New pools pull in the birds

Glossy Ibis (Steve Culley)

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.