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.

After nine months of flight since they left their nest, Swifts were over Corwen, Llanfair TH, RSPB Conwy and Aber Ogwen at the weekend. They use the same nest site in roof spaces each year, but scaffolding can prevent access to their homes. The RSPB has reminded householders and building companies that active nests of all species are protected by law and encouraged people to report screaming parties of Swifts and nest sites on the swiftmapper.org.uk website. Records can also be added to North Wales Wildlife Trust's Swift Recovery Project on the Cofnod website. 

Meanwhile, the Senedd Petitions Committee urged Welsh Government to take a cross-departmental approach to a call by more than 10,000 people for Swift Bricks to be mandatory on all new buildings in Wales.

In other migration news, Ring Ouzels have been seen from more sites than usual away from their Eryri breeding areas. These are probably birds moving farther north, but as we move into May, any Ring Ouzels showing evidence of breeding behaviour should be reported to county recorders, especially in Denbighshire where summer records are now scarce. Yellow Wagtails adjacent to the River Dee near Sealand include at least one of the continental Blue-headed form.

Groups of Whimbrels rested on their journey to breed in Iceland; larger groups included 80 on Traeth Lafan at Wig, 42 at Carmel Head and 30 on the Glaslyn from Porthmadog Cob. While most waders pause at the coast, one prefers the high life. Six Dotterels were on the western slope of Carneddau Llewelyn, the second highest summit in Wales, on Sunday, en route to Scotland or Scandinavia.

A White Stork flew over RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands from across the Welsh border and six Cattle Egrets remain beside the main road north out of Valley on Monday. Most winter visitors have departed, although the Menai Strait’s Kumlien’s Gull and Black-necked Grebe were at Aber Ogwen last week, from where an Egyptian Goose departed north over Penmon Point on Monday. 

The appearance of a Redpoll from the high Arctic seemed appropriate during a chilly Easter that broke weeks of dry and sunny weather. The bulky finch, nicknamed ‘snowballs’ by some birders, was found by Bardsey Bird Observatory staff on Sunday and still present on Monday.

Redpoll taxonomy has been fluid, and somewhat controversial, in recent years. Current genetic analysis ‘lumps’ Arctic, Common and Lesser Redpolls, the last of which nests in British woodlands. Consequently, the Welsh Ornithological Society recently reduced the three species on the Welsh List to one. Observatory warden Steve Stansfield is confident that this week’s sighting is of the Hornemann’s form that breeds in northeast Canada and Greenland, which would be the first ever recorded in Wales. There have been five Welsh records of the other Redpoll (Coue’s) that breeds in the far north, in Scandinavia and Russia, but none for more than 20 years.

Besides an American Wigeon on Anglesey’s Alaw estuary, sightings otherwise had a more southerly flavour: a Purple Heron at Cors Erddreiniog on Anglesey and a Red-rumped Swallow at RSPB Conwy that came down to feed during Saturday’s rain. A pair of Garganey were at RSPB Cors Ddyga, five Cattle Egrets remain at Valley and a Corncrake was reported on the Great Orme. Lesser Whitethroats, Garden Warblers and Whinchats were seen at several sites for the first time this year and there was a notable arrival of Grasshopper Warblers, including a remarkable 19 between Prestatyn and Gronant.

Ospreys in the Glaslyn valley laid eggs last week, but there has been high drama at Llyn Brenig where two males tussle for the attentions of the nesting female, one of which evicted the two eggs already laid. An Osprey, almost certainly colour-ringed as a nestling in Scotland, caught and ate a fish in the Conwy estuary, delighting visitors to the adjacent RSPB nature reserve.

​In a week that was warmer and drier in North Wales than parts of the Med, some of the visiting birds had a southern European feel: a Bee-eater over Rhosneigr, a Hoopoe at Parc Glynllifon, seven Cattle Egrets near Valley and a White Stork that wandered around Anglesey, feeding with gulls behind the plough on a farm near Llyn Alaw. It, or another, was over Gronant on Monday, and later on the Wirral peninsula. A study published recently shows that Iberian breeding storks have lost their migratory urge over the last 30 years. More than 70% now stay in southern Europe through the winter, compared to just 18% in 1995. Tracking shows that birds only travel to Africa in the first winter after they hatch and then become more sedentary, driven by year-round food availability at landfill dumps in Spain and Portugal.

​The first Little Terns were seen at Gronant at the weekend, where Denbighshire Council is appealing for volunteers to help set up the fences that are so essential to keeping predators, dogs and other visitors away from the nests of one of the most productive colonies in Britain.

Other summer migrants arriving before the weather turned inclement included the first Cuckoos at Dyserth last Thursday, and Mynydd Llandygai and the Aber Valley on Saturday, an influx of Willow Warblers on Holy Island, a Blue-headed Wagtail on Bardsey and more than 100 White Wagtails at Cemlyn. A Slavonian Grebe remains in the Menai Strait, a Surf Scoter off Llanddulas with four Velvet Scoters, and a Tree Sparrow sang at Uwchmynydd, on the tip of Pen Llŷn.

