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.