​North Wales Police, along with the three other Welsh forces, launch Operation Seabird Cymru this week, to highlight the impact of disturbance on coastal wildlife from recreational disturbance. It comes after increased reports of incidents, and the police hope that engaging local and visiting coastal users will prevent crimes against birds and mammals taking place.

Officers will patrol key locations and launch points through the summer, starting in Colwyn Bay and Abersoch this Thursday. Operation Seabird highlights problems such as collision of watercraft with whales, dolphins, seals and flightless seabird chicks when they leave their cliff-ledge colonies; noise disturbance by speed boats and jetskis; unleashed dogs chasing birds; and visual disturbance by walkers, paddleboarders and kayakers. The force is urging readers to report disturbance events to the Rural & Wildlife Crime team via 101 or the NWP webchat facility. The initiative coincides with the release of the Wales Coast Explorer smartphone app that includes the Marine Code of Conduct for coastal users.

RSPB Cymru has published the results of January’s Big Garden Birdwatch, in which over 36,000 people participated in Wales. The top five species were identical to 2021: House Sparrow, Starling, Blue Tit, Blackbird and Great Tit, with Goldfinch up two places to eighth and Woodpigeon to 10th. Long-tailed Tit dropped out of the top 10, to number 12 with numbers recorded down by 22% on the previous year. The only species in the top 40 that fell by a greater amount was Coal Tit, down by more than 23% and in 16th place.

The biggest change saw Jay climb from 33rd to 22nd place in the Welsh rankings, no doubt a result of birds dispersing to feed in gardens over winter following a UK-wide shortage of acorns that saw a record movement of Jays from around southern Britain to the Welsh coast.

In North Wales, the results were generally similar to the national picture, but Starling was number one and Chaffinch in fourth place on Anglesey, while in Gwynedd gardens Chaffinch was the third most abundant species and Starling was down in fourth. In Conwy county, Jackdaw was in fifth place, appropriate given that the name is borne by those born within the walls of the historic town. Blue Tit was the second most common species in Denbighshire gardens, after House Sparrow, while in Flintshire, Woodpigeon made the top five. The full results for Wales are on the RSPB website and those for each local authority in North Wales appear in the tables below.

The waiting ended at the region’s Osprey nests, with pairs reunited at Llyn Brenig, Llyn Clywedog and Cors Dyfi. A soap opera is developing at Glaslyn where returning female ‘Mrs G’ has moved to a nearby nest to join Aeron, after waiting a week for her usual mate, Aran, to arrive. Aran returned from Africa on Sunday afternoon, but will Mrs G return to her nest or move in with the younger male…? With live-streaming of the nests, web viewers will be the first to find out.

Continued northerly airflows and unsettled weather in Spain slowed migration last week, but that is set to change with southeasterly winds forecast. The first Redstarts and Pied Flycatchers were reported from Llanberis at the weekend, where a Snow Bunting fed beside Llyn Padarn. Single Snow Buntings were at Bull Bay and Uwchmynydd last week, and a Pied Flycatcher singing in a Queensferry garden was unusual. Willow Warblers, Swallows and House Martins were in several locations at the weekend, and there were good numbers of Sandwich Terns around the Anglesey coast. Two Great White Egrets flew over Bodysgallen on Saturday, a Greenland White-fronted Goose was at Morfa Dinlle, Black Redstart on the Little Orme and Iceland Gull on the Great Orme.

Ring Ouzels are on territory in the Aber Valley and Nant Ffrancon, while four on the Great Orme (with a few Tree Pipits) on Monday and others along the Llŷn coast were stopover migrants. Most remarkable were at least 21 Ring Ouzels at Penycloddiau on Saturday afternoon, and another was seen near Minera. 

