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. 

Gurgling calls of Fulmars, cackles of Herring Gulls and guttural sounds of Cormorants greeted me back on their Anglesey breeding sites at the weekend, the early signals of their high-rise cliff cities returning to life. They are among 29 species included in a Seabird Conservation Strategy out for consultation by Welsh Government. It shows where birds are vulnerable to human activities, including recreational disturbance, offshore wind turbines and fishing, including within the Special Protection Areas designated for some species off North Wales. The consultation closes on 14 February and RSPB Cymru is urging supporters to show their support for an effective seabird action plan by contacting the Deputy First Minister, in English neu Gymraeg.

Other signs of change were increased numbers of Eider and an impressive 175 Great Crested Grebes in Conwy Bay. A male Black Redstart continues to visit Great Orme copper mine, with a female at the north end of the headland and others at Aberdaron and Kinmel Bay. Bramblings have been reported from several places, including 10 in a garden near Caernarfon and seven at Llyn Brenig, but there could be many more across Clocaenog forest. Crossbills, already with nestlings to coincide with open pine cones, are widespread across forestry plantations. A Great Grey Shrike was reported in conifers between Bala and Lake Vyrnwy last week and Hawfinch flocks commute around Llanrwst and Caerhun.

A couple of Slavonian Grebes are in Menai Strait while a dozen Great Northern Divers are in Caernarfon Bay. Large skeins of Pink-footed Geese over Rhyl on Saturday probably originated on the Dee estuary or the Lancashire Mosses.

Long-stayers include Long-tailed Duck, Surf and Velvet Scoters off Old Colwyn/Llanddulas and Green-winged Teal at Glan-y-Môr Elias near Llanfairfechan. A Red-necked Grebe remains on Llyn Penrhyn, another on Llyn Tegid, where a male Ring-necked Duck displayed to a female Tufted Duck. Nine Mandarin Ducks brought a colourful touch of the exotic to Pont Croesor, where the first Glaslyn Osprey should arrive next month. A Chiffchaff singing in Bagillt signals longer days, even though the weather suggests that plenty of winter remains.

Publication by the Welsh Ornithological Society of the birds recorded in Wales brings the national list to 460 species. The total was boosted by appearance of six never previously seen in Wales, including an unprecedented four types of songbird that crossed the Atlantic during ex-Hurricane Lee in September 2023.

The updated status reflects the changing abundance of several species in the last five years. Little Auk and Bewick's Swan, once annual visitors to Wales, are now considered scarce; just one Bewick’s Swan has been seen in Wales this winter, on the Dee estuary this week. Lesser Scaup, Black-winged Stilt and Caspian Gull are among the rare migrants that have become more common in recent years. Bittern and Marsh Harrier are now classed as regular breeders now they are established at several sites thanks to reedbed restoration projects. But Grey Partridge is now considered only an Occasional Breeder, although its true status is clouded by releases.

Glossy Ibis is among several Mediterranean waterbirds that are now more frequent in Britain, with the first ever record of nesting in 2023, in Cambridgeshire. One in a pool next to Porthmadog Cob at the weekend was a good winter record for North Wales. A Red-necked Grebe on Llyn Tegid was almost 45 years to the day since the site’s first, while a Ring-necked Duck and Scaup are also on the lake. Other unusual sightings include a Surf Scoter off Colwyn Bay, Black Redstart on the Great Orme, Slavonian Grebes off Bangor Pier and Borth-y-gest, and a Little Gull passed Criccieth during Storm Éowyn. Eight Hawfinches winter at Coed Cilgroeslwyd near Ruthin and there are several more around Llanrwst. A Snow Goose on Llyn Coron is of unknown origin, but a leg-ring showed that a Ring-necked Parakeet in a Deganwy garden almost certainly escaped from an aviary.
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The Welsh List 2025 can be downloaded from the WOS website.

It was standing room only in Bala last week for the launch of Stunned by Silence, a short film about Curlew conservation made by wildlife film-maker Malka Holmes. Springwatch’s Iolo Williams introduced the film, which he narrates in Cymraeg and English, followed by an opportunity to ask questions of Malka and Bethan Beech of Natural Resources Wales who advises on the recovery of breeding Curlew. The film is Malka’s love letter to Curlews, inspired by a poem composed by her late father, artist Clyde Holmes, at her childhood home in Cwm Hesgyn. Sadly, gone are the days anyone can hear Curlews regularly at Cwm Hesgyn in the moorlands of the Migneint.

