Caernarfon residents woke on Sunday to an array of expensive optical equipment lined along the harbour wall. Britain’s first Western Reef Heron has attracted birders from across the country since it was found on Saturday morning on the nearby Foryd. With bluish-grey feathers, including wispy plumes on its body as well as several long feathers from its crown, this is a dark-morph individual, substantially easier to distinguish from white-morph birds that can easily be overlooked as Little Egrets. It has spent much of its time feeding on the muddy shores of the tidal bay, but also comes to the Seiont estuary, especially at high tide when it perches in trees that line the western bank.

The Western Reef Heron originates in West Africa, so most birders’ have only limited experience of the species, most usually in The Gambia, but like most herons, they can travel widely. The number of records has increased in southern Europe and, since the 1980s some have crossed the Atlantic, but the Caernarfon bird is one of, if not the, northernmost ever. The enormity of the find, by Simon Hugheston-Roberts who also found Wales’ first Bufflehead at the same site last December, is illustrated by the fact that of the 636 species on the British List, only five have their first records in North Wales – although a White Tern at Llanberis last year awaits confirmation as a sixth.

One visiting birder found a Blue-headed Wagtail on Sunday along the coastal road west of Caernarfon. Elsewhere, a female Woodchat Shrike has entered its second week at RSPB South Stack, feeding on the plentiful supply of insects on the reserve’s heathland. A Black Redstart was reported below the A55 at Penmaenmawr and up to 15 Mediterranean Gulls have been on Porthmadog’s Llyn Bach.

Last week, I was surprised and delighted to see a Long-eared Owl flap slowly and silently between conifers in a North Wales plantation. The view lasted only a few seconds, but as these are rarely seen in summer in Wales, especially during daylight, it remains seared on my mind: the warm orange wing patches looked pale against the dark Sitka spruce.

It made an impression on our Palaeolithic ancestors too, for a Long-eared Owl is the oldest bird portrayed by humans. An engraving in the Chauvet cave in southern France has been dated at 30,000 years old; although other experts contest it may be an Eagle Owl.

Nesting in old crow nests, only a handful are recorded in North Wales each year. It’s assumed under-recorded, yet a co-ordinated effort a few years ago failed to elicit responses to calls played from speakers after dark in late winter.

Cool, showery conditions that have dominated May have slowed breeding activity among some birds, and delayed the arrival of others. Observatories on the Channel coast reported pulses of migration during the week, including large numbers of Swallows and smaller numbers of Reed Warblers and Spotted Flycatchers. These may be heading farther into northern Europe but indicates that there is still time for Swifts and House Martins to arrive, two species that people have reported absent from usual nest sites by mid-May. Terns at some of the region’s colonies have also been slow to settle, though at least one Roseate Tern was at Cemlyn during the week, with one or more hybrids alongside many hundreds of Sandwich Terns.

Other highlights last week were four Dotterels on Foel Grach in the Carneddau, Pomarine Skuas passed Bardsey and the Great Orme, a Little Gull at Porthmadog’s Llyn Bach and a Golden Oriole was reported from Foryd Bay. 

With most breeding summer migrants back in North Wales, many people enjoyed listening to their songs on Sunday, International Dawn Chorus Day, alongside our resident birds. If you missed it, any calm morning in the next two weeks should be suitable, providing you’re in good habitat from 5am – deciduous woodland and wetlands offer the best experiences. For me, the rapid, “shivering” trill of a Wood Warbler is synonymous with Welsh woodlands, so my spring of anticipation is over as I began monitoring in my Conwy Valley study area. Last year I recorded almost 130 of this summer visitor.

Always the last to get here, the first Spotted Flycatchers should arrive this week. An early Hobby was at Llanfair DC on Monday, and I'd love to imagine it's the one I watched on Friday power determinedly north over the Spanish plains, just a few metres above the ground, ignoring the range of larks and swallows as potential breakfast as it ate up the miles. A satellite-tagged Merlin, Europe’s other small falcon, that wintered around Ynys Enlli/Bardsey, returned to northeast Iceland last week, where it will hopefully nest.

Northern latitudes are the destination of other migrants passing through North Wales in early May. A group of 44 Whimbrels at Morfa Aber on Sunday will be heading to Iceland, as might a large, pale Redpoll seen on the Great Orme. An unusually large flock of 460 Bar-tailed Godwits paused at RSPB Point of Ayr last week but still have at least 3500km before getting to their breeding areas in the Siberian tundra. Wood Sandpipers at RSPB Conwy and Cors Ddyga may not be going quite so far, but will at least get to Scandinavia, as may up to 20 Dotterels in the Carneddau. Other scarce sightings last week include two Cranes up the Conwy Valley, a Hoopoe singing on Ynys Enlli and Garganey at Talacre.

I took down my hanging feeders last week that had attracted finches and sparrows through the winter, although most had ceased visiting after the middle of April anyway. The move follows new advice from the RSPB earlier in the month, endorsed by the British Trust for Ornithology and North Wales Wildlife Trust among others, to suspend supplies of sunflower seeds and peanuts during May to October because this is the period that garden birds are most at risk from the disease trichomonosis.

