A family of Spoonbills are testing their wings in the Dee estuary after three youngsters (nicknamed ‘teaspoons’) fledged from a nest at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands last week. It’s not the first time that Spoonbills have nested just across the Flintshire border, and up to 20 birds have gathered in the area in recent years. The latest report by the Rare Breeding Birds Panel documents around 70 breeding pairs of Spoonbill in Britain, a huge increase since regular breeding was established in 2010, but it remains a rare event in western counties and the species has yet to breed in Wales.

A few miles upriver, a ‘Channel Wagtail’ was at Saltney at the weekend. It’s the product of a mixed pairing of two races of the same species: a British Yellow Wagtail and a Blue-headed Wagtail, which occurs in mainland western and central Europe. The English name of this intergrade (to use the ornithological jargon) comes from northern France adjacent to the English Channel/La Manche, in which the two interbreed regularly.

Other exciting news released as the breeding season draws to a close comes from RSPB Ynys-hir on the Dyfi estuary, where four Spotted Crakes called earlier in the spring. Where Spoonbills are big and showy, Spotted Crakes are small and elusive, almost impossible to see in reedbeds. Only 25 singing males are typically found in Britain each year, but rarely in Wales. The birds’ presence was monitored using remote audio detectors, enabling wardens to focus their nocturnal counting effort.

Other recent records include Quails heard near Mynydd Bodafon and RSPB Lake Vyrnwy, and another was seen in Gronant dunes; Hooded Crows on the Alaw estuary, RSPB South Stack and between the two bridges on the Menai Strait; and a Turtle Dove was again at Traeth Bychan, near Moelfre. Roosts of Little Egrets are increasing as the summer proceeds, with at least 90 in trees on Cei Ballast, off Porthmadog, at the weekend.
 

Waders such as Redshanks and Curlews are starting to appear on our coasts in greater numbers. A count of 14 Common Sandpipers on the Menai Strait last week was notable, while the first Turnstone of autumn at Rhos Point is almost certainly a failed breeder. Ornithologists in Greenland report high predation of Turnstone eggs by Arctic Foxes, which indicates that it’s a ‘bust’ year for lemmings, rodents of the high north. When there are fewer lemmings, foxes turn to birds for their sustenance. The proportion of waders and geese flocks comprised of young birds in Europe and America this winter will provide a guide to breeding success in places that researchers rarely visit.

For these northern wetland birds, a network of sites to feed and rest outside the breeding season is critical. Many spend more than half their lives in northwest Europe. The British Trust for Ornithology recently reviewed the Wetland Bird Surveys for the UK’s Special Protection Areas, places that must be protected because of their importance. There are two SPAs in North Wales, and while most species are doing okay, Red Alerts have been issued for Grey Plover and Bar-tailed Godwit on the Dee estuary and Red-breasted Merganser at Traeth Lafan, the vast inter-tidal area at the east end of the Menai Strait. Numbers have fallen by more than half at these sites.

Alerts inform SPA condition assessments, a health-check published recently by Natural Resources Wales for its marine sites. It assessed the five species for which Traeth Lafan is designated and declared it in Unfavourable Condition for four, including Curlew and Oystercatcher. Human disturbance is identified as a major reason for failure, highlighting the reduction in numbers of both species since the Wales Coast Path was opened along the south side of the site. The question is what will NRW, responsible for both nature sites and managing the coast path, do about it…

An early autumn Little Stint has paused at Gronant, where a Caspian Gull was seen last week, and on Anglesey, a Quail has been calling near Cemaes in recent days.

I write from the highest altitude bird survey that I will ever do in Wales. Three teams of birdwatchers are scouring Eryri's Carneddau range in search of Dotterels. It's the second UK survey of these plovers, the first since 2011, and while we know that the chances of finding any are slim, we can't assume they are absent so have to climb to over 1000m (almost 3,500 feet) to be sure.

A handful of Dotterel records come from these mountains each year, most from observant hill walkers. These are usually birds resting on migration, heading for the higher hills of Scotland or Scandinavia. Dotterel has bred sporadically up here, with confirmed records from the 1950s to the ‘70s, but it's possible that breeding attempts pass unnoticed because only during a survey year is there a dedicated effort to check all the likely habitat.

Even if we do not see Dotterels today, we have already had some good sightings. A large flock of Choughs fed on the slopes of Foel Fras, birds that are one or two years old and have yet to be recruited into the breeding population. This socialisation period is valuable for young birds to find the best places to feed, where the grass is short and larvae and grubs are close to the surface.

Dozens of Swifts feed high above the summits, appropriately enough at the start of Swift Awareness Week. Are these local breeders or from farther away, or perhaps the midsummer wave of younger non-breeding birds that are touring Europe, checking out good places to try and breed next year?

