This week’s rain, after a record dry spring, was welcomed by farmers and many birds, especially those that need to probe the ground for soil invertebrates, such as Curlews and Choughs, and birds such as House Martins that build nests from pellets of mud. The unsettled conditions will be less appreciated by woodland species such as Pied Flycatchers that coincide their hatching to the peak of moth caterpillars, which may be washed out of the tree canopy by extended periods of heavy rain.

Neither is the cold and rain ideal for aerial insect feeders, such as Swallows and Swifts, although the changing climate is not their only problem. More than 125,000 people signed a petition in just four days demanding that the Westminster government backs mandatory Swift bricks in all new buildings. The surge of public support came in the wake of the rejection of an amendment at the Committee stage of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, parts of which have been described as a “licence to kill nature” by leading wildlife charities.

Welsh Government Ministers have been asked by a Senedd Committee to respond to calls for a similar measure to help Swifts in Welsh legislation, following a public petition backed by RSPB Cymru and Wildlife Trusts Wales among others. The £35 brick is hollow, with a small access hole enabling a bird to build its nest. Home renovations frequently lead to the loss of nest sites and, while measures to boost aerial insects are also needed to reverse the 76% decline in Wales since 1995, the Bricks are seen as a cheap but essential measure to resolve the Swift housing crisis.

A Pectoral Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover and Spoonbill visited RSPB Cors Ddyga last week, a Garganey was on the Border Pool at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands, and farther upriver, at least four Quails sang in the Dee Valley at Rossett. A Pomarine Skua flew past RSPB South Stack and the two Roseate Terns remain at Cemlyn lagoon, where an Irish-ringed Little Tern dropped in. A Curlew Sandpiper and late-departing Pale-bellied Brent Goose were in Foryd Bay on Sunday, and four Barnacle Geese and a Mediterranean Gull were on the Glaslyn estuary from Porthmadog Cob.

Late May is a time that migrants from southern and eastern Europe can arrive in Britain having travelled farther than intended in their journey from Africa. Prolonged high pressure has provided perfect conditions for these scarce visitors, with Black Kites and Hoopoes in North Wales in recent weeks. Monday brought two Red-backed Shrikes to the region: a male near Llangefni and a female at Cilcain in the Clwydian hills.
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Their presence was an echo of former times, for Red-backed Shrike used to be a widespread breeding species. Thomas Eyton, friend and contemporary of Charles Darwin, wrote one of the first books about the birdlife of North Wales in which he described “some dozens of them” feeding on grasshoppers on the slopes above Llynnau Mymbyr near Capel Curig in 1838. Regular breeding in Wales ceased soon after the Second World War, with the last known nest in North Wales in the Aber Valley, from which the eggs were stolen in 1952. Records in the region average less than one each year in the last 60 years, and this was the first instance of two on the same day.

An Iberian Yellow Wagtail, potentially the first Welsh record of this form, is near Llanfwrog on Anglesey, although a candidate on the Conwy estuary in 2022 remains with the British Birds Rarities Committee. A Spoonbill has spent several days in the Cob pool at Malltraeth, using its huge spatulate bill to sieve for food. One at Pwllheli last week may have been the same individual, but two others were over Rhuallt on Friday. A Black Stork flew over North Stack last week and while not rare on the coast, Aled Isaf Reservoir in Mynydd Hiraethog was an unusual location for a Whimbrel.

Wildlife Trust wardens are watching a pair of Roseate Terns, Britain’s rarest breeding seabird, that has settled among other terns at Cemlyn lagoon, where the first Black-headed Gull chicks have hatched. Up to three Little Stints and a Curlew Sandpiper fed in the Alaw estuary and a White-tailed Eagle was reported near Llangollen at the weekend.

A report published today shows that almost half of the commonest native bird species are declining in Wales, trends in the wrong direction for Welsh Government’s ambition to bend the curve of loss by 2030. Curlew, Swift and Yellowhammer are among species that have declined by at least three-quarters in Wales since 1995. Breeding Bird Survey results from the BTO, JNCC and RSPB also highlight several river species in trouble: Dipper numbers in the UK have fallen by 32% since 1998.

Reliant on aquatic invertebrates, Dippers are an excellent indicator of water quality, so what does the decline say about the state of our rivers, or for other life such as fish that also depend on insects? Pioneering research on Dippers and Grey Wagtails in Wales during the 1980s showed the impact of sulphur deposition from acid rain. Numbers recovered when air pollution was tackled but nitrate and phosphates washed into streams from farmland, and pollution from sewage treatment overflows may have sent that recovery backwards. A recent Dutch study shows that ecosystem function risks collapse because of neonicotinoid insecticides.

The urgency was emphasised by the Future Generations Commissioner’s recent report that criticised politicians and public bodies for applying short-term fixes to long-term problems. Highlighting that 60% of Welsh rivers recognised for their nature importance are failing to meet water quality targets, the Commissioner called for government and institutions to prioritise wildlife with “a statutory incentive required to ensure that nature recovery is built into decisions on infrastructure, housing, flood prevention and pollution control”.

​With most spring migrants back on their breeding grounds, birders’ attention turned to continental species that “overshot” their intended destination. A Black Kite was over Aberdaron and Bardsey, with a Black Stork pushing farther into Pen Llŷn, near Rhoshirwaun, on Sunday, and a Hoopoe in a Criccieth housing estate. Flypasts reported included a Montagu’s Harrier reported over Rhoscolyn and a Bee-eater over the Great Orme. A couple of Spoonbills passed Wylfa Head, with another on the Inland Sea, and perhaps the same at Pwllheli on Thursday. Blue-headed Wagtails were on Bardsey and at Cemlyn, where a Little Gull and Roseate Tern joined the colony and a Curlew Sandpiper paused on migration. A Wood Sandpiper dropped into Gronant, an Avocet at Porthmadog, four Cattle Egrets are at Shotwick and a Quail calls at Marford.

The Hoopoe’s onomatopoeic call is more typical of the Mediterranean, but in an exceptional spring for records in the southern half of Britain, three made it to North Wales last week. One spent several days in a farmyard near Llansannan before venturing more widely along the roadside, while others were on Bardsey and at Holywell’s Greenfield Country Park, with a belated report of one in a Tywyn garden last month. With its distinctive crest and barred wings, Hoopoes are usually seen first by people who wouldn’t describe themselves as birdwatchers. Not only in English is the bird named after its call, but in almost every other language too, including its scientific name Upupa epops, which finds its origin in Latin and ancient Greek.

As well as a Hoopoe, the Bardsey Bird Observatory team recorded a Red-rumped Swallow and Bee-eater, with another reported near Rhosneigr last week. The first Spotted Flycatcher of the year was on Bardsey last week, but by Monday several were already on territory in the Conwy Valley.

Other scarce visitors to the region include a Garganey and European White-fronted Goose at RSPB Cors Ddyga, with four Wood Sandpipers there and another three at Shotwick Lake. A dozen Dotterels were reported from Foel Fras and four on the Great Orme, while a Long-tailed Duck is late to leave Anglesey’s Inland Sea.

Around 60 Little Terns called above our heads as volunteers and rangers from Denbighshire County Council set up fencing at Gronant to protect these rare seabirds from dogs, foxes and humans. Several Ringed Plovers were investigating the beach as we returned from a lunch break, and the terns will almost certainly start to settle this week. On Anglesey, Wildlife Trust wardens at Cemlyn counted over 2700 Sandwich Terns and 350 Arctic Terns on the lagoon, and a Little Gull stayed for several days. Another Little Gull was in Caernarfon’s Foryd Bay, where a Little Stint roosted with Dunlins.