Photographers call it the golden hour, but by the time I get out in late afternoon, it’s more of an apricot half-hour, the sun already below the peaks of Y Carneddau. As fingers of frost creep across parked cars, the longer daylight has triggered the Song and Mistle Thrushes to sing into the dusk, as lines of chattering Jackdaws fill the fading sky, heading to roost. As I wander home, Tawny Owls duet their call-and-response: the female ‘ke-wick’ and the male his quavering ‘who-oo’. That hour of nature after work revitalises me in winter and fortified me through multiple lockdowns.

In a trial in Edinburgh, published this week, 350 patients were prescribed nature as part of treatment for 32 different health conditions and 74% felt it had benefited their recovery. Over 90% of health professionals said they’d like to prescribe nature as part of the treatment, and now RSPB Scotland is looking to expand the trial. Essential to such a plan, however, is a network of good places for nature in rural and urban areas. Could nature be part of the future thinking of public health in Wales too?

The calm days and flat sea enabled birders to find at least three Surf Scoters off Old Colwyn/Llanddulas, along with Velvet Scoters, Scaup, Black-throated Diver and Long-tailed Duck among thousands of Common Scoters. A family group of two adult and a young Glossy Ibis near Llyn Maelog, Rhosneigr, is part of an influx of over 100 birds across Britain and Ireland, presumably from Spain, in recent days.

A flock of 130 Pink-footed Geese flew along the coast at Prestatyn on Friday, while five European White-fronted and three Pink-footed Geese remain in fields by the Clwyd estuary upstream from Rhyl and the overwintering Scaup at the nearby Brickfields Pit. Scaup are also at RSPB Conwy, Cefni Reservoir and on flooded fields at RSPB Cors Ddyga, a surprising location for a diving duck.

An Iceland Gull continues to feed among the Grey Seals in the Little Orme’s Angel Bay. There are Black Redstarts at Amlwch, Benllech and the mouth of Afon Dysynni, and Firecrests at Traeth Bychan, and between Penymynydd and the A55 in Flintshire. Four Slavonian Grebes remain in Beddmanarch Bay and at least one is in the Menai Strait, off Aber Ogwen.

Inland, four Hawfinches have been in trees in St Grwst churchyard, Llanrwst, a Great Grey Shrike holds territory in clearfelled forestry south of the Sportsman’s Arms near Llyn Brenig, and Willow Tits are visiting the feeders outside the reservoir’s Visitor Centre. 

A well-timed initiative from BirdTrack this week provided its thousands of users in Britain and Ireland with a personalised infographic summarising the contribution that we each made to the scheme in 2021. BirdTrack.net is the online bird-recording app from the British Trust for Ornithology, Welsh Ornithological Society and the RSPB among others. Birdwatchers shared their statistics on social media, and it struck me how most focus recording in their local area, increasingly conscious of the need to minimise fossil fuel use, as well as restricted travel during a second year of the pandemic.

A little more digging into BirdTrack’s databank revealed that more than 435,000 bird records were submitted in Wales in 2021, bringing the total to over 4.9 million since 2000. After falling back during 2020, the number of contributions in North Wales increased by 14% in 2021. The greatest growth was on Anglesey, reflecting the number of people from across Britain who visit the island to see its wildlife. You can sign up to BirdTrack.net at any time, and it’s completely free. Your sightings help local and national conservation organisations to track the fortunes of birds across the country. For more details, visit the BTO website, and I would recommend these short videos to help you get started.

Among the sightings recorded on BirdTrack this week were over 100 Red-throated Divers off the Little Orme, and one that pitched up at Gresford Flash near Wrexham. Three Bewick’s Swans at Shotwick are the first in Wales since a couple at the same site last January, as climate change means that fewer winter this far west. On Anglesey, Black Redstarts remain at Amlwch and Benllech, and a Cattle Egret is north of Valley. A Snow Bunting was at Fairbourne, Great White Egret near Llanrwst and Firecrests at RSPB Conwy and Llanfairfechan sewage works over the weekend, while on Monday a Marsh Harrier flew over Rhos Point and five European White-fronted Geese remained on fields east of the Clwyd estuary.

