The winds pushed passage seabirds to the coast over the weekend, including Sabine’s Gulls past Point Lynas, Ynys Llanddwyn and Bardsey, with a few Storm Petrels past the latter island. Another Sabine’s Gull was an unusual record for the Dee estuary, flying over Flint Castle on Friday, where the rare Hudsonian Godwit has been spotted intermittently throughout the week. A Caspian Gull, the fourth of the summer in North Wales, was at Gronant with a Spotted Redshank on Sunday.

Swallows and House Martins, buffeted by the gales, were not to be stopped in their determined southward flight, coming in low over the coast and on through the mountains of Eryri. A few Wheatears paused, but within weeks will be on the south side of the Sahara. Meanwhile, the first Pale-bellied Brent Geese arrived in Foryd Bay from their breeding quarters in eastern Canada.

Drawing together many thousands of bird sightings each year is a monumental task, and I am always staggered by the effort that goes into producing county reports each year for 12 of the nature recording areas in Wales, plus the two island Bird Observatories. Not only the rare visitors, but assessments of the status of breeding and wintering species. The Northeast Wales Bird Report for 2023 has been published recently (cofnod.org.uk/CBRG) as, just outside the BirdNotes area, has the report for Montgomeryshire.

With so many ways in which bird news can now be shared, it is a timely reminder to submit your records to either your Local Environmental Records Centre (Cofnod for North Wales), BirdTrack or eBird. So many valuable records must be lost each year because they make it no further than a social media post or WhatsApp message. Yet such records are essential when planners need to understand the importance of a site or local people want to defend places from potentially damaging developments. One recent example was a collation of ten years of waterbird records from the rocky beach at Rhos Point, used by Conwy Council to introduce a year-round dog control order.

A species never previously recorded in Wales has been attracting birders to the Dee estuary, following a report of a Hudsonian Godwit last Monday. The godwit is a North American species that breeds on marshes in the very remotest far north of Canada and migrates through the central and eastern United States and Caribbean to winter in the southern half of South America, as far south as Cape Horn.

The bird was initially seen at the permit-only Connah’s Quay nature reserve and later that evening was at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands, where it has been seen on several days subsequently; it was also reported from Flint Castle on Monday. Full credit to the observers on both sides of the border who found this individual among a large flock of Black-tailed Godwits. The Dee estuary is the second most important site in Britain for Black-tailed Godwits, with more than 7000 here in late summer. Hudsonian Godwit, with its distinctive black underwings, has only occurred in Britain a handful of times, in 1981-83, 1988, 2015, 2020 and 2023.
​The Border Pool at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands also hosted two Garganeys on Monday, while other unusual sightings include a Roseate Tern and two Little Terns at Afon Wen near Criccieth, where more than 40 Mediterranean Gulls roosted. A Quail has called in the Dee valley near Holt for more than a week, a Wood Warbler was at Porth Meudwy and a Little Ringed Plover at Cemlyn on Sunday. Several Marsh Harriers have passed through Meirionnydd, including two at Morfa Harlech and singles on the Glaslyn and Artro estuaries. These may be birds from farther north or could be youngsters dispersing from two nests on the Dyfi estuary that were the first ever in Ceredigion. 

​High levels of rat poison in birds of prey and owls have led to a significant tightening of rules for use of second-generation rodenticides (SGARs). The products are no longer available to buy for use in outdoor locations unless connected to a building. Almost 90% of Barn Owls and more than two-thirds of Kestrels tested were exposed to at least one of the poisons, and in the case of Kestrel there is evidence that the rodenticide bromadiolone has contributed to the species’ decline in Britain.

The Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use has warned that failing to follow instructions on the label is illegal and that even a product with an old label must not be used in open areas. There is a use up period to the end of 2024, and then their use in open areas will be banned. From January 2026, all farmers must be certified in order to buy professional rodenticides.

Strong winds last week brought two Cory’s Shearwaters past Bardsey, on the northern edge of a movement that pushed several thousand birds into the Southwestern Approaches in sight of land, and doubtless many more beyond the range of telescopes. A Little Gull was at Porthmadog’s Llyn Bach, Arctic Skuas off Porth Ysgaden and the third Caspian Gull of the summer in the region was at Gronant on Sunday with two Yellow-legged Gulls. Mediterranean Gulls are also dispersing from the southeast, with counts of 13 at Traeth Dulas and over 40 at Pen-y-chain near Pwllheli, including birds ringed at colonies in Germany and France.

Hooded Crows, originating from Ireland, were at Newborough and on a bird table near South Stack. A Green Woodpecker, now rare on Anglesey, was heard near Mynydd Bodafon and more than 100 Little Egrets roosted at Cei Ballast in the Glaslyn estuary.

Please note that I no longer use Twitter (now known as X) but continue to post a link to the weekly BirdNotes on the North Wales Bird & Wildlife Sightings page on Facebook, and as @penrhynbirder on Threads and BlueSky. And, of course, the column appears in The Daily Post every Thursday.

With more than 330 species – almost 75% of the Welsh total – recorded on Ynys Enlli, it becomes ever harder to add a new species to the list seen on the island, off the tip of Pen Llŷn. Spring and autumn migrations provide the best chance, but the latest addition seen by wardens at Bardsey Bird Observatory was a seabird dispersing from Europe. A Caspian Gull, with its pear-shaped head and deep, slightly bulbous, bill, bore a colour-ring attached in the nest at De Kreupel in The Netherlands. Enquiries revealed that it had been ringed in early May and this was the first resighting. As reported when the first Caspian Gull for Caernarfonshire was seen in June, the species has been recorded fewer than 25 times in Wales, although may occur more frequently than is recognised. As its breeding range has spread west to this Dutch site in recent years, these won’t be the last.

An early autumn Curlew Sandpiper on Malltraeth Cob Pool on Sunday was heading south to sub-Saharan Africa after spending the breeding season in the high latitudes of Siberia. News came this week that a Curlew Sandpiper seen in Pembrokeshire earlier this summer had been colour-ringed on the very southern tip of India, where it was probably wintering, in November 2022. I’d speculate that it flew north to breed in spring 2023, but then joined other waders leaving for a journey to West Africa via eastern Europe, and then headed north via west Wales this spring. No Curlew Sandpiper ringed in India has been seen in Britain or Ireland previously; Ukraine is the farthest east that ringed birds seen in Britain have been recorded, according to BTO ringing data.

The weekend saw a Garganey at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands Border Pool, and a long-staying Ring-necked Duck again on Llyn Brân in Mynydd Hiraethog. A Ruff and Green Sandpiper were among waders at RSPB Conwy last week and a Hooded Crow at Aber Ogwen.