RSPB Cymru and BTO Cymru have called on householders in Meirionnydd to suspend providing food and water for birds for the remainder of the summer. This area includes the towns of Blaenau Ffestiniog, Bala, Penrhyndeudraeth and Barmouth. The move is an effort to reduce the risk of Trichomonosis spreading in the Hawfinch population. People have been reporting sick and dead Hawfinches in gardens throughout spring and summer in the Dolgellau area, making it the worst year since studies began 10 years ago.

Hawfinch is a scarce and localised woodland breeding bird that is attracted to sunflower seeds provided in gardens. The area around Dolgellau holds one of the five most important populations in the UK and is one of the two principal breeding areas in Wales.

Trichomonosis is the primary cause of a 79% decline in Greenfinch in Wales over the last 10 years, and a 38% decline in Chaffinch, so a similar decline could be catastrophic for the Hawfinch population. Trichomonosis causes lesions in the throat, which makes it progressively hard for the bird to swallow food. Sick birds may be lethargic, fluffed-up, regurgitate food, salivate excessively or show laboured breathing. It is bird-specific, and does not pass to mammals, including humans.

Diseases can be spread by birds congregating at bird feeders and water. Householders elsewhere in North Wales are reminded to maintain good hygiene where food and water are provided, and to withdraw food and fresh water if sick birds are seen. Birds will disperse across the countryside where they are less prone to transmitting disease. Despite the dry weather, there is plenty of fruit, nuts and fresh water in Meirionnydd during the summer. In this area, householders are advised not to provide bird baths to reduce the risk to the survival of Hawfinches. To find out more about Hawfinch studies in North Wales, see this Daily Post article from 2017.

The first of a new generation of North Wales Ospreys took to the air at the weekend, with the maiden flight of the eldest chick in Nant Glaslyn. Three Spotted Redshanks were at Connah’s Quay nature reserve last week, a Marsh Harrier has spent a week on Bardsey, and a small number of Mediterranean Gulls are scattered around the coast.

One of the joys of sleeping with open windows has been waking to the sound of Swifts that nest above our roof soffits. The adults have been screaming down the street until sunset, and then at first light drop from the nest above the bedroom window, off to find flying insects to feed their young. We came home recently to the sad sight of a young Swift that fell to its death on the doorstep, just days before its maiden flight. Despite this disaster, all three nests remain active within our eaves. The chicks should fledge in the coming days, destined to remain airborne until 2024, when we hope to welcome them back. I added these nests, and others spotted in recent days, to swiftmapper.org.uk, so the information is available to those working to save Swifts.

The prospect of record-breaking temperatures should concentrate all our minds on the need for urgent action to tackle climate change. New research by the British Trust for Ornithology adds another example to the growing list of rapid changes facing nature. Willow Warblers have become scarcer in England in recent years but more common in Scotland, and climate has been a suspected factor. The study shows that optimal average ground temperature during the breeding season is 11° Celsius for Willow Warblers, and 13.5°C for the similar Chiffchaff. In just over 20 years to 2017, the breeding season temperature averaged 12.7°C in England where Willow Warblers are declining and 10.2°C in Scotland where they are increasing. Although the study didn’t analyse data in Wales, we might expect a similar northward shift, and that further temperature increases will be bad news for Chiffchaffs too. The heatwave should remind us to ensure we maintain water in gardens to help wildlife, but also to ensure that birdbaths are cleaned regularly to minimise the risk of transferring disease.

Waders are trickling back from the Arctic as the breeding season draws to a close. Whimbrels from Iceland, Green Sandpipers from Scandinavia and Greenshanks from Fennoscandia are at the forefront of migration, while Curlews landing on our beaches may have come from elsewhere in Britain, or as far east as Finland and Poland, while Great White Egrets on the Conwy estuary and at RSPB Cors Ddyga may have originated from France or the Low Countries.