It seems only a few weeks since I was counting Siskins in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, the results of which are due to be published on Friday. But as the Earth tilts towards the sun, the birds in my garden are ringing the changes. I haven’t seen the overwintering male Blackcap here for a couple of weeks, but today one sang enthusiastically – perhaps the same bird, but more likely a new arrival from Africa as the wintering bird returned to central Europe. A Blackbird is feeding worms to chicks hidden away in next door’s garden, and a smart male Bullfinch is fiercely defending the seed-feeder from Goldfinches and Blue Tits. It's only the second Bullfinch that I've seen here in 15 years, so I hope there may be a pair and that the species is turning the corner after a long decline. I remember when Bullfinches could be killed under a General Licence because of agricultural damage, and the anger in some quarters when they were given improved legal protection...

Home-working over the last two years has really made me appreciate the annual cycle of the garden visitors. The British Trust for Ornithology is still offering free access to its year-round Garden Birdwatch, to which you can contribute valuable data without leaving home.

Northerly winds have put the brakes on the arrival of summer migrants, although Ring Ouzels were at Talacre and World’s End at the weekend. The first Swallow of the year in North Wales (save for one that overwintered on Anglesey until early February) was at RSPB Conwy on 29 March, with others past South Stack and over Rhyl Brickpits the following day. Several Mediterranean Gulls, along with Sandwich Terns, were welcomed to Cemlyn by North Wales Wildlife Trust wardens who have set up the lagoon islands with nesting shelters and an electric fence for the breeding season. Single Ospreys await the return of mates from Africa at nest sites in the Glaslyn Valley and Cors Dyfi, with others seen at Llyn Brenig and over the A55 near Rhosneigr.

Large numbers of Fieldfares were moving east through Mynydd Hiraethog last week, a Snow Bunting was on the Little Orme on Sunday and a Pink-footed Goose on Bardsey was only the tenth island record. Two Velvet Scoters remain among Common Scoters between Penrhyn Bay and Pensarn, and an Iceland Gull at RSPB Conwy was perhaps the bird that overwintered on the Little Orme. Several Green Sandpipers were on Anglesey at the weekend, Black Redstarts at South Stack and Rhoscolyn, and a Garganey at RSPB Cors Ddyga.

​This week’s weather forecast may prove to be winter’s last gasp, but northbound migrant birds are leaving North Wales as days lengthen. Snow Buntings were this week at RSPB South Stack, Porth Ysgaden, Morfa Madryn and beside Llyn Aled Isaf, high on Mynydd Hiraethog. Most are probably Icelandic breeding birds, mainly females that migrate farther away from their nesting areas than males. It is suspected that more winter in the Welsh mountains than are found, since flocks that are discovered tend to be larger than on the coast.

Other winter migrants include Whooper Swans at Rhuddlan and Bodelwyddan, Iceland Gull on the Little Orme, and Twite at Connah’s Quay nature reserve, where a Little Gull remained all week. Long-tailed Ducks and a Black-throated Diver are off Colwyn Bay and a Lesser Whitethroat, most likely one of the Siberian races, has visited a bird table in Chirk. Passing through were a dozen Black Redstarts on Bardsey last Wednesday, three at RSPB South Stack and one at Mynydd Bodafon. Lapland Buntings were over the Great Orme and South Stack.

Early summer arrivals include the first Little Ringed Plover at Bodelwyddan, Sandwich Terns at Cemlyn and Willow Warblers at South Stack and Amlwch last Wednesday, and a Sedge Warbler at Morfa Madryn on Sunday. Several Ring Ouzels are back on breeding territory in Nant Ffrancon, below Ogwen Cottage, and at Aber Falls.

Glaslyn’s female Osprey returned to the nest platform at Pont Croesor on Saturday, perfect timing for volunteers who re-opened the Visitor Centre on Monday. ‘Mrs G’ was soon fishing off Porthmadog Cob, where an Avocet was reported among Teal last week. Ospreys were also in the Conwy and Artro estuaries last week. A White Stork photographed over Queensferry on Sunday was perhaps one seen over Buckley last month. 

Spring is truly my favourite season. Longer days encourage me to spend more time outdoors, knowing that birds are moving and almost anything is possible. An early Saturday walk at RSPB Conwy was brightened by a pair of Garganey. Another two males swam into view, joined by a fourth male. The presence of a female among the quintet led to much scrapping, the males emitting an excited throaty call akin to running a drumstick down a washboard. The call is the source of its unusual English name that has made a complex etymological journey from Italian via Lombardy, with the same root as the verb ‘gargle’.

