While spring migration in mainland North Wales is over, early June can bring scarce visitors to Ynys Enlli, and the team at Bardsey Bird Observatory had a busy week recording the visitors.
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First up was potentially the rarest, a probable Audouin’s Gull that alighted briefly onshore, but flew off and was not seen again. This globally-threatened species breeds no closer than the Mediterranean coast of Spain and has not been confirmed in Wales previously. Next came a smart male Red-backed Shrike, joined the following day by a singing male Common Rosefinch. On Thursday a Blyth’s Reed Warbler mimicked a suite of birds that it’s used to hearing in eastern Europe, central Asia and India, where it wintered. Observatory staff recognised at least 30 different species in its repertoire including Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Yellow-browed Warbler and Olive-backed Pipit.

It's a reminder of how special Ynys Enlli can be during migration; the Bird Observatory still has spaces to stay in September and October.

Last Friday a Melodious Warbler sang in the Observatory garden. It is something of a Bardsey speciality, with 120 records being almost half of the Welsh total. But while some spring migrants were arriving, a Cuckoo ringed on the island was almost certainly making its way south for the autumn! Other scarce visitors in the region last week included Quails at Doddleston and Cors Bodgynydd nature reserve, deep in Coed Gwydyr, and a Black Tern at Cemlyn lagoon.
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RSPB Cymru wardens on The Skerries, the islets off northwest Anglesey that host Britain’s largest Arctic Tern colony, counted 1212 burrows occupied by Puffins recently. This is more than twice the total in 2019, and the highest ever count – although no records exist from before the late 18th century, prior to the temporary occurrence of rats on the islands. The count makes it the most important site for Puffins in North Wales, and the third most important in the country.

After the ravages of bird flu, positive news from some of our seabird colonies. North Wales Wildlife Trust’s count at Cemlyn showed encouraging results: 2167 pairs of Sandwich Tern, 170 of Arctic Tern, 120 of Common Tern and a pair of Roseates, Wales’ rarest breeding seabird. The site also hosts 200 pairs of Black-headed Gull and two pairs of Mediterranean Gull. A couple of extra Roseate Terns appeared at the weekend, when Sandwich Tern and gull chicks explored the islands between the rain showers. Last week’s wind brought two Pomarine Skuas to Fedw Fawr near Llanddona and a couple of Storm Petrels past Porth Ysgaden.

A colony in Conwy Bay holds the highest number of red-listed Herring Gull nests since I began watching it as part of the UK Seabird Monitoring Programme in 2019. Fulmar nests were similar to last year albeit half the total of six years ago. Unexpected was a Black Guillemot, Wales’ second rarest breeding seabird, delivering a fish to a nest hole high above the beach. Black Guillemots nest at a handful of sites on Anglesey and on the Great Orme, but this is the first modern nest record in Caernarfonshire west of the Conwy estuary.

A White Stork was reported in fields north of the Dee, near Sealand, on Monday. A Quail was ringed on Pen Llŷn, another sang on Bardsey last week, and one was in Berwyn on Monday, just outside the Eryri National Park between Llanuwchllyn and Llyn Efyrnwy.

A sleepy Nightjar on a garden bench in Barmouth was not typical habitat, perhaps a late arriving migrant. The British Trust for Ornithology is calling for help with the UK Nightjar survey, with many sites in North Wales requiring two visits before 15 July, in the two hours after sunset or before sunrise. Sites around Coed y Brenin, Llandegla, Clocaenog, Gwydyr and the Mawddach estuary are hotspots that need volunteers. Details and registration at bto.org/get-involved/volunteer/projects/heathland-birds-survey.