With its long tail streamers, Roseate Tern is one of our most elegant seabirds and one of Britain’s rarest, so the sight of dead birds on the tideline and confirmation of high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) at our only colony was a bitter blow this week for those who have spent 20 years helping its population to recover. Just 150 pairs breed on Coquet Island in Northumberland, with a handful of nests elsewhere in the UK, including an occasional one on Anglesey. Seabird die-offs have been witnessed in Germany, The Netherlands, and France, as well as the south coast of England.

It is the latest bodyblow for seabirds, already struggling with the twin impacts of climate change and long-term declines in fish stocks. The list of species and number of colonies affected is lengthening. Initially confirmed in Great Skuas in Scotland, each day through June has seen more images of dead and dying birds, including Gannets, Sandwich and Common Terns, Guillemots and Razorbills. Testing to confirm HPAI has been sporadic, but the scale of gaps in colonies that should contain thousands of birds shows this is the biggest outbreak ever in wild birds. The disease jumped from farmed poultry to wild birds in east Asia in 2003, and more recently in Central Asia. Migration has brought HPAI to our shores with devastating consequences.

Seabirds around the Irish Sea have been less affected to date, but it is impossible to know how this will play out. Wardens at tern colonies in Anglesey and Denbighshire report that chicks are fledging, and it is hoped that at least some will move way from mass gatherings in which the disease spreads rapidly. Rockabill island in Dublin Bay holds around 1700 pairs of Roseate Terns, so an outbreak there would be even more catastrophic.

Meanwhile, the RSPCA has stopped accepting sick or injured seabirds to its rescue centres and several islands are closed to visitors, including the Farnes in Northumberland. The public are being urged not to touch dead or sick birds nor allow dogs to do so, and to ring Defra on 03459 335577 if you find three or more dead waterbirds, seabirds or raptors.

Recent notable sightings include a Cattle Egret on the Alaw estuary, Quail at RSPB Cors Ddyga, up to 40 Mediterranean Gulls on Porthmadog’s Llyn Bach, Great White Egret and Green Sandpiper at RSPB Conwy, and a young Cuckoo at Cemlyn.

​I have written before about the enjoyment I get from visits to ‘my’ allocated squares for the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), organised by the British Trust for Ornithology with support from the RSPB and Joint Nature Conservation Committee. As well as noticing annual changes in birds, mammals and habitat in my square, satisfaction comes from knowing that, combined with effort in almost 4000 other squares across the UK, my few hours of volunteering helps to track populations of the most abundant birds. Last week saw the realisation of our time well spent with publication of the BBS results up to 2021.

The long-term trends are, perhaps, the most important, informing Birds of Conservation Concern, which assesses the red, amber and green lists. Of the 58 species monitored in Wales since 1995, 28 have increased, headed by the introduced Canada Goose, up 429%. However, populations of the other 30 have fallen, none more so than Greenfinch, down 79%, all in the last decade. Numbers of six other species have more than halved in Wales: Yellowhammer (-75%), Swift (-74%), Curlew (-73%), Rook (-63%), Starling (-63%), all once common birds of farmland. The decline of Goldcrest (-53%) is hard to explain, since counts in England were up over the same period. While numbers of another species associated with conifers, Coal Tit, were down 25%, Siskins have increased by 160%.

There are several other species for which Wales is important but which are not common enough on the sampled squares to create a country trend, but which are falling across the UK as a whole. Among these are Wood Warbler (-83%), Pied Flycatcher (-55%) and Whinchat (-53%).

There’s better news for Cuckoos, whose numbers in Wales have increased by 43% over the last decade to levels only just below those of 1995, and Song Thrush, whose numbers are 29% up over the long-term. Wheatear numbers returned to 2015 levels after several poor years, but remain 28% down on a decade ago. However, House Martin and Swallow numbers are down 47% and 40% in 10 years, and in just five years, Buzzards are down by 15%, Carrion Crow by 10% and Raven by 8%. There’s a wealth of information in the latest report, visit bto.org/bbs to find out more, and to sign up as a volunteer for next year.

Scarcer visitors to the region last week include Black Redstarts at RSPB Conwy, Llanbedr and in a Penrhyn Bay garden, two Roseate Terns at Cemlyn lagoon, and Hooded Crows at RSPB South Stack, Traeth Dulas and the Clwyd estuary.

