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.