Swift departure and Ibis arrival

A Glossy Ibis in North Wales earlier in the year (Marc Hughes)

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