Mediterranean vibe to birds and weather

Bonaparte's Gull (Pete Bellew)

​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.