Leading a course in the Carneddau on Sunday, it was good to see young Wheatears foraging among the rocks, a Pied Flycatcher dropping from a branch to grab insects, and a pair of Redstarts commuting with small green caterpillars to a nest in the roof of a cottage. For others, such as the Siskins calling from the highest branches of the forestry plantation, the breeding season is already a distant memory. So too for the Ravens tumbling over the summit and Long-tailed Tits working their way through the oak trees, having already formed a flock in readiness for winter.

We heard two Cuckoos, which may be my last until next April. Many are already heading south. Of 12 Cuckoos tracked by the British Trust for Ornithology, six are in France including one already close to the Riviera resort of Cannes. They should soon be joined by JAC, ringed near Llandegla in 2021, which is heading south through Herefordshire after spending spring in the same area of moorland near Wrexham. Another Welsh-tagged Cuckoo - Daniel - remains in Montgomeryshire, mainly on moorland above Lake Vyrnwy but with occasional forays to a site 20 miles east on the Shropshire border, identical to movements that it made last summer.

A Wood Sandpiper at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands on the Dee estuary is another sign that the northern hemisphere is about to tilt away from the sun. Over the coming weeks, expect to see more waders dropping into North Wales as they head towards the equator from their Arctic breeding sites.

Hooded Crows were again at RSPB South Stack and the Clwyd estuary, with one over Cors Bodeilio, near Pentraeth. A Rose-coloured Starling was near Caernarfon airport, and a moulting Whooper Swan remains around Porthmadog Cob having been unable to fly to Iceland with the rest of the Glaslyn flock in spring.

As my groaning shelves testify, I love a bird book. A well-researched volume is more definitive in its answers than an internet search, and I love the feel of the pages, the rich artwork and photographs in my hand. But there is some information for which the web is far superior, especially for sharing and visualising data almost in real time.

The United Nations Convention on Migration Species recently launched a Eurasian-African Bird Migration Atlas, which for the first time maps the movements of millions of individual birds that have been ringed and found subsequently, over more than a century. The results, open to all at migrationatlas.org, enable ornithologists to understand better how different parts of the flyway are connected between seasons, but also how that is changing with climate disruption.
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It is a goldmine that I will doubtless spend long winter evenings digging into. At the weekend, I watched a male Ring Ouzel feeding three begging juveniles that had not long left their nest in the Carneddau. From the Migration Atlas, I can see that there have been just two exchanges of Ring Ouzels from North Wales: one between Bardsey and southwest France, the other between Conwy and the Grampian Mountains. However, added to all the Ring Ouzel data from both continents shows that these form part of a movement between Britain and Morocco, where they spend winter with other Ring Ouzels that breed in the Alps and Scandinavia. In a few months, these young Carneddau birds could be sharing Juniper berries with birds hatched in Norway and Switzerland.

​Understanding bird movements is also essential for those tracking highly pathogenic avian influenza. A lack of testing makes it hard to be certain, but reports from seabird colonies across Scotland, and in tern sites in eastern England, the Netherlands and France, indicate that ‘bird flu’ could be catastrophic for some species. Wales’ only Little Tern colony at Gronant – which now has a live stream from the beach - is having a record year, with over 200 nests, so wardens will be watching nervously for symptoms. The Animal & Plant Health Agency urges anyone finding a dead bird to report it on 03459 335577 and not to touch it.

Rose-coloured Starlings have been spotted in gardens in Llandudno Junction and Llanfechell in the last week, perhaps the start of a westward European movement that we have witnessed in the last two summers. A handful of waders, such as Whimbrel at RSPB Conwy and a Greenshank on the Alaw estuary, are a sign of southward migration as failed breeders leave their Arctic breeding grounds and make an early move to their wintering areas. A Yellow-legged Gull was at RSPB Conwy on Sunday, a Hooded Crow on the Clwyd estuary and six Mediterranean Gulls on Porthmadog’s Llyn Bach, including one ringed near Leipzig last summer. Two Black Swans on the Inland Sea and one at Aber Ogwen originate from a collection.