Lots of butterflies are moving over the hills, the most surprising being a Purple Hairstreak at almost 700m and a very long way from an Oak tree.
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Scarce visitors to the region last week included an obliging Turtle Dove near Moelfre, a White Stork perched on a power pole near Caerwys and at least one Roseate Tern regularly attending the seabird colony on Cemlyn lagoon. A flock of 85 Mediterranean Gulls on Anglesey's Alaw estuary indicates post-breeding dispersal from colonies on the Channel coast or farther into mainland Europe.

​Much of June has been spent in Finistère, the rocky western end of Brittany that translates as “the end of the earth” from Latin French, and also from the Breton Pen-ar-Bed. Amid the colourful heather and Thrift of the coastal path, much is familiar. The cultural and language links with home are strong. Many place names on bilingual roadsigns are recognisable, the anthem Bro Gozh ma Zadoù is sung to the same tune as Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau and you can even visit Bangor - although it’s a boat ride to get there.

Most birds are familiar, but with some notable differences. Treecreepers are Short-toed; the tinkling song of Serins projects from almost every tall tree, it seems; and Swifts are abundant, groups screaming over every village square in numbers I sadly never see in Wales. Higher temperatures undoubtedly help, but so does the style of architecture that creates lots of crannies in which they can nest. Insect-life seems rich, especially butterflies, of which I raised clouds on every walk, including species we don’t yet see in North Wales – White Admiral, Marbled and Black-veined White – but almost certainly will in the coming decades.

Every coastal wetland held squabbling Avocets and Black-winged Stilts, Cattle Egrets fed among livestock and around the Golfe du Morbihan, Turtle Doves purred gently on almost every farm. The scratchy song of Melodious Warblers was encountered daily from scrub, woodland and hedges; it is a scarce visitor to Wales, but as the climate changes, perhaps British birdwatchers should learn its song. The monotone buzz of Zitting Cisticola – called a Fan-tailed Warbler in bird books of my youth – is also widespread here, the last we heard as we boarded the ferry at St Malo.

Cetti’s Warblers are everywhere. While we associate them with a small number of wetlands in North Wales, they are spreading fast: the latest UK Breeding Bird Survey results show they have increased by more than 1000% since 1995. Other species are absent, most obviously the falling cadence of Willow Warbler, a bird still widespread in North Wales but declining rapidly from the southern edge of its range. A Europe-wide atlas published just a few years ago showed Willow Warblers still abundant in Brittany, but I wonder if they have now gone as they have from some lowland parts of southern Britain. A study by the British Trust for Ornithology showed that Willow Warblers are faring worse than the similar Chiffchaff where it is warmer.
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It may be a postcard from northwest France, but is this a postcard from our future?

There has been mixed news from tern colonies in North Wales. High tides in late May washed out many of the nests at Wales’ only established Little Tern colony at Gronant, and the few that remained were unable to defend their nests from predation by Carrion Crows. Denbighshire Council wardens, helped by volunteers from the North Wales Little Tern group, report that many of the adults remain on the beach, and it is hoped that there will be renewed breeding attempts as the weather becomes more settled. Meanwhile, North Wales Wildlife Trust reports that Sandwich Terns at Cemlyn, in north Anglesey, are close to record breeding numbers and up to 10 Roseate Terns attended the colony last week.

A juvenile Black-crowned Night-heron, found in trees at Brickfield Pond nature reserve on the outskirts of Rhyl, was a surprise on Monday - and a Lesser Emperor dragonfly found later the same day is almost as rare in Wales. In Europe, Night-herons (which only have a black crown when they reach adulthood) nest mostly south of a line east from the Loire Valley to Ukraine, but some breed as far north as The Netherlands. It’s a rare visitor to North Wales, with little over a dozen records, and this is the first in northeast Wales since one at Caerwys in 1993.

Bardsey scored its second Blyth’s Reed Warbler in 10 days while other scarce visitors to the region at the weekend were a Little Gull on Anglesey’s Inland Sea, and a Curlew Sandpiper and Spotted Redshank at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands’ Border Pool. A Quail called near Pengroeslon last week and another was reported near Glan Conwy.

Finally, many people associate birdsong with positive mental health, and now Bangor University, in partnership with the British Trust for Ornithology, is recruiting participants (including those with expertise in identifying bird song) to study the effects of avian soundscapes on human wellbeing. Participation involves a one-hour in-person session in Bangor, during which you will experience a simulated visual and auditory environment and its impact on simple measures of your wellbeing will be assessed. All participants will receive a £10 gift card for their time. If you are 18 years or over, sign up at https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/bangor/avian-soundscapes-screening or contact [email protected] with questions.

