Rain is a mixed blessing for Welsh breeding birds

Swifts (Gary Eisenhauer)

This week’s rain, after a record dry spring, was welcomed by farmers and many birds, especially those that need to probe the ground for soil invertebrates, such as Curlews and Choughs, and birds such as House Martins that build nests from pellets of mud. The unsettled conditions will be less appreciated by woodland species such as Pied Flycatchers that coincide their hatching to the peak of moth caterpillars, which may be washed out of the tree canopy by extended periods of heavy rain.

Neither is the cold and rain ideal for aerial insect feeders, such as Swallows and Swifts, although the changing climate is not their only problem. More than 125,000 people signed a petition in just four days demanding that the Westminster government backs mandatory Swift bricks in all new buildings. The surge of public support came in the wake of the rejection of an amendment at the Committee stage of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, parts of which have been described as a “licence to kill nature” by leading wildlife charities.

Welsh Government Ministers have been asked by a Senedd Committee to respond to calls for a similar measure to help Swifts in Welsh legislation, following a public petition backed by RSPB Cymru and Wildlife Trusts Wales among others. The £35 brick is hollow, with a small access hole enabling a bird to build its nest. Home renovations frequently lead to the loss of nest sites and, while measures to boost aerial insects are also needed to reverse the 76% decline in Wales since 1995, the Bricks are seen as a cheap but essential measure to resolve the Swift housing crisis.

A Pectoral Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover and Spoonbill visited RSPB Cors Ddyga last week, a Garganey was on the Border Pool at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands, and farther upriver, at least four Quails sang in the Dee Valley at Rossett. A Pomarine Skua flew past RSPB South Stack and the two Roseate Terns remain at Cemlyn lagoon, where an Irish-ringed Little Tern dropped in. A Curlew Sandpiper and late-departing Pale-bellied Brent Goose were in Foryd Bay on Sunday, and four Barnacle Geese and a Mediterranean Gull were on the Glaslyn estuary from Porthmadog Cob.