At the tip of Pen Llŷn, Ynys Enlli is known for its spiritual heritage and a destination for Christian pilgrimage. It is equally significant as a sanctuary for weary travellers migrating up the west coast of Europe. The Bardsey Bird & Field Observatory has played a vital role in the study of bird migration since it opened in 1953, and next year will celebrate its own platinum jubilee.

The everyday work involves counts and bird-ringing, supplemented by monitoring of breeding seabirds through the summer, but last Thursday was one of those that the wardens dream about. A Thrush Nightingale sang into the late evening but moved on overnight. It is a species never seen alive in Wales before, with just a single record of one found dead on the island in 1976. Earlier in the day, a Golden Oriole and a Red-spotted Bluethroat, also spring overshoots from the European mainland, were found in the space of 30 seconds. A supporting cast of Black Redstart, Turtle Dove and Wood Warbler that day wasn't too shabby either, and Spotted Flycatchers continue to arrive there from Africa.

Another Golden Oriole was found there on Saturday and a Marsh Warbler on Monday, while a Siberian Chiffchaff has taken up territory on the island. Although singing enthusiastically, is unlikely to attract a female, since those should all be on their breeding grounds in Russian forests.

Elsewhere, two Hooded Crows are at RSPB South Stack and another flew ashore at Gronant on Saturday, with a Little Gull at nearby Talacre. Little Stints were at Point of Ayr, Afon Wen and the Alaw estuary last week, and a Curlew Sandpiper at Foryd Bay on Sunday. A Roseate Tern is on Cemlyn lagoon and a Black Tern spent several hours at RSPB Conwy last Tuesday.  A Quail is calling above the Conwy Valley, and four have been ringed near Pengroeslon in the last week. 

A visit to a seabird colony should be a memorable experience, an immersion in one of the wonders of the natural world. Britain’s seabird cliffs and islands are of global significance, and Wales alone holds half of all the Manx Shearwaters on the planet. But for experts monitoring seabirds this summer, it’s a worrying time. Images of sick and dying Great Skuas on Scottish islands were followed by hundreds of dead birds, including Eider ducks and Pink-footed Geese, on the Sutherland coast, and now ornithologists visiting a Gannet colony at Hermaness, Shetland, have shared photographs of dozens of dead birds, their carcasses picked over by scavengers such as Great Skuas and gulls. Last winter, up to one-third of the Svalbard Barnacle Goose population is estimated to have died of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) on the Solway Firth.

Wardens and ornithologists at Welsh seabird colonies such as South Stack, the Skerries and Ynys Seiriol/Puffin Island are keeping a close eye on the health of seabirds such as Kittiwakes, Guillemots and terns, while in Pembrokeshire checks are being made on one of the world’s largest Gannet colonies, on Grassholm. Seabirds are already under pressure from human activities including climate change, rat infestations, recreational disturbance and construction developments at sea, and the United Nations has declared that wild birds are the victims of HPAI viruses. The virus has already had devastating consequences for some poultry farms and, according to some reports, reduced by 40% the number of gamebirds released this summer following outbreaks in France, where many Pheasants and Partridges are bred.

It’s a critical time for seabirds, with the first Sandwich Terns at Cemlyn ready to hatch their eggs this week and a pair of Mediterranean Gulls incubating a clutch there. At Gronant, wardens are appealing for public help to stay away from the nesting colony of Little Terns and for more volunteers to help protect the birds.

Unusual sightings this week include Little Gulls off the Great Orme and Cemlyn, six Mediterranean Gulls on Porthmadog’s Llyn Bach, three Spoonbills reported near Rhyl and two Siberian Chiffchaffs singing on Bardsey, although a rarer visitor was the first Jay on the island for more than 28 years. The week has seen three Osprey chicks hatch at Glaslyn, bringing the total hatched by female ‘Mrs G’ to 52 since she first nested there in 2004. Osprey nests on the Dyfi estuary and Clywedog Reservoir also have three chicks.