​A new year brings fresh impetus to get out birdwatching. Daylight is slowly lengthening, the first Chiffchaffs and Sand Martins may be only eight weeks from arrival, and resolutions are made to spend more time in nature. Despite a strong wind taking the edge off the warmest ever New Year’s Day, there was plenty to see for those who had not partied too hard the previous night.

Among the highlights on 1st January were a Long-tailed Duck on Shotwick Boating Lake, Scaup on Cefni Reservoir, RSPB Conwy and Rhyl’s Brickfields Pit, and an Iceland Gull on the Little Orme, where more than 200 Grey Seals have hauled up recently. The fine lines of an Avocet stood out on the Alaw estuary, while a Black Redstart close to Benllech beach and a Firecrest at Llanfairfechan sewage works added a touch of colour. Great Northern Divers were in Holyhead harbour, off Rhos Point, Benllech and in Beddmanarch Bay, with a couple of Slavonian Grebes at the last of these. Siberian Chiffchaffs were at Porth Meudwy and Pontllyfni, these winter visitors now occurring more frequently or birders are becoming more familiar with identifying them. Single Snow Buntings were at Talacre and Caernarfon airfield, a couple of Jack Snipe in Glanwydden and flocks of Pink-footed Geese at Llanbadrig and Cemlyn.

The subsequent couple of days have seen Spotted Redshank at RSPB Conwy, Black Redstart at Porthdinllaen, and four Whooper Swans at RSPB Cors Ddyga. Five European White-fronted Geese remain on fields beside the Clwyd estuary and a Little Gull flew past the end of Pen Llŷn. Short-eared Owls hunted at Aberffraw, Cors Ddyga and near Kinmel Bay, and up to seven are on the Dee estuary.

Ornithologists on the Solway Firth had a more grim start to the year, counting thousands of dead Barnacle Geese that have fallen victim to Avian Influenza. Kane Brides, Research Officer at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, reported that over 20% of the Svalbard Barnacle Goose population – all of which winter on the Solway – are thought to have died so far. For more on the outbreak, see this blog from last month.

The fastest bird sightings report in the UK was published before midnight on New Year’s Eve by Martin Jones. His Anglesey Bird News blog provides a weekly update of sightings on the island, all wrapped up in a report for 2021, for which he is seeking donations to the Cemlyn Wardens’ fund for North Wales Wildlife Trust.

I rarely twitch a rarity these days, but waking early on Christmas Eve, the draw of a Belted Kingfisher – five times the size of our colourful Common Kingfisher - near Preston was too good to ignore. At daybreak, I joined dozens of others in a field opened up by a local farmer, and was soon watching it catch fish in the River Darwen. It has been seen sporadically in the area since early November and is only the fifth British record of this North American visitor. It could even be the same bird that spent last winter in southern Ireland.

Closer to home, the subadult Iceland Gull continues to share Little Orme’s Angel Bay with Grey Seals, above which auks and Fulmars occupy the cliff and former quarry ledges, looking ahead to warmer days of spring. Dozens of Red-throated Divers are off Llanfairfechan and Pensarn at the moment, three Slavonian Grebes are in Beddmanarch Bay and another is with a couple of Long-tailed Ducks and Velvet Scoters off Llanddulas. Another Long-tailed Duck is on Shotwick Boating Lake.

A Swallow over Ynys Llanddwyn on Christmas Day was one of several in the country in the last week, and a Common Sandpiper is overwintering on the Dee at Flint. Also unseasonal for North Wales is an Avocet on the Braint estuary, south of Newborough.

