A network of new pools at Cors Ddyga, completed in the nick of time before recent heavy rain, has quickly filled with water and attracted hundreds of waterbirds. It’s a bonus of the Natur am Byth species recovery programme, designed to create new feeding areas for threatened Curlew chicks in the Cefni Valley, extending nesting opportunities in an area protected by a fox-exclusion fence north of the A55. Adding water in September immediately benefited hundreds of Teal and Lapwings, dozens of Black-tailed Godwits and Golden Plovers, plus Little Stints and Curlew Sandpipers that fed around the margins. A trio of Glossy Ibis, part of a huge post-breeding influx from southern Europe, joined the party at the end of last week and a Pectoral Sandpiper was also on the RSPB reserve.

Another Pectoral Sandpiper and Glossy Ibis paused on flooded fields near Pwllheli last week, with more Ibis at Valley and Porthmadog, Little Stints on the Alaw estuary, Malltraeth Cob and Glaslyn estuary, and more Curlew Sandpipers at several sites. A Hoopoe was photographed at Gwalchmai, a Turtle Dove at Cemaes, a couple of Tree Sparrows were at Cemlyn, and Bardsey recorded a Wryneck, Quail and Sabine’s Gull.

The last Summer migrants were feeding up at the weekend ahead of their long flights south as I made the first visit to my Winter Bird Survey squares above Conwy. It’s a new scheme from the British Trust for Ornithology, undertaken in the same places as the springtime Breeding Bird Surveys, and it's not too late to get involved. The last Swifts have departed, but while somewhere high over Africa, they will be the subject of a Senedd debate on Wednesday, responding to a petition that called for ‘Swift Bricks’ to be fitted as standard in all new buildings in Wales. RSPB Cymru, North Wales Wildlife Trust, the Môn Gwyrdd Youth Forum and Iolo Williams are among the people backing the call. Check out the NWWT website to see what you can do, and to watch the debate. 

​This month’s windy conditions has brought unprecedented numbers of seabirds close to Welsh coasts. It will take time to collate all the counts, but those of two species stand out. The national total of Grey Phalarope – the tiny wader that featured in last week’s BirdNotes – was the highest of the century. Among them were four swimming together on a pool beside Porthmadog Cob and singles at RSPB Point of Ayr and Abererch.

It’s also been the best autumn for Sabine’s Gulls in North Wales since 2017 and while most were fly-pasts for the most keen prepared to stand in lashing rain and gales at coastal watchpoints, one bird recovered its energy on a flooded field beside Porthmadog by-pass. These gulls travelling through the Irish Sea breed on the Arctic tundra in Greenland and eastern Canada, and are heading for wintering grounds off southwest Africa. Finding a Sabine’s Gull on a seawatch is a treat, and the trend is upward: at least 250 were recorded from the Welsh coast in recent weeks; more have been seen since 2020 than in any previous decade.

The seabird bonanza came in the week that BirdLife International and others celebrated the ratification by four countries to a global Treaty for the High Seas, consenting to a new international law to protect marine life. The latest ratifications triggered a 120-day countdown, after which the treaty will become a legally binding agreement. The UK has signed the treaty, but has yet to ratify it.

Other seabirds last week included Long-tailed Skua, Black Terns and European Storm Petrels, while calmer conditions since Saturday brought a Honey-buzzard over the tip of Pen Llŷn and Garganey at Glan-y-Môr Elias. A Glossy Ibis passed Bardsey at the weekend, where the first Lapland Bunting of autumn was among Skylarks, and a Common Rosefinch sang briefly near the Bird Observatory. Pink-footed Geese are another sign we are past the equinox, while a Black Redstart remains on the Great Orme and perhaps will winter here. Four Cattle Egrets are at RSPB Cors Ddyga, but a flock of seven Spoonbills at Foryd Bay last Friday were not seen again. Curlew Sandpipers at several sites are part of the biggest influx for years, numbering thousands across the UK.

