Seabird first for Europe – at the foot of Yr Wyddfa

White Tern (Sam Whitton)

Birdwatchers across the country were stunned to learn that a White Tern had been picked up in a Gwynedd hotel garden more than a dozen miles from the sea, but more significantly at least 5000 miles from its nearest nesting grounds – and much farther if it had followed the coast.

A staff member at the Royal Victoria Hotel in Llanberis, at the foot of Wales’ highest mountain, picked up the bird last Thursday, uncertain what it was. By chance, naturalist Sam Whitton was in hotel reception when the tern was brought in and, certain that it was not a European species, quickly identified it online. “It was poorly but still had some energy, pecking at the fingers of its rescuer,” said Sam. He used local contacts to arrange for it to be taken into care, but it was very underweight, in poor condition and died on Saturday. “It’s a real shame but I’m incredibly grateful for all the effort the team put into this beautiful animal,” he said.

White Terns breed on islands across the southern oceans and from the photograph, experts suggest that it’s the candida form, from the Seychelles, Maldives and Mascarene islands in the Indian Ocean. Dr Alexander Lees, co-author of Vagrancy in Birds and chair of the British Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee (BOURC) that will consider the details for inclusion on the British List, commented on BlueSky that “we were anticipating a record from the Azores rather than Wales, but life is full of surprises”. He highlighted that the species has been recorded in Bermuda and the Bahamas, and 70 miles inland in South Korea following a tropical storm. Analysis of feathers dropped by the Llanberis bird may help to confirm the origins of the most unexpected potential addition to the 460 bird species recorded in Wales.

Some have wondered whether the bird may have hitched a ride on a ship, but that is not necessarily a bar to acceptance on the British List provided the bird was not confined, sheltered or provided with food or water during its journey.

Other sightings last week seem rather tame by comparison: Black Redstarts remain at Kinmel Bay and on the Great Orme, Surf Scoters and Long-tailed Ducks off Old Colwyn and a Red-necked Grebe on Llyn Penrhyn. A Snow Bunting was at Gronant on Saturday, Slavonian Grebe in the Menai Strait and a Swallow was reported on Anglesey. Avocets have returned to Connah's Quay nature reserve this week.

Thanks to North Wales birder Alex Humphreys-Jones for the images below of Indo-Pacific White Tern taken in the Seychelles (left) and Hawaii (right). White Terns lay a single egg in a slight depression on the bare branch of a tree.