Three Great White Egrets are at RSPB Cors Ddyga and others at Llyn Llywenan, Llyn Ystumllyn and RSPB Conwy. Five European White-fronted Geese were alongside the Clwyd estuary below Rhuddlan on Monday and a Scaup remains nearby at Rhyl’s Brickfield Pond. Up to 34 Pink-footed Geese are on fields between Penrhyn Bay and Coleg Llandrillo, and there were smaller flocks near Caernarfon airport and near Cemlyn last week. Single Snow Buntings are at Fort Belan and Mynydd Mawr, near Aberdaron, and elsewhere on Pen Llŷn, up to three Siberian Chiffchaffs at Porth Meudwy and another at Pontllyfni. At least three Hawfinches regularly visit Llanrwst churchyard and another was seen deep in Clocaenog Forest last week, along with several Bramblings. 

Very many thanks for reading BirdNotes throughout this year. I wish you an enjoyable new year, and a nature-rich 2022.

Birdwatchers are encouraged to help surveillance for H5N1 avian influenza this winter, as conservationists raised alarm at the potential impact on wild bird populations for which the UK is important. RSPB Scotland has released images of hundreds of carcasses at its nature reserves on the Solway Firth, and estimates that 10% of the Svalbard breeding population of Barnacle Goose may have died here in recent weeks. With the highly pathogenic virus confirmed at 65 poultry premises across the UK, including two in North Wales, wild birds confirmed with the disease include a Buzzard in Gwynedd, a Mute Swan on Anglesey and several Pheasants in Wrexham CBC.

Although ducks, geese and swans are especially susceptible, infection among Great Skuas nesting in Scotland last summer and scavenging species such as Buzzard and White-tailed Eagle has been confirmed, and several dead Curlews have been reported. Thankfully, no sites have yet been affected on the scale of the Solway and although the risk of contracting the disease from a wild bird is very low, people are reminded not to handle sick or dead wild birds. Dead waterbirds, gamebirds, gulls and raptors should be reported to the DEFRA helpline on 03459 335577.

An Iceland Gull has joined the Little Orme grey seals in Angel Bay, almost 200 Pink-footed Geese feed on fields in Penrhyn Bay and another flock is near Cemlyn. Several Black-throated Divers are off northwest Wales, Long-tailed Ducks in Foryd Bay and Kinmel Bay, and a Bittern at Morfa Dinlle. At the tip of Pen Llŷn, a Snow Bunting was on Mynydd Mawr and Black Redstart near Aberdaron, with another on a Llandudno rooftop last week. Up to 16 Hawfinches have been along the Afon Conwy in Llanrwst, three Siberian Chiffchaffs at Pontllyfni and Scaup at RSPB Conwy, Llyn Trawsfynydd and Rhyl Brickfields Pit.

If you are off work over the break, I hope you get a chance to enjoy some time outside exploring nature, a vital tonic in uncertain and challenging times. I wish all BirdNotes readers a safe and peaceful Christmas.

Sunday’s sunshine tempted me to walk along the Wales Coast Path between Llanddulas and Pensarn. The two recent storms have washed thousands of dead and dying fish, starfish, octopuses – and yes, I did have to look that up to check that’s the correct plural form. These have attracted thousands of gulls to the beach, mostly Herring Gulls, with smaller numbers of Common and Black-headed Gulls. They were repeatedly flushed by dogs and walkers, but always tempted back by the feast on offer. Offshore, a few thousand Common Scoters and five dozen Red-throated Divers were visible with a telescope, though I failed to pick out the white wings of a Velvet Scoter seen by others.

There were also Red-breasted Mergansers on the sea, but several had taken sanctuary on Llanfairfechan boating pond. Also seeking shelter were several Black Guillemots and two Great Northern Divers in Holyhead harbour, with another diver on the Afon Dysynni. Anglesey’s Inland Sea also provides a refuge during storms, hosting a Scaup and two Slavonian Grebes. Another Scaup is with Goosanders at Rhyl’s Brickfields Pond and a Long-tailed Duck on Shotwick boating lake.

