Single Shore Lark tells a global story

Shore Lark (Steve Culley)

Numbers of Shore Larks recorded in Wales by decade, accepted by Welsh Birds Rarities Committee up to 2025.

The black-and-yellow stripes of a Shore Lark were a welcome surprise on the Great Orme at the weekend. It is the only lark to have colonised Arctic tundra and alpine habitats – I have seen them in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and grasslands in North America, where the population has fallen by 70% since the mid-1960s. In much of the world, it’s known as Horned Lark because of two feathery ‘horns’ that grow on its head during the breeding season.

Shore Larks in Britain occur in winter or on migration, moving southwest from Norway and Finland, but it’s becoming far rarer. Numbers breeding in northeast Europe have fallen sharply since the mid-20th century, a combination of overgrazing of lichen by Reindeer herds and increasingly climate change, which may also reduce their need to move as far south in winter. In Finland, the population has fallen from 10,000 pairs in the 1950s to as few as 10 pairs today, a reduction of 99.9%. The trend is reflected in numbers seen in Wales, where it is more than 25 years since anyone saw more than three together; a count of 35 at Point of Ayr in 1999 now seems unreal. Sadly, with the current trend, the chances of the next generation seeing many Shore Larks in Wales seems slim.

Other recent sightings include a Lesser Yellowlegs on Anglesey’s Inland Sea, where a late Sandwich Tern was seen on Monday, a Black-necked Grebe in nearby Beddmanarch Bay and Long-tailed Duck on Llyn Traffwll. A couple of Snow Buntings are in dunes at Gronant, a Lapland Bunting was at Cemlyn at the weekend and at least two Black-throated Divers were off Llanddulas. Bull Bay’s Hoopoe and the Dee estuary’s Glossy Ibis were reported again, having passed unnoticed for a couple of weeks.

The annual conference of Cofnod, the environmental records centre for North Wales, held in Bangor last week, celebrated the organisation’s 20th anniversary. The diversity of wildlife recording supported by Cofnod was illustrated by a range of talks that included bird-ringing, Anglesey plants and sea slugs in the Menai Strait. Did you know that 3% of the World’s bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) have been recorded in Eryri, some on just a single rock that are just a slipped walking boot away from being wiped out? Cofnod holds almost eight million wildlife records, of which over half are birds, with more records added every single day. Their monthly e-newsletter is an excellent way to keep in touch with nature matters across the region.

Finally, a post-script to last week’s story about Woodpigeon migration: Saturday proved to be the peak day for movement this autumn. Matt Hobbs (reporting on BlueSky) recorded 242,160 birds over Goldcliff Point on the Severn estuary, the second highest count ever recorded in Wales (and quite possibly Britain). The largest count ever was on 4 November 2022 when more than 287,000 flew over Portskewett, a few miles to the east.

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