The results of last year’s Wetland Bird Survey show that the Dee estuary remains the fourth most important site in Britain for waterbirds, with at least 158,000 birds. Of course, with numbers turning over rapidly during migration, the real total is far higher. As a volunteer surveyor at one of 3,325 sites monitored, it’s valuable to see how my counts on the Conwy estuary contribute to the national picture.

It also shows that numbers of 21 species in Wales have increased over the last 25 years, including Canadian Pale-bellied Brent Geese, Little Egrets and Black-tailed Godwit. For the last species, with warming temperatures more juveniles from Iceland are wintering in Britain rather than Iberia. However, 18 species have decreased including Scaup (-89%), Pochard (-88%) and Goldeneye (-58%). Along with Bewick’s Swan, which is now too rare to monitor in Wales through the scheme, all have a European distribution that has shifted northeast with climate change. You can read more about the results on the BTO website.

A Wood Sandpiper was found at Cemlyn on Monday, where 150 Black-headed Gull nests are occupied and counts of Sandwich and Common Terns are increasing. Other migrants include the first region’s first Garganey this spring at RSPB Cors Ddyga and Burton Mere Wetlands’ Border Pool, and Spotted Flycatchers at Talacre’s Warren Farm on Sunday. Hobbies were in Mynydd Hiraethog and at RSPB South Stack, where three Hooded Crows were seen on Monday. Whinchats paused for a few days at Gronant, and a good number were already on moorland territories during a Black Grouse survey in the Migneint last week.

Wood Warblers started to arrive at the weekend, although I heard only one above Trefriw on Sunday. Aberffraw’s Purple Heron was seen until Saturday, but two White Storks over Shotwick didn’t stick around and a Bee-eater near Bodorgan station remained for only one evening last week. A Cattle Egret was on the Clwyd estuary, while Bardsey recorded a Siberian Chiffchaff and a Waxwing there was only the eighth island record.

Rangers from Denbighshire Council and volunteers from North Wales Little Tern Group spent this week putting up the fences that should protect Wales’ largest Little Tern colony from beach users, dogs and predatory mammals when the birds return from West Africa to Gronant soon. The RSPB has been undertaking similar work at its Point of Ayr nature reserve in neighbouring Flintshire. Recent storms demolished the Gronant viewing platform and remodelled the beach, and seasonal wardens hope that northerly winds don’t coincide with high tides in the coming months. A Snow Bunting and Whinchat were at Gronant on Saturday.
 
It was good to see a Pied Flycatcher and hear Cuckoo at Pensychnant above Conwy on Sunday while doing a Breeding Bird Survey. Both species arrived on territories across North Wales last week, as have more Ring Ouzels; more than 20 were seen in the Carneddau at the weekend, with 11 on passage at Penycloddiau in the Clwydian range and five over Llanfair DC. Several dozen Swifts flew up the Cefni Valley with House Martins on Monday, when two Cattle Egrets were found at Ffynnongroyw.
 
Several Purple Herons were in Wales last week, including at Cors Dyfi nature reserve and near Aberffraw. Four Cranes that flew up the Dee estuary were seen from Connah’s Quay but headed east across Wirral. Hawfinches are at a couple of sites in the Conwy Valley, a summer-plumage Spotted Redshank remains at RSPB Conwy and a Corncrake called on Bardsey all week. A Turtle Dove purred briefly near Edern and a Spoonbill was at Dinas Dinlle. A Redwing over Penrhyn Bay may be one of the last of the winter and Waxwings were at Halkyn and Colwyn Bay. Two Ring-necked Parakeets have been in Llandudno gardens, with sightings from the Great Orme to RSPB Conwy.

The vivid yellow male Golden Oriole must be among the most highly-prized birds to find in Britain. One in Holyhead’s Breakwater Country Park on Saturday was a popular draw for local birders, since migrants have a reputation for not staying long. Small numbers used to breed in East Anglia, but they are now birds of mainland Europe, common in deciduous woodland where summer temperatures are high and rainfall low.

The one-day visitor was part of a weekend influx, 16 recorded between Friday and Monday, almost all in southwest Britain; but the Golden Oriole in Holyhead was the only one north of Gower. More than 130 have been seen in North Wales since the first confirmed record in Ruthin in 1870. Only one on Bardsey on 11 April 1981 was earlier in the season, since the majority are found in May and June.

Greater numbers of common summer visitors arrived in recent days, with more than 200 each of Blackcap and Willow Warbler last Saturday on Bardsey, where a Nightingale has been present for four days and a Corncrake was the first ringed at the Bird Observatory since 2015. Whinchats and Wood Warblers are back on their breeding sites, and the first Garden Warbler was at Cwm-y-glo, near Llyn Padarn, on Friday. Winter birds are shipping out, with Redwings reported in several places, including birds likely to be Icelandic breeders. A dozen Waxwings on a Brymbo housing estate may prove to be the last of the winter.