Three Whooper Swans flew over RSPB Conwy on Sunday, their trumpeting call ringing across the valley, and small herds are at RSPB Cors Ddyga and Morfa Dinlle, near Caernarfon airport, where a couple of thousand Golden Plovers are feeding.

It’s tough finding small songbirds in recent conditions, so a Firecrest and several Chiffchaffs in scrub east of Glanwydden were welcome finds, and Snow Buntings are at Llandudno’s West Shore, and on Anglesey at Traeth yr Ora and Holyhead marina. Two Hawfinches are in Llanrwst, a regular winter sighting in the town in recent years; at least one Great Grey Shrike roams Clocaenog Forest, and a Hooded Crow has been at Hen Borth, near Cemlyn.

After the wind abated, I spent a glorious afternoon exploring Anglesey’s wetlands on Sunday. A Slavonian Grebe fed frenetically among Goldeneyes and Great Crested Grebes on the Inland Sea, but the real highlight was a golden hour at RSPB Cors Ddyga. With recent floods receding, the shallow water is alive with hundreds of Shoveler, Teal and Pintail that winter here from northeastern Europe. I missed Water Pipits and Great White Egrets that were spotted earlier in the day, but really didn’t mind. The magical sound of hundreds of Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits and Lapwings remained in the cold air long after it was too dark to discern their fine plumage, the airspace patrolled by an elegant grey male Hen Harrier. Thousands of Starlings streamed across the orange sky as the sun set, finding overnight sanctuary in the reedbeds. It really is a very special place.

Purple Sandpipers are roosting in Trearddur Bay and Rhos-on-Sea, lashed by waves that brought a Little Auk past the Great Orme and Great Northern Divers to Llandudno Bay, Holyhead harbour and the Menai Strait. Eight Whooper Swans touched down at Morfa Dinlle near Caernarfon airport on Monday, recent arrivals from Iceland. Long-tailed Ducks have been on Shotwick Boating Lake, Foryd Bay and Morfa Bychan but the Smew admired by visitors to RSPB Conwy for the last week has moved on. Single Scaup remain at Conwy and Rhyl’s Brickfields Pond.

At least two, perhaps as many as four, Great Grey Shrikes inhabit the clear-felled forestry around Llyn Brenig, but these master hunters roam widely across their winter territory, so it’s hard to be sure how many are involved, and it’s easy to miss them. Black Redstarts are at Moelfre, Amlwch and near Rhoscolyn, and a very late Swallow was at Malltraeth village on Sunday.

​Publication of the latest Birds of Conservation Concern shows that 70 of the UK’s 245 regularly occurring bird species are now on the Red List, almost twice as many as in the first assessment in 1996. Most are placed on the Red List because of severe declines, having halved in numbers or range in the UK in recent decades. The ‘traffic light’ assessment by government agencies and charities is revised every five years.

Swift and Wheatear are among the summer visitors added to the Red List following alarming declines, their populations in Wales decreasing more rapidly than the UK average. They join other migrants, such as Cuckoo and Wood Warbler, already on the Red List. Several winter visitors have also been added to the Red List, including Bewick’s Swan. The forthcoming annual report by the Welsh Ornithological Society will show that not a single one of these Siberian-breeding swans was seen in Wales in 2020.

The familiar Greenfinch has moved directly from the Green to the Red List after a population crash (71% in Wales since 1995) caused by a severe outbreak of the disease trichomonosis, an infection spread through contaminated food and water. Garden owners can help slow transmission rates by suspending feeding if ill birds are seen and ensuring that garden feeders are cleaned regularly. Rook is also moving from the Green to Amber List, but its decline – by more than half since 1995 - is more rapid in Wales than elsewhere.

There is better news for a few species, including Song Thrush, Grey Wagtail and Pied Flycatcher, which have been moved from Red to Amber owing to less severe declines. Red Grouse, Mute Swan and Kingfisher have moved from Amber to Green owing to improvements in their European status, or the UK no longer holding internationally important numbers.

