‘Teaspoons’ take flight on the Dee

Spoonbill (mikejoneswildlife)

A family of Spoonbills are testing their wings in the Dee estuary after three youngsters (nicknamed ‘teaspoons’) fledged from a nest at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands last week. It’s not the first time that Spoonbills have nested just across the Flintshire border, and up to 20 birds have gathered in the area in recent years. The latest report by the Rare Breeding Birds Panel documents around 70 breeding pairs of Spoonbill in Britain, a huge increase since regular breeding was established in 2010, but it remains a rare event in western counties and the species has yet to breed in Wales.

A few miles upriver, a ‘Channel Wagtail’ was at Saltney at the weekend. It’s the product of a mixed pairing of two races of the same species: a British Yellow Wagtail and a Blue-headed Wagtail, which occurs in mainland western and central Europe. The English name of this intergrade (to use the ornithological jargon) comes from northern France adjacent to the English Channel/La Manche, in which the two interbreed regularly.

Other exciting news released as the breeding season draws to a close comes from RSPB Ynys-hir on the Dyfi estuary, where four Spotted Crakes called earlier in the spring. Where Spoonbills are big and showy, Spotted Crakes are small and elusive, almost impossible to see in reedbeds. Only 25 singing males are typically found in Britain each year, but rarely in Wales. The birds’ presence was monitored using remote audio detectors, enabling wardens to focus their nocturnal counting effort.

Other recent records include Quails heard near Mynydd Bodafon and RSPB Lake Vyrnwy, and another was seen in Gronant dunes; Hooded Crows on the Alaw estuary, RSPB South Stack and between the two bridges on the Menai Strait; and a Turtle Dove was again at Traeth Bychan, near Moelfre. Roosts of Little Egrets are increasing as the summer proceeds, with at least 90 in trees on Cei Ballast, off Porthmadog, at the weekend.