While spring migration in mainland North Wales is over, early June can bring scarce visitors to Ynys Enlli, and the team at Bardsey Bird Observatory had a busy week recording the visitors.
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First up was potentially the rarest, a probable Audouin’s Gull that alighted briefly onshore, but flew off and was not seen again. This globally-threatened species breeds no closer than the Mediterranean coast of Spain and has not been confirmed in Wales previously. Next came a smart male Red-backed Shrike, joined the following day by a singing male Common Rosefinch. On Thursday a Blyth’s Reed Warbler mimicked a suite of birds that it’s used to hearing in eastern Europe, central Asia and India, where it wintered. Observatory staff recognised at least 30 different species in its repertoire including Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Yellow-browed Warbler and Olive-backed Pipit.

It's a reminder of how special Ynys Enlli can be during migration; the Bird Observatory still has spaces to stay in September and October.

Last Friday a Melodious Warbler sang in the Observatory garden. It is something of a Bardsey speciality, with 120 records being almost half of the Welsh total. But while some spring migrants were arriving, a Cuckoo ringed on the island was almost certainly making its way south for the autumn! Other scarce visitors in the region last week included Quails at Doddleston and Cors Bodgynydd nature reserve, deep in Coed Gwydyr, and a Black Tern at Cemlyn lagoon.
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RSPB Cymru wardens on The Skerries, the islets off northwest Anglesey that host Britain’s largest Arctic Tern colony, counted 1212 burrows occupied by Puffins recently. This is more than twice the total in 2019, and the highest ever count – although no records exist from before the late 18th century, prior to the temporary occurrence of rats on the islands. The count makes it the most important site for Puffins in North Wales, and the third most important in the country.

After the ravages of bird flu, positive news from some of our seabird colonies. North Wales Wildlife Trust’s count at Cemlyn showed encouraging results: 2167 pairs of Sandwich Tern, 170 of Arctic Tern, 120 of Common Tern and a pair of Roseates, Wales’ rarest breeding seabird. The site also hosts 200 pairs of Black-headed Gull and two pairs of Mediterranean Gull. A couple of extra Roseate Terns appeared at the weekend, when Sandwich Tern and gull chicks explored the islands between the rain showers. Last week’s wind brought two Pomarine Skuas to Fedw Fawr near Llanddona and a couple of Storm Petrels past Porth Ysgaden.

A colony in Conwy Bay holds the highest number of red-listed Herring Gull nests since I began watching it as part of the UK Seabird Monitoring Programme in 2019. Fulmar nests were similar to last year albeit half the total of six years ago. Unexpected was a Black Guillemot, Wales’ second rarest breeding seabird, delivering a fish to a nest hole high above the beach. Black Guillemots nest at a handful of sites on Anglesey and on the Great Orme, but this is the first modern nest record in Caernarfonshire west of the Conwy estuary.

A White Stork was reported in fields north of the Dee, near Sealand, on Monday. A Quail was ringed on Pen Llŷn, another sang on Bardsey last week, and one was in Berwyn on Monday, just outside the Eryri National Park between Llanuwchllyn and Llyn Efyrnwy.

A sleepy Nightjar on a garden bench in Barmouth was not typical habitat, perhaps a late arriving migrant. The British Trust for Ornithology is calling for help with the UK Nightjar survey, with many sites in North Wales requiring two visits before 15 July, in the two hours after sunset or before sunrise. Sites around Coed y Brenin, Llandegla, Clocaenog, Gwydyr and the Mawddach estuary are hotspots that need volunteers. Details and registration at bto.org/get-involved/volunteer/projects/heathland-birds-survey. 

This week’s rain, after a record dry spring, was welcomed by farmers and many birds, especially those that need to probe the ground for soil invertebrates, such as Curlews and Choughs, and birds such as House Martins that build nests from pellets of mud. The unsettled conditions will be less appreciated by woodland species such as Pied Flycatchers that coincide their hatching to the peak of moth caterpillars, which may be washed out of the tree canopy by extended periods of heavy rain.

Neither is the cold and rain ideal for aerial insect feeders, such as Swallows and Swifts, although the changing climate is not their only problem. More than 125,000 people signed a petition in just four days demanding that the Westminster government backs mandatory Swift bricks in all new buildings. The surge of public support came in the wake of the rejection of an amendment at the Committee stage of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, parts of which have been described as a “licence to kill nature” by leading wildlife charities.

Welsh Government Ministers have been asked by a Senedd Committee to respond to calls for a similar measure to help Swifts in Welsh legislation, following a public petition backed by RSPB Cymru and Wildlife Trusts Wales among others. The £35 brick is hollow, with a small access hole enabling a bird to build its nest. Home renovations frequently lead to the loss of nest sites and, while measures to boost aerial insects are also needed to reverse the 76% decline in Wales since 1995, the Bricks are seen as a cheap but essential measure to resolve the Swift housing crisis.

