Freeze brings wildfowl from the east – but the rarest crossed the Atlantic (probably)

Bufflehead (Kevin Hitch)

Northeasterly winds and freezing conditions across northern Europe resulted in the biggest influx of European White-fronted Geese to Britain for many years. A handful made it to North Wales, with sightings at Gresford Flash, the Clwyd estuary and RSPB reserves at Cors Ddyga and Conwy during the Christmas holiday. Flocks of Pink-footed Geese have occurred farther west than usual, with hundreds over Rhyl and smaller numbers over Llysfaen and the Great Orme.

Cold weather brought Fieldfares into gardens across the region and a Bewick’s Swan to the Cefni Valley, the first seen on Anglesey since 2004; although as reported in BirdNotes a satellite-tagged bird made a brief and unseen visit to the island in 2023. Bewick’s Swan is increasingly scarce in Britain because of climate change.

The other waterbird surprise came from the west, however. A male Bufflehead from North America was found on a wetland adjacent to Foryd Bay, west of Caernarfon, just before Christmas. It went missing for the week prior to New Year’s Eve, when it was refound in the Bay (a word of warning if you’re thinking of looking this week; the roads around Foryd are very icy). It is tempting to assume that it’s the same individual seen for a few hours at RSPB Point of Ayr last month or that it escaped from a wildfowl collection, but the appearance of a female-type in South Wales, also on New Year’s Eve, adds to the intrigue. One of these may become the first Bufflehead in Wales to be considered wild.

Other scarce visitors include a Lesser Yellowlegs on the River Clwyd, Velvet Scoters off Abermenai Point and Surf Scoter off Colwyn Bay. A couple of Snow Buntings were suitably disguised among the snowfall on Aran Benllyn on Monday, while two more at Gronant, a Shorelark on the Great Orme and Black Redstart at Kinmel Bay continue their winter stays.

On New Year’s Day, the Welsh Ornithological Society updated the national list of birds, when it adopted a new international standard; Until recently there were four competing global taxonomies, but for the first time since 1974, a single list agrees on the names and taxonomic relationships of all the birds in the World: Avilist recognises 11,131 species and 19,879 subspecies.

The new WOS list records 461 species that occurred as ‘wild’ in Wales to the end of 2025 and provides the Welsh-language name for each. Hudsonian Godwit, Black-faced Bunting and Siberian Stonechat have been added, but Green-winged Teal and Hooded Crow are no longer considered full species. Full details on the WOS website.

BTO Cymru has made its final call for bookings at its inaugural Wales Raptor Convention at Aberystwyth on 31 January. Topics include plans for the reintroduction of White-tailed Eagle, raptor monitoring in the uplands, a workshop on identification of birds of prey and a talk by the National Wildlife Crime Unit. Tickets are just £10, available from the BTO website until 16 January.