But these birds had come even farther. Garganey winter in sub-Saharan Africa and rarely breed in Wales so those seen here in spring are probably heading for Scandinavia. Five at Conwy and six at Malltraeth Cob on Saturday were the earliest seen in North Wales this century, and singles followed at RSPB Cors Ddyga and RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands on Sunday. They are among at least 250 Garganey reported to the Birdguides website in the southern half of Britain since Friday.

The wardening team have returned to Bardsey Bird & Field Observatory for the summer and are already busy recording migrants, including the first Manx Shearwaters in their nest burrows, Firecrest and Black Redstart; another Black Redstart was across the sound at Uwchmynydd on Monday. As well as large numbers of Chiffchaffs and a handful of Sand Martins and Wheatears, summer migrants in North Wales include the first House Martin of the year at RSPB Cors Ddyga and an Osprey at Malltraeth on Monday, and a Little Gull and four Avocets at Connah’s Quay nature reserve on Sunday. A Ring-necked Duck on Cefni Reservoir is only the fourth recorded on Anglesey.

After the smoke cleared following shocking images of the Dee marshes ablaze at the weekend, RSPB nature reserve staff revealed that the extensive blackened area should be home to breeding Bittern and Cetti’s Warbler in a few weeks, and a pair of Marsh Harriers that were building a nest. The marshes will hopefully recover with new growth in the coming weeks, although it will take longer for insects and small mammals to recolonise. Cheshire Police report that three teenage boys have been arrested on suspicion of arson. The impact would have been more devastating had it occurred in late April, as happened with a similarly large fire at reedbeds on the Tay estuary in 2020.

I contributed to the Welsh Ornithological Society’s rookery survey at the weekend, finding two rookeries in a 2km x 2km square in the Conwy Valley. The woven collections of sticks are evident in bare trees and the raucous, squabbling calls carry across the fields. Counting Rook nests is fairly straightforward too, except for those in the canopy of a tall Scots Pine. But identifying the tree species, especially deciduous trees that have yet to bud or leaf, is trickier. Thankfully Cofnod, the North Wales Environmental Records Centre gathering the records, allows you to upload a photo of the tree, so experts can verify my identification later. WOS reports that volunteers have signed up for 70% of priority tetrads, but there are still a few squares on Llŷn, north Anglesey, central Denbighshire and along the English border that need coverage in the next couple of weeks, before the leaves emerge. Visit birdsin.wales to sign up (and see the priority squares that need surveying here).

My survey was accompanied by double-noted Chiffchaffs, which arrived in number over the weekend. Wheatears landed on coastal headlands across the region, having travelled from sub-Saharan Africa. Other summer migrants include a Ring Ouzel near Minera on Sunday, White Wagtails and Sand Martins at RSPB Conwy, and a White Stork - the national bird of Ukraine - over Buckley on Friday.

Overwintering birds remaining include a Great Grey Shrike in Mynydd Hiraethog, near the Sportsman’s Arms, Iceland Gull on the Little Orme and Cattle Egret on Bardsey. Hawfinches were again in Llanrwst and Blaenau Ffestiniog, two Surf Scoters off Pensarn on Monday and a Great Northern Diver off Ynys Llanddwyn. Birders were shocked to learn of an attempt to steal eggs from a Raven nest on Anglesey at the weekend, providing a timely reminder not to publicise the presence of nesting birds on social media.
 

The Birds of Wales, published last year by Liverpool University Press and the Welsh Ornithological Society (click here for details), ranked the breeding birds for which Wales is particularly important. It was no surprise that Chough was top, with 79% of the UK population, and that Pied Flycatcher (68-76%) and Manx Shearwater (57%) featured, but I had not appreciated that Wales is estimated to hold as much as 70% of the UK’s Hawfinches. This chunky brown songbird, with a bill capable of cracking cherry stones, has important populations in Meirionnydd and the Wye Valley, with others on the edge of Cardiff.