Phalaropes are amazing creatures: small, slender and tough, habituated to some of the Earth’s most extreme conditions. Like curlews and sandpipers, phalaropes are waders; there are only three species on the planet. Two of the three appeared in North Wales last week, passing between Arctic Circle breeding grounds, and the equatorial and southern oceans where they’ll winter. Few other birds live with Polar Bears and albatrosses in the space of a few months.

A Red-necked Phalarope dropped in for an afternoon at RSPB Cors Ddyga, feeding on insects in one of the few wet pools left in a Cefni Valley parched after summer’s drought. At just 18cm from bill-tip to tail, it’s the diddiest of the three, smaller than a Starling. It was dwarfed by Teal, Europe’s smallest duck, with which it swam.

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Gales pushed more than 50 Grey Phalaropes to the Welsh coast, at least 16 around Anglesey and Pen Llŷn. Most were fly-bys, but those on pools beside Holy Island’s Stanley embankment and at RSPB Morfa Dinlle stayed long enough to be admired. I found one on foamy seas in Porth Cwyfan. It would pick a tiny morsel from the surf, lift briefly off the surface and dip back into the waves. Against the rollers, it looked like spindrift, but this is how it spends its autumn days. It looked exhausting!

Storms also yielded all four skua species, Sooty and Balearic Shearwaters, Leach’s Petrel and Black Terns from various watchpoints, and several Sabine’s Gulls that included an exhausted one taken into care in Pwllheli.
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Curlew Sandpipers were scattered on estuaries and pools across the region, the highest counts being 12 on the Alaw estuary and 11 at Glan y Môr Elias, near Llanfairfechan. A Pectoral Sandpiper was on the Clwyd estuary, Glossy Ibis on the Dee estuary and a Black Redstart remained on the Great Orme. Bardsey hosted Wryneck, Common Rosefinch and Hoopoe, and other Hoopoes were at Llwyngwril and Tal-y-cafn.

The weather’s rapid switch into autumn has served as a reminder to summer visitors that they need to make a move. Through the weekend, thousands of Swallows streamed south, Wheatears dropped in to feed along coastal clifftops and numbers of warblers are fewer each day. Swifts nesting in our roofspace seem finally to have left. Last week I could hear the soft calls of at least one chick and a screaming adult swooped up to the eaves, but now there is silence and we have a poop-free front step. I hope the nest was successful as every additional chick is valuable in a population that has declined by 75% in less than 30 years. A September departure is late, although not unknown. A Swift project in Bristol had at least two nestboxes occupied into the first week of the month.

Recent days have seen an unprecedented influx of perhaps many hundred Glossy Ibis into Britain and Ireland, including a single flock of 81 in Cornwall. There were 30 in the Dee estuary and another two were seen from Porthmadog Cob on Friday. The previous largest flock in Wales contained 25 birds back in 2009.

A Nightingale, a scarce visitor to Wales, was ringed by Bardsey Bird Observatory along with a couple of Pied Flycatchers on Monday, and their third Blyth’s Reed Warbler of the year also hit the back of a net last week. Black Terns and Sabine’s Gulls were seen from Bardsey, RSPB South Stack and the Dwyryd estuary over the weekend. A Little Gull was at Traeth Dulas, Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper at Malltraeth Cob and another Curlew Sand remains at RSPB Conwy, joined by a Garganey on Monday evening.

A Turtle Dove was an unusual find at Foryd Bay, west of Caernarfon, on Saturday, following a Grey Phalarope at nearby Morfa Dinlle the previous day. Grey Phalaropes were also at Aberdysynni and passed Bardsey. A Black Redstart plucked insects from a bramble bursting with blackberries beside Great Orme copper mine all week.

Booking for the Welsh Ornithological Society conference has opened. It’s always an enjoyable gathering of bird people from across Wales. This year’s theme is “Making your birding count” and will explore monitoring and surveys that are essential to our understanding of the state of birds in Wales. The event is on Saturday 25 October in Aberystwyth and full details are at birdsin.wales