Among others, the film features author Mary Colwell, musician David Gray, RSPB staff and farmers involved with Curlew conservation in North Wales. The ensuing discussion illustrated the hopes and desire of local people to save the cry of the Curlew. I’d encourage you to watch the seven-minute film and share it on social media to raise awareness about the plight of this long-legged wading bird, at real risk of extinction as a breeding species in Wales in the next decade.

The premiere came in the same week as an important report from a Senedd Committee reviewing Welsh Government’s performance on halting and reversing the loss of nature by 2030. The suite of recommendations was welcomed by wildlife campaigners supporting the overriding message from Committee Chair Llyr Gruffydd MS who said “that making commitments is all well and good, but this needs to be followed by a clear plan, action delivery and be backed by appropriate investment. All are currently lacking.” The Curlews await better news…

Rarest visitor this week was a Red-necked Grebe at RSPB Valley Wetlands. A Green-winged Teal was a good find on saltmarsh at Glan-y-Môr Elias near Llanfairfechan, and remarkably a second was found at RSPB Conwy. It is a scarce vagrant from North America, with just a handful of records in the last ten years. Like the previous sightings, both were males, distinguished by a vertical white line on the front edge of the flank, unlike the Eurasian Teal which has a horizontal line along the top edge.

Black Redstarts are on the Great Orme and the beach at Kinmel Bay, with a Snow Bunting at the latter. Slavonian Grebes and a Long-tailed Duck are in Beddmanarch Bay, and up to four Velvet Scoters off Llanddulas. Llyn Tegid’s Ring-necked Duck was seen again and there were Firecrests near Llanfairfechan sewage works and Llyn Coed Parc Mawr. A survey found 26 Water Rails wintering at RSPB Conwy, the highest number ever.

For more about Curlew conservation in North Wales, read my column from last October, and the Gylfinir Cymru partnership website – in English neu Gymraeg. A selection of other images from the film Stunned by Silence are shown below, courtesy of Greengage Films and Curlew Action.

A flock of 30 Red Kites in central Anglesey last week must be the largest on the island in at least 250 years. In the modern era, they have only nested on Anglesey since 2020. While Red Kites continue to recover from near-extinction in Britain, their Europe-wide population remains suppressed by toxic ammunition used to shoot gamebirds and deer, as are other raptors such as Golden Eagle, White-tailed Eagle and Marsh Harrier according to a Cambridge University study.

While lead has long been banned in products such as petrol and paints because of human health risks, an estimated 7000 tonnes from shot and bullets is left in the countryside each year, contaminating soil and the food chain. The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust estimates that up to 400,000 waterbirds suffer lead poisoning every winter in the UK. Shooting organisations committed to end the use of lead shot voluntarily by this year.
Welsh Government is now considering recommendations from the Health & Safety Executive to restrict lead in ammunition used for killing game. Last week, wildlife organisations wrote to Wales’ Deputy First Minister calling for a transition to a full ban on lead in no more than 18 months. They are asking people to support a Britain-wide ban by emailing the UK Government.

The sea off Llanddulas is winter home for thousands of seaducks, mostly Common Scoters but with several Surf and Velvet Scoters among them, and at least two Long-tailed Ducks. Another Long-tailed Duck was with three Velvet Scoters and 70 Red-throated Divers off Llanddona on Saturday, and a similar number of Red-throats were in Caernarfon Bay along with 21 Great Northern Divers. Underwatched Barmouth Bay hosts Slavonian Grebe and Great Northern Diver, while a Sandwich Tern, which should be wintering off southwest Africa, fished off Colwyn Bay’s Porth Eirias at the weekend.

Horton’s Nose in Kinmel Bay continues to host Snow Bunting, Hooded Crow and Black Redstart, while two Snow Buntings remain on the Great Orme. Other Black Redstarts were at Pwllheli and Amlwch. Upland snow pushed thousands of Redwings into the valleys while hundreds of Lapwings and Golden Plovers on Anglesey have doubtless moved from snow-covered fields farther east. Frozen lakes elsewhere brought more than 50 Goosanders, a high count in North Wales, with over 200 Pintails to the Dee floodplain at Holt. A Firecrest was at Anglesey’s Llyn Parc Mawr, several Hawfinches at Coed Cilgroeslwyd and a Spotted Redshank at RSPB Conwy, while several Water Pipits and a Cattle Egret were at RSPB Cors Ddyga on Monday.