More than a dozen fed this week in trees along the river at Llanrwst, and another three at Caerhun churchyard. Colour ringing suggests that at least some Conwy Valley Hawfinches will soon leave for Norway, but do others stay locally? (For more on the colour-ringing project, read this Daily Post article from 2017). Having gone from many sites in southern Britain, the race is on to find out more about this enigmatic bird. A PhD student, Ewan Stenhouse, at Cardiff University has been investigating Hawfinch diet using the latest genetic barcoding technology to identify the species in its droppings. Now the RSPB is co-funding a study at Lincoln University to investigate the impact of the Trichomonas parasite that is responsible for the collapse in the Greenfinch population (the closing date for applications is 31 March).

Other birds in North Wales include the first Wheatear of the year at Cemlyn on Monday, a Ring-necked Duck at Llyn Brenig on Friday that may have been the one that overwintered on Llyn Tegid. A Great Grey Shrike continues to feed among clearfell near the reservoir, a Bonaparte’s Gull flew up the Conwy estuary on Saturday, Cattle Egrets remain at Llanynghenedl and Bardsey and an Iceland Gull on the Little Orme. Calm seas improved viewing of a Long-tailed Ducks off Criccieth, Colwyn Bay and Benllech, Surf and Velvet Scoters off Llanddulas/Old Colwyn and a couple of dozen Great Northern Divers in Caernarfon Bay.

It was good to feel the sun and hear birdsong at the weekend, nature providing solace in dark times. I watched a pair of Long-tailed Tits busily adding moss and feathers, bound with silken spider webs, to their cylindrical nest in a bramble bush that is yet to grow its protective shroud of greenery. It’s a reminder that the nesting season is already here. Farmers know that they must not cut or trim trees between 1 March and 31 August (except for safety reasons) and this is good practice for garden owners too, says Rob Taylor, Wales Police Wildlife Co-ordinator.

“One of the most frequent wildlife enquiries calls the police receive during this time is that of hedge or tree cutting, potentially damaging nests and threatening the future of certain species,” he says. His advice, if you see someone cutting a hedge during this period, is to “speak to them and politely mention the risk to birds’ nests and the laws protecting nests. If they proceed and you know there is an active nest at risk, contact the police on 101 and ask to speak with a wildlife officer. Wales has several highly trained police wildlife officers and PCSOs who will be able to advise further and if needed investigate any potential offences”.

While resident species are starting to nest-build, most summer visitors are still some weeks away, so a Sand Martin at Llyn Pen-y-Parc near Beaumaris on Sunday was exceptional, the earliest Anglesey record this century. The weekend also saw a Ring-billed Gull in Beddmanarch Bay, two Surf Scoters off Llanddulas, and Cattle Egrets on Bardsey and near Llanynghenedl. A Hen Harrier drifting over Llandudno Pier on Saturday was a surprise to promenaders. At least 29 Great Northern Divers are in Caernarfon Bay, the start of a late winter build-up before they head north to breed.

The leak of around 80,000 litres of oil into the Irish Sea last week highlights the importance of Liverpool Bay for wintering waterbirds. Monitoring of the spill, and its effect on wildlife, from an undersea pipeline approximately 20 miles north of Rhyl was hampered by the series of storms since last Wednesday. Photos shared on social media at the weekend reported oiled Oystercatchers and showed an oiled Herring Gull at Seaforth, north of Liverpool. Oil had been predicted to move east onto the Lancashire coast.

Liverpool Bay is designated as a Special Protection Area for Red-throated Divers and Common Scoters. The birds move around the Bay through the winter, so it’s unclear how many could be affected by the leak. Aerial surveys in 2015-20 found up to 290,000 Common Scoter ducks wintering in the area, which is more than double the previous population estimate for the whole of Britain. Some of these birds will soon depart over the Pennines and across the North Sea, heading for their breeding grounds in Scandinavia and Russia. It was the waterbird most greatly affected by the Sea Empress tanker spill in Pembrokeshire, 26 years previously to the very day.