A Pectoral Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover and Spoonbill visited RSPB Cors Ddyga last week, a Garganey was on the Border Pool at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands, and farther upriver, at least four Quails sang in the Dee Valley at Rossett. A Pomarine Skua flew past RSPB South Stack and the two Roseate Terns remain at Cemlyn lagoon, where an Irish-ringed Little Tern dropped in. A Curlew Sandpiper and late-departing Pale-bellied Brent Goose were in Foryd Bay on Sunday, and four Barnacle Geese and a Mediterranean Gull were on the Glaslyn estuary from Porthmadog Cob.

Late May is a time that migrants from southern and eastern Europe can arrive in Britain having travelled farther than intended in their journey from Africa. Prolonged high pressure has provided perfect conditions for these scarce visitors, with Black Kites and Hoopoes in North Wales in recent weeks. Monday brought two Red-backed Shrikes to the region: a male near Llangefni and a female at Cilcain in the Clwydian hills.
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Their presence was an echo of former times, for Red-backed Shrike used to be a widespread breeding species. Thomas Eyton, friend and contemporary of Charles Darwin, wrote one of the first books about the birdlife of North Wales in which he described “some dozens of them” feeding on grasshoppers on the slopes above Llynnau Mymbyr near Capel Curig in 1838. Regular breeding in Wales ceased soon after the Second World War, with the last known nest in North Wales in the Aber Valley, from which the eggs were stolen in 1952. Records in the region average less than one each year in the last 60 years, and this was the first instance of two on the same day.

An Iberian Yellow Wagtail, potentially the first Welsh record of this form, is near Llanfwrog on Anglesey, although a candidate on the Conwy estuary in 2022 remains with the British Birds Rarities Committee. A Spoonbill has spent several days in the Cob pool at Malltraeth, using its huge spatulate bill to sieve for food. One at Pwllheli last week may have been the same individual, but two others were over Rhuallt on Friday. A Black Stork flew over North Stack last week and while not rare on the coast, Aled Isaf Reservoir in Mynydd Hiraethog was an unusual location for a Whimbrel.

Wildlife Trust wardens are watching a pair of Roseate Terns, Britain’s rarest breeding seabird, that has settled among other terns at Cemlyn lagoon, where the first Black-headed Gull chicks have hatched. Up to three Little Stints and a Curlew Sandpiper fed in the Alaw estuary and a White-tailed Eagle was reported near Llangollen at the weekend.

A report published today shows that almost half of the commonest native bird species are declining in Wales, trends in the wrong direction for Welsh Government’s ambition to bend the curve of loss by 2030. Curlew, Swift and Yellowhammer are among species that have declined by at least three-quarters in Wales since 1995. Breeding Bird Survey results from the BTO, JNCC and RSPB also highlight several river species in trouble: Dipper numbers in the UK have fallen by 32% since 1998.

Reliant on aquatic invertebrates, Dippers are an excellent indicator of water quality, so what does the decline say about the state of our rivers, or for other life such as fish that also depend on insects? Pioneering research on Dippers and Grey Wagtails in Wales during the 1980s showed the impact of sulphur deposition from acid rain. Numbers recovered when air pollution was tackled but nitrate and phosphates washed into streams from farmland, and pollution from sewage treatment overflows may have sent that recovery backwards. A recent Dutch study shows that ecosystem function risks collapse because of neonicotinoid insecticides.

The urgency was emphasised by the Future Generations Commissioner’s recent report that criticised politicians and public bodies for applying short-term fixes to long-term problems. Highlighting that 60% of Welsh rivers recognised for their nature importance are failing to meet water quality targets, the Commissioner called for government and institutions to prioritise wildlife with “a statutory incentive required to ensure that nature recovery is built into decisions on infrastructure, housing, flood prevention and pollution control”.

​With most spring migrants back on their breeding grounds, birders’ attention turned to continental species that “overshot” their intended destination. A Black Kite was over Aberdaron and Bardsey, with a Black Stork pushing farther into Pen Llŷn, near Rhoshirwaun, on Sunday, and a Hoopoe in a Criccieth housing estate. Flypasts reported included a Montagu’s Harrier reported over Rhoscolyn and a Bee-eater over the Great Orme. A couple of Spoonbills passed Wylfa Head, with another on the Inland Sea, and perhaps the same at Pwllheli on Thursday. Blue-headed Wagtails were on Bardsey and at Cemlyn, where a Little Gull and Roseate Tern joined the colony and a Curlew Sandpiper paused on migration. A Wood Sandpiper dropped into Gronant, an Avocet at Porthmadog, four Cattle Egrets are at Shotwick and a Quail calls at Marford.