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,
​
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.
​
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.