Ospreys at Cors Dyfi got down to egg-laying at the weekend, while last year’s female at Llyn Brenig appears to have been replaced; the regular male mated with a three-year old female that hatched in Scotland and was released in Dorset in 2021. Meanwhile, a female (KS1) that hatched beside the Afon Glaslyn in 2018 has returned to the Yorkshire Dales where she has bred since 2022.
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January’s RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch results, released last week, showed House Sparrow retaining top spot, but Blue Tit overtook Starling as the second commonest species, with numbers of the latter down 18% in just one year. Great Tits also did well, up from eighth to fifth place, but eight of the top 10 species were seen in fewer gardens than in 2023. Full details are on the RSPB website.

The 2023 Hen Harrier survey published this week showed mixed fortunes for Britain’s most persecuted bird of prey. Numbers increased in northern England and parts of Scotland, but fell hard in southern Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Welsh count, undertaken by the RSPB and Natural Resources Wales, was up by four pairs since 2016 to 40 territories. Almost all were in North Wales, with the Berwyn Special Protection Area holding 40% of the total.

Out before the stormy weekend, I watched four summer-plumaged Slavonian Grebes off Aber Ogwen and a flotilla of over 100 Eiders from Penmaenmawr, having seen 40 earlier from Penmon. Those Eider numbers are far higher than known to breed in the whole of Wales, so presumably these are migrants stopping to feed before heading farther north. Storm Kathleen brought a Storm Petrel, Arctic Skua and Arctic Terns off Criccieth and a Hoopoe to Bardsey, the island’s first since 2015, but the winds were disruptive for early nesting birds such as Rooks and Grey Herons.

First migrant arrivals included Redstarts at Pont Croesor and Pensychnant on 1 April, Whitethroat at Morfa Nefyn on 4th, Reed Warbler at RSPB Conwy on 5th, Pied Flycatcher in the Conwy Valley and Grasshopper Warblers at Shotwick and Ynys on 6th, Sedge Warbler at RSPB Conwy and Little Tern at Cymyran on 8th. Ring Ouzels were at several sites, the highest counts being five at Penycloddiau and on the Great Orme. An Avocet was at Malltraeth last week, a Dotterel on Cadair Idris and 12 Waxwings dropped briefly into Colwyn Bay’s Parc Eirias. A Black-necked Grebe remains in Beddmanarch Bay, a Little Gull is at RSPB Cors Ddyga and 62 Great Northern Divers in Caernarfon Bay.

Several readers have reported Siskins in their gardens for the first time, following last week’s report in BirdNotes. A ringer handled more than 650 Siskins in his garden above Bagillt in the month to mid-March, including birds previously ringed in Norway, Estonia, Russia and northern Scotland, while others had come no farther than across the Dee estuary. Another ringer caught 33 in Dolgarrog last week, including one ringed in Belgium, and reported that some were almost twice as heavy as others, stacked with fat for onward migration to northeast Europe.

Several readers report Siskins in their gardens for the first time recently. Records of these compact black-and-yellow finches peak in March and October, but larger immigration has been evident in recent weeks. Numbers reported to the BTO Garden BirdWatch in Wales last month were the highest ever, beating the previous record in winter 2012/13. Users of recording app BirdTrack report occurrence at almost double the usual rate, and large numbers have been ringed in some areas. Belvide Ringers in South Staffordshire handled almost 2,500 Siskins last month, including individuals previously ringed in Lithuania, Poland, Germany and Czechia.

Many of these Siskins wintered in southwest Europe and are on their way back to forests in Russia and northeast Europe, having taken a longer arc through Britain rather than across central Europe. Siskins visiting Wales in winter usually originate in Scotland, Norway and Sweden, although one ringed in Llandygai, near Bangor, in February 2013 was found near St Petersburg the following summer.

Last week saw Ospreys return to their North Wales breeding sites: pairs to Cors Dyfi, Glaslyn and Hafren Forest. At Llyn Brenig, the male of last year’s returned, and as of Monday, the nest had been visited by two different females, including one released in Poole Harbour in 2021. Ospreys were also at RSPB Conwy, the Great Orme, Llyn Tegid and Llandderfel.

Other summer migrants to arrive before the end of March included Little Ringed Plover on the Clwyd estuary and House Martins at RSPB Cors Ddyga, Rhuddlan and Gresford Flash. A Ring Ouzel was on the Great Orme, a Cattle Egret on the Conwy estuary and a couple of Snow Buntings at Cemlyn last week. Black-necked Grebe and Slavonian Grebes remain in Beddmanarch Bay, Surf Scoters at Llanddulas, and eight Long-tailed Ducks and a Little Gull were off Criccieth on Friday.