Call of the Med comes to the moors

Hoopoe (Dave Parry)

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.