The advice also includes removing flat surface feeders (such as bird tables) permanently, and cleaning bird baths daily and replacing with fresh water from the tap. Feeders have been removed from many nature reserves too, designed to reduce the risks to species such as Greenfinch and Chaffinch, which have declined in Wales by 73% and 48% respectively since 1995. A wider range of natural plant and insects foods are available through spring and summer, and the RSPB is urging garden owners to “go beyond the bird feeder” by growing native plants for garden birds. Full details of the latest feeding advice can be found at rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/feeding-birds-near-you.

With many of our summer migrants now back on territory, attention turned to more unusual visitors last week. A flock of five Dotterels were on Foel Fras on Sunday with perhaps a different bird on Foel Grach. The Carneddau range in Eryri has been a regular stop for these migrating mountain waders for generations, but occurrence has become less frequent and there are increasing fears that climate change is having a dramatic impact on the Scottish breeding population, at least.

Garganeys remained at RSPB’s Burton Mere Wetlands and Cors Ddyga reserves into the weekend, with the latter site holding three Wood Sandpipers. A White Stork flew over Penmaenmawr last Friday, while Bardsey Bird Observatory counted an impressive 196 Wheatears on the island last Thursday. A subadult White-tailed Eagle was seen a couple of times on Anglesey and is most likely one of the individuals released in southern England.

The first Hoopoe of spring was found at an equestrian centre near Gronant on Monday. It’s a bird frequently found by non-birders, so distinctive are its broad black-and-white striped wings and tail, and long crown feathers that it raises in a crest. These features have entranced people over thousands of years. Hoopoes are portrayed in Minoan and Ancient Egyptian art, appear with King Solomon in the Qu’ran and were a symbol of virtue in Persia.

Hoopoe is not a common bird in Wales and has bred here only once, in Montgomeryshire in 1996. It has a clever trick to deter nest predators: the brooding female and the chicks can produce a foul-smelling liquid when threatened. It comes from the uropygial gland at the base of the birds’ tail, which is normally the source of oil used to maintain feathers (which is why birds appear to scratch their bill across their lower back when preening). The Hoopoe population trend in Europe is, sadly, downwards, with one study in Switzerland finding that this was related to higher spring temperatures.
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The first Wood Warblers arrived at the weekend at opposite ends of the region – Bardsey and Point of Ayr – and should be arriving in their woodland breeding sites this week. Other summer migrants included the first Whinchats, Swifts and Lesser Whitethroats. Among rarer visitors were a Red-rumped Swallow near Aberdaron and an apparent Ashy-headed Wagtail, the eastern Mediterranean form of Yellow Wagtail, at RSPB Cors Ddyga. The wetland reserve also held Green-winged Teal and a pair of Garganey throughout the week. A Dotterel was with Golden Plovers at RSPB Morfa Dinlle at the weekend, several Cattle Egrets still forage among livestock near Valley and Conwy Bay’s Surf Scoter was relocated off the end of the Great Orme. A White-tailed Eagle was seen over Llandegfan on Monday evening.

A brief flow of southerly air last week brought warm weather and an open door for summer migrant birds, although cold wind and rain over the weekend may lead some to question the wisdom of their early arrival. It’s a trade-off: get back to Europe first to claim the best territories but take the risks of Welsh April weather. Among the ‘firsts’ last week were Whitethroat at Talacre, Lesser Whitethroat at Bagillt, Sedge and Reed Warblers at RSPB Conwy, Grasshopper Warbler at RSPB Cors Ddyga, Redstart on the Great Orme, Whinchat at Eglwyseg and Tree Pipit at Carmel Head. The first Cuckoo in the region was at Llanbedr last Tuesday, but more were heard subsequently at Pensychant, Aber Falls and Aled Isaf reservoir. Several readers report Swallows returning to shed and barn nesting sites last week.

Water levels at RSPB Cors Ddyga on Friday looked perfect for dozens of Lapwings sitting tight on nests alongside a mix of ducks: the last few Wigeons and Pintails yet to depart to the north, a pair of Garganey in from Africa (perhaps the same as had been on Cefni reservoir earlier in the week), and two Green-winged Teal from North America, with a third trans-Atlantic teal at Llyn Celanedd near Bangor. A Blue-headed Wagtail fed between the legs of dozens of Golden Plovers, resplendent in black-and-gold suits, and at least 40 White Wagtails were scattered across the reserve, taking a break on their journey to Iceland.
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A Hoopoe near Tywyn was perhaps the same as in Aberdyfi earlier in the week, a Little Gull was at Porthmadog’s Llyn Bach, and three Spoonbills and a Cattle Egret in the Flintshire part of RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands. The satellite-tagged Icelandic Merlin that spent the winter commuting between Ynys Enlli and Uwchmynydd finally made the first step towards home last week, making the sea crossing to the Isle of Man.