off Old Colwyn, Red-necked Grebe at RSPB Valley Wetlands and Firecrest at Llanfairfechan sewage works. Green-winged Teals are at RSPB Conwy and Glan-y-Môr Elias, 20 Twite feed in saltmarsh below Flint Castle and Anglesey’s Inland Sea hosts a couple of Scaup and Black-necked Grebes. Four Slavonian Grebes are in neighbouring Beddmanarch Bay and others in the Menai Strait and off Borth-y-gest, where a White-tailed Eagle was reported last week. A Black-necked Grebe on Llyn Mwyngil, near Abergynolwyn, is a great record from an under-watched part of the region, with a Long-tailed Duck also in Meirionnydd, at Aberdysynni.

The prospects of a southerly airflow this week may bring an early Sand Martin or Ring Ouzel. There are February records of both summer migrants in North Wales in the last decade.

The winter storms, as well as remodelling extensive areas of woodland and sand dune in North Wales, demolished the shelter used to monitor passage seabirds and dolphins at the north end of Ynys Enlli. Bardsey Bird Observatory has raised 30% of the costs to replace it and are seeking support if donors through gofundme.com/f/repair-our-hide.

Readers across North Wales have noticed Bullfinches more frequently in recent weeks. The bright red underparts of males and the glossy black cap of both sexes are obvious on winter days when trees are bare and the long winter has drained the colour from the countryside. Several people report Bullfinches visiting gardens for the first time in their memory, including one in Menai Bridge for the first time in 40 years. Others have seen them in unusual places, such as four feeding on Ash keys blown onto the pebble beach at Aber Ogwen, one of which is shown above.

Unlike in Scandinavia, Bullfinches in Britain are not migratory, although ringed birds have moved more than 100 miles on occasions. For the first few weeks of 2025, the reporting rate on BirdTrack (a measure of the frequency that birdwatchers encounter species) was way above average in Wales, although it returned to normal this month. The reporting rate in BTO’s Garden BirdWatch is also up: the highest rate for January in Wales since 2018 bucked a declining trend in recent years. Whether increased sightings translate into a larger population remains to be seen. The Welsh breeding population has been fairly stable over the last quarter century but fell by 25% in England.

Small numbers of Bramblings are also moving into gardens as seed sources elsewhere run low: a feeding station above Caernarfon had 16 this week. Rarer visitors in the region include a well-watched Glossy Ibis at Rhuddlan nature reserve, Caspian Gull with several Water Pipits at Gronant and Snow Buntings on Yr Wyddfa’s Llanberis Path. At least 19 Hawfinches were around Caerhun church at the weekend, the largest count in the Conwy Valley for some years. A Red-necked Grebe remains on Anglesey’s Llyn Penrhyn, along with more than 50 Pochards that is a decent count in North Wales these days.
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Green-winged Teals remain at Glan-y-Môr Elias and the Conwy estuary, as do Black Redstarts at Kinmel Bay and the Great Orme, with another at RSPB South Stack. The Inland Sea hosts Slavonian and Black-necked Grebes as well as Scaup and Long-tailed Duck, six Jack Snipe were seen at Cors Geirch and 15 Purple Sandpipers in Cemlyn Bay.