The rush of spring migration is over, and most birds are concentrating on pairing up and nesting. The second half of May can spring surprises though. Warm southerly winds last week resulted in several Mediterranean migrants ‘overshooting’ to Britain. A Golden Oriole was a great find on Bardsey last week, and a Bee-eater over RSPB South Stack on Saturday would have attracted more attention had it not continued out to sea. Hobbies and Spotted Flycatchers are still arriving in North Wales from the south, while to the south a Dark-eyed Junco, Moltoni’s Warbler and Woodchat Shrike have been seen in Pembrokeshire.

Small numbers of waders are still moving north, with Little Stints on the Alaw estuary, Cemlyn and Traeth Cymyran at the weekend, with small flocks of Sanderlings. A Curlew Sandpiper was among a large flock of Dunlins on the Alaw estuary too. The Iceland Gull that wintered on the Little Orme remains in the area, favouring the rocks below Great Orme’s former lighthouse. Hooded Crows have been at RSPB South Stack, the Great Orme and Tregele. A Little Gull and two Mediterranean Gulls have been on Llyn Bach, near Porthmadog, and a Whooper Swan on nearby Pwll McAlpine may not have been strong enough to make the return migration to Iceland.

Birds are not the only migrants on the move. The southerly airflow has enabled good numbers of migratory moths and butterflies to arrive in Britain this week. Painted Lady butterflies, dark orange with black-and-white striped wingtips, are among the most obvious, their ‘journey’ having begun several generations ago in North Africa. Moth enthusiasts have also enjoyed day-flying Hummingbird Hawkmoths and nocturnal Striped Hawkmoths. With an 8 cm wingspan, they love feeding around Red Valerian, a common plant in North Wales. More than 100 Striped Hawkmoths have been reported on Twitter in the last week, according to @MigrantMothUK, the majority in southern England. But one found on Bardsey shows that they could turn up anywhere, and some may lay eggs here on bedstraw and dock plants.

I wasn’t the only one to exclaim “they’re back!” to no-one in particular last week. Through the open window came the scream of Swifts over the village rooftops. My partner teases me for my enthusiasm about their return, but knowing the dramatic decline in their numbers across Britain in recent years, I can no longer take their arrival as a certainty. And from comments on social media, I know that I'm not the only one to celebrate their return. As Blur once wrote about feeding sparrows, the Swifts' arrival gives me a sense of enormous well-being.

I heard Swifts over Llanberis and Penmaenmawr too, and witnessed a pair mating as they flew low over my house at the weekend. Their tiny feet had not touched anything solid since they left the edge of their nest cup last summer and headed to the humid air above the forests of central Africa. North Wales Wildlife Trust has installed over 500 nestboxes on buildings around the region since 2014, and another 80 have been put up in the Dyfi Biosphere Reserve this winter by the Machynlleth Climate Action Group. Read more about what local people are doing for Swifts in this article written for The Daily Post.

Another welcome spring sound, that of the Cuckoo, has rung across the hillsides in recent weeks. One, called Daniel that was tagged by the British Trust for Ornithology last June, has returned to RSPB Lake Vyrnwy after spending autumn in Chad and winter in Cameroon. After weeks of satellite silence, he popped up in Sicily in late April before arriving back in mid Wales via central France. Follow his travels on the BTO website.

A third pair of Ospreys has set up home in Nant Glaslyn near Porthmadog. In addition to the long-standing site used annually since 2004, a second nest had been occupied there in 2021 by a female released in Dorset’s Poole Harbour in 2018 and a male hatched on the Dyfi estuary in 2017. Now another Scottish female translocated to Poole Harbour in 2019 has set up home with a Dyfi fledgling from 2018. More details on the Birds of Poole Harbour website.

Most migrants are already on their breeding territories, and the last to arrive – Spotted Flycatchers – arrived in a rush from Monday, with a dozen on the Great Orme and almost 80 on Bardsey on a single day. A Hen Harrier over Bardsey on Saturday was unseasonal and a Short-eared Owl rested briefly on the Great Orme last week.