The report, published today in the journal British Birds, was compiled by the Birds of Conservation Concern partnership, comprising the British Trust for Ornithology, Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Natural England, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, NatureScot and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

​The gales of Storm Anwen brought tens of thousands of gulls to beaches along the North Wales coast, feeding on the starfish and other marine life washed ashore. Birdwatchers will be checking the flocks carefully this week for Iceland and Glaucous Gulls from the Arctic-edge. A Smew was a great find at RSPB Conwy, in the same part of the lagoon as the only previous sighting there, in 2007. A Scaup, a duck that is more usually found offshore, is also at the wetland reserve, and a Jack Snipe has endeavoured to blend into the reeds outside the coffee shop.

It took a brave birder to birdwatch in the teeth of Saturday’s storm, but highlights for the hardy include a Pomarine Skua off the Little Orme, a Grey Phalarope blown into Traeth Coch/Red Wharf Bay, eight Little Gulls off Traeth Bychan and others off Beaumaris and Rhos Point. Other northern waterbirds include a small flock of Whooper Swans on Cemlyn lagoon, Long-tailed Ducks off Benllech and on Shotwick boating lake, and Great Northern Divers south of Penmon. Several Brünnich’s Guillemots were seen along North Sea coasts and another off Cornwall, but no-one was able to find the first Welsh record of this auk species that breeds as close as Iceland but rarely ventures to the southeast.

Last week, before the sea became choppy, a Surf Scoter was off Pensarn and two Black Redstarts were in the old quarry on the Little Orme, a regular wintering site for these visitors. The Great Grey Shrike continues to hunt around clearfelled forestry northwest of Llyn Brenig. A lone Swallow was doubtless feeling chilly on the beach near Rhoscolyn on Sunday, but Snow Buntings at Llanddona and on both Llandudno’s north and west shores may have felt quite at home.

Farmers, politicians, scientists, conservation and game-management groups came together this week in a unique event to back a recovery plan for one of our most threatened birds. The plan was presented to Members of the Senedd by Gylfinir Cymru/Curlew Wales at an online event hosted by the Farmers’ Union of Wales. The Plan highlights that Curlews are at risk of extinction as a breeding bird in Wales by 2033 without urgent intervention, and proposes critical actions to reverse the decline.

The event heard from farmers, including two in North Wales, who care passionately about the Curlews that nest on their land. The Recovery Plan calls for focused intervention in 12 Important Curlew Areas, most of which are in north and mid Wales, of the type being deployed by the Cri’r Gylfinir LIFE Project in Hiraethog and Ysbyty Ifan. Management of the Curlew’s nesting habitat, including restoration of peatland, and of predation by foxes and crows are among the immediate interventions, but the plan also looks to Welsh Government to ensure that farming, tree-planting and renewable energy policies help Curlews to thrive. Since breeding territories are larger than many upland farms, collaboration is a key element to saving Curlews.

Chaired by Curlew Champion Mark Isherwood MS and addressed by the Climate Change Minister Julie James MS and shadow spokespeople Janet Finch-Saunders MS and Delyth Jewell MS, there was consensus about the problem and support for Curlew recovery. However, the key test is whether policies and urgent funding are available to help land managers to protect the last few hundred pairs of a bird that has a strong cultural heritage in Wales. As several speakers said, “we can’t watch this bird go wading into extinction”.

There’s more detail on the plan at curlewwales.org (English) and gylfinircymru.org (Cymraeg).

The birding highlight of the weekend was a Red-backed Shrike on the coast path south of Abersoch, which was the latest ever recorded in North Wales – and there has only been one Welsh record that has stayed later into November. A close relative, a Great Grey Shrike, remains in clearfell forestry west of Llyn Brenig, 25 Great Northern Divers are in Caernarfon Bay, two Snow Buntings are on Llandudno’s West Shore beach and two more in Gronant dunes.