The weekend storms pushed other seabirds into coastal waters, including Little Gulls off Criccieth. An Iceland Gull was off Porthmadog Cob, with a second joining one overwintering on the Little Orme. Dozens of Kittiwakes and a number of auks including Black Guillemots made their way back out to sea via the Menai Strait on Monday. Greenshank and Golden Plovers sheltered from Storm Franklin on Rhyl’s half-drained Marine Lake, while long-stayers included a Cattle Egret near Valley, Long-tailed Duck in Foryd Bay and a trio of Greenland White-fronted Geese in the Glaslyn valley.
Scaup remain at Rhyl’s Brickpits Pool and RSPB Conwy, with a Spotted Redshank at the latter. A Water Pipit is at Brynsiencyn, three Slavonian Grebes on the Inland Sea and a Hen Harrier on the Artro estuary.

The wild weather makes spring feel some way off, but longer hours of daylight encourages birds to sing and, for some species, to begin nest-building. On Anglesey, I stopped to watch Ravens carry sticks to a steep cliff, additions to a huge nest platform that has been used for decades. Fulmars are back on their cliff ledges, attracting a mate with deep, guttural cackle, then taking to the air on stiff wings, masters of the updraft.

Fulmars are a seabird in trouble, on the Welsh coast as across the rest of Britain, so I cherish sharing their world for a few moments. It is one of several seabirds at risk as ‘bycatch’, a term that belies death by drowning. Up to 9,100 Fulmars each year die on fishing nets or longline hooks in UK waters, along with thousands of Guillemots and hundreds of Gannets and Cormorants. There is no data for Welsh waters, so we know nothing of what happens here but they roam widely on fishing trips during and outside the breeding season, so the effects of trawlers many miles away can be evident on the cliffs of North Wales. The RSPB has released a short animation to highlight the issue, and press government and the industry to fix it, as fisheries elsewhere have reduced albatross deaths by simple measures.

The Iceland Gull remains on the Little Orme, Snow Bunting on the Great Orme, Ring-necked Duck on Llyn Tegid, a Scaup at Rhyl’s Brickfields Pit and a pair at RSPB Conwy. A Water Pipit and Dark-bellied Brent Goose were good finds on the Dwyryd estuary saltings at Ynys last week. Three Firecrests are at Penrhos Country Park, and others at Conwy and at the Gwynedd end of Britannia Bridge. Hawfinches in Mynydd Hiraethog were a surprise, while a Great Grey Shrike continues to overwinter near the Sportsman’s Arms. On Anglesey, a Swallow manages to survive the winter in Bodorgan and 17 Black Guillemots were counted off Fedw Fawr, while one off Pwllheli was unusual for Cardigan Bay.
​

The Welsh Ornithological Society is calling for volunteers to help survey one of the most familiar farmland birds in Wales this spring. Groups of Rook nests in bare trees are obvious in late winter, and birds will soon return to these traditional colonies to repair and rebuild in readiness for the breeding season. A few adults were hanging around these rookeries in the Conwy Valley on Sunday, but more will return by the start of next month.

Rooks are a bird in decline, now listed as vulnerable to extinction in Europe and recently added to the Amber list of the UK birds of conservation concern. In Wales, the decline is greater than elsewhere in the UK, down by 58% since 1995. This means it qualifies for the Red List, alongside Curlew, Cuckoo and Yellowhammer. When Rooks were more common, they were regarded as an agricultural pest because they eat newly-sown seed and emerging crops. The speed of loss has resulted in Natural Resources Wales making it illegal to kill a Rook without holding a specific licence.

The WOS Rook survey involves a single visit to a pre-determined tetrad (2km x 2km grid square) between 1 March and 15 April, repeating a survey undertaken in 1996. WOS is reminding birdwatchers that nil counts are just as important as confirmed rookeries, and urges people to be ‘zero heroes’. Details of how to take part are on the WOS website.

Highlights of a windy week include a Firecrest at Penrhos coastal park, a dozen Hawfinches in Llanrwst, two Avocets at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands and Snow Bunting on the Great Orme. Long-stayers include a Great Grey Shrike near Llyn Brenig, Scaup at RSPB Conwy, Iceland Gull on the Great Orme and Cattle Egrets on Bardsey and near Bodedern.