Rarest visitor was a Bonaparte’s Gull, present on RSPB Conwy’s lagoons and the adjacent estuary at the weekend. This North American vagrant has occurred in North Wales on fewer than a dozen occasions, and this was the first record in the Denbighshire vice-county used for wildlife recording.
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It's not too late to sign up for the Heathland Bird Survey, which is seeking to find Dartford Warblers between now and June. Later in the summer, evening visits will be required to find churring Nightjars. I made the first of two visits to one of my allocated squares and was pleased to find Dartford Warblers present, a species that is moving north with a warming climate but with only a toe-hold in North Wales. They nest in gorse and heather, so are especially vulnerable to the spate of fires across the region in recent weeks. Volunteers to survey for Dartford Warblers are needed in western Anglesey, Pen Llŷn, the Carneddau and on moorland north of Llangollen. Details at bto.org/our-science/projects/heathland-birds-survey.

Black Grouse surveyors in northeast Wales will hope that the high-pressure system with its clear weather holds through April. Counting birds requires a calm dawn to locate a lek – the gathering that is often a precursor to mating – by the male’s characteristic bubbling call. One bird in Mynydd Hiraethog took the unusual step of displaying on top of a pole carrying low voltage powerlines, caught on video by Dave Parry. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see the clip. Some have speculated that the Black Grouse, which roost in trees to avoid predation, was responding to its own reflection in the glass insulators. Survey volunteers will be scouring the forests and moors, rather than electricity poles, this month to see whether last year’s population increases have been maintained.

Three Hoopoes on Bardsey and one in an Anelog garden were among at least 150 reported in southwest Britain and the south coast of Ireland in recent weeks; a Wryneck on seacliffs across Bardsey Sound made a similar journey from Africa. These overshot their breeding areas in mainland Europe during recent warm weather, as did a Black Kite that flew over my head beside Anglesey’s Llyn Penrhyn on Friday, where the Red-necked Grebe is developing its colourful summer attire. A White Stork wandered widely over Anglesey on Monday and Tuesday, and being unringed was also likely to be a European breeder. Multiple Ring Ouzels were at South Stack and the Great Orme. Other summer migrants included the region’s first Reed Warblers at RSPB Conwy and Gronant on Monday, Sedge Warbler at RSPB Cors Ddyga on Sunday, while Saturday brought a Yellow Wagtail to the Clwyd estuary, Whinchat at Aberffraw and Pied Flycatcher at Llanberis. Common Sandpiper, Tree Pipit and Whimbrel were also recorded in North Wales last week, and eight Little Ringed Plovers paused at RSPB Cors Ddyga. Three Glossy Ibises that flew along Nant Llugwy near Capel Curig were not relocated.

Last week’s call for dog-owners to protect nesting birds by using a short lead prompted readers to remind owners to deposit dog hair in the bin, not to leave it for birds to use as nesting material if dosed with insecticide tick and flea treatments. A study by the University of Sussex showed that several types of insecticide were found in more than 90% of Blue Tit and Great Tit nests sampled, and that a higher number of dead chicks or unhatched eggs were found in nests exposed to the pesticides. Previous studies have highlighted the toxic effects of pet treatments on aquatic life from dogs treated with spot-on, spray or shampoo flea treatments containing chemicals such as fipronil, which was banned for use in agriculture more than a decade ago.

Into the cold, brisk wind Swallows and Sand Martins flew over Holyhead Mountain on Sunday and quickly headed out to sea. Willow Warblers hovered in gaps among gorse bushes, selecting tiny insects with their tweezer bills, too hungry to sing after a long flight. I missed the Black Redstart at South Stack, but enjoyed watching aerobatic Choughs collect wool and dry grass to line nests in the sea-caves. Territory occupation and nesting success of the red-billed crow has fallen in North and Mid Wales, so every nest counts.

It was good to see dog owners on The Range following the law on open access land, which requires the animals to be on a lead no more than two metres long between 1 March and 31 July to protect ground-nesting birds (and throughout the year around livestock). The Skylarks singing in exultation – a collective noun in use for at least 700 years - above the heath will have been grateful too. Natural Resources Wales and RSPB Cymru issued a reminder about dogs and nesting birds and charity Curlew Action has produced a range of bilingual signs for use where birds are nesting.

Summer migrants reported elsewhere in the last week include Ring Ouzels at Aber Falls and the Great Orme, Little Ringed Plovers on Llyn Trawsfynydd, an early Whinchat on Minera Mountain and the first Pied Flycatcher of spring beside the Dyfi estuary at RSPB Ynys-hir.

A Kumlien’s Gull has been sporadic at Aber Ogwen, where Slavonian and Black-necked Grebe fed in the Menai Strait. A Lapland Bunting has associated with Golden Plovers at RSPB Cors Ddyga all week; at least 1000 of the plovers left via Cemlyn on Sunday, heading for Iceland, or perhaps even beyond to western Greenland. Other winter visitors yet to depart include Twite at Flint Castle and a Long-tailed Duck on the Inland Sea. A couple of Egyptian Geese, not a native but which breed widely in England and nested in mid Wales in 2023, are at Burwen, west of Amlwch.

News that the number of booming male Bitterns has increased again, to 283 across Britain, including seven in Wales last year, is hugely welcome. In the late 1990s, I remember when there were only 11 in England and none in Wales, the last having been heard on Anglesey in 1984. As the population shrank, researchers raced against time to understand the ecology of this secretive reedbed heron, whose deep bass call carries up to 1km on a still morning.

Science informed a major programme of wetland restoration, in which pools within reedbeds were deepened to enhance fish populations and the habitat opened up to enable birds to feed more easily. But with most Bitterns on coastal wetlands in eastern England that will be lost to rising sea levels, conservation organisations also created suitable habitat at sites that had been drained or abandoned more than a century previously. At one such site, RSPB Cors Ddyga in the Cefni Valley, five males boomed last week, fortifying further their presence on the island.

Cors Ddyga also hosted a Lapland Bunting and Green-winged Teal on Sunday as well as four Ruff that have overwintered and its first Willow Warbler and Little Ringed Plover of the year. Elsewhere on Anglesey, seven Cattle Egrets and another Little Ringed Plover were on a flooded field at Valley and the first House Martin on Sunday at RSPB South Stack, where up to four Black Redstarts and eight Twite dropped in on migration. At least a dozen Twite remain at Flint dock. The first Sandwich Terns are back at Cemlyn lagoon, Wales’ only regular breeding colony, while single Ospreys have returned to Cors Dyfi, Llyn Brenig and the Glaslyn Valley, where a replacement nest site was constructed recently using branches thrown by Storm Darragh. Viewing centres at all three locations have reopened for the season.

A Hoopoe sang briefly on Bardsey, where staff returned to the region’s only Bird Observatory last week and ringed Jack Snipe and Woodcock making journeys to northeastern Europe. Other winter visitors still in North Wales include 46 Whooper Swans from Porthmadog Cob that will soon be heading for Iceland, Kumlien’s Gull and Slavonian Grebes irregularly at Aber Ogwen, with more grebes and a Long-tailed Duck in Beddmanarch Bay, but the origins of a Gyr Falcon that plucked a Herring Gull near Rhosneigr remain a matter of conjecture,
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Many seaducks that wintered off Old Colwyn have already left east over northern England, including presumably the several Surf Scoters that remain on the wrong side of the Atlantic. Following them east were Little Gulls feeding in the Menai Strait at the weekend, while Short-eared Owls dotted around the Anglesey coast are also moving to their breeding areas.

In windless sunshine off Anglesey’s Penmon Point on Saturday, the sounds of Eiders carried ashore. A group of 30 courted, black-and-white males and females in subdued browns to hide on the nest among foliage or seaweed. The male’s ‘ah-ooo’ call carried far while the females response is a quieter, chuckling “ak-ak-ak”. The Welsh breeding Eider population is small, perhaps a few dozen pairs, and among the southernmost in the world. Most nest around Anglesey but nothing is known about where these individuals spend the rest of the year.

Each March, larger numbers of Europe’s largest duck appear in the Menai Strait and Conwy Bay. I counted 200 Eiders off Puffin Island a couple of years ago, and this weekend 40 were off Dwygylfylchi, with dozens more off Llanfairfechan and Llanddona. Are they pausing en route to the Isle of Man or farther north? How little we know about some of our maritime neighbours, even the big and showy ones.

Two Iceland Gulls were off Aber Ogwen last week: a ‘Kumlien’s Gull’ from Arctic Canada and a pale-billed subadult from northern Europe, with an adult at Gresford Flash briefly. At least two dozen Hawfinches feed around Caerhun church, although difficult to see all at one time. Twite are at Flint Castle and RSPB South Stack, where the first Puffins were seen on Saturday; another six of the parrot-billed auks were off Ynys Seiriol/Puffin Island.
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The first Ring Ouzel of spring was spotted at Llyn Mwyngil, also known as Tal-y-llyn, on Saturday, and although a few Wheatears and Sand Martins were seen this week, forecast southeasterly winds should accelerate migration. Ospreys have returned to nest sites elsewhere in Britain, with the first Welsh birds expected early next week. Long-stayers that will soon leave include a Snow Bunting on the Great Orme, four Cattle Egrets at Llanfwrog, and Black Redstarts in Trefriw and Aberdaron.  A dozen Great Northern Divers are in Caernarfon Bay and an impressive 140 Red-throated Divers off Llanfairfechan.