This week saw a big increase in activity at my local rookery, in a copse and a handful of roadside trees at the edge of the village. In just a few days, the Rook colony has grown from one to 20 nests, with lots of squabbling over the best sticks. As days lengthen, the birds get busy. Blackbirds built a nest in my back garden in mid-February, and their low visibility suggests they’re now on eggs.
So it’s timely that the North Wales Wildlife Trust has issued a reminder to householders not to cut garden hedges until 31 August, as birds’ nests are legally protected. Farmers were also required to stop cutting from 1 March, as a condition of the Basic Payment Scheme. Welsh Government says that roadside hedges must not be cut if birds are nesting but even if no nests are found, only work necessary to resolve safety issues should be undertaken during the breeding season, and then works kept to a minimum and hand tools used. St David’s Day also signalled the date that dogs must be on a short lead (no more than two metres) on Open Access land, irrespective of whether there is livestock. Some of our most threatened birds, such as Lapwings and Ringed Plovers, nest on the ground and are vulnerable to dogs. Dorset Police took action against the owner of one caught on camera taking eggs from a Curlew nest in the New Forest. Fences keep dogs and larger wild mammals out of Wales’ only Little Tern colonies at Point of Ayr and Gronant, and North Wales Little Tern Group has expressed relief that funding has been secured to employ wardens at the latter site this summer. Many winter visitors are yet to leave, however. Up to 70 Waxwings remained at Halkyn on Sunday, Surf and Velvet Scoters off Llanddulas, and Greenland White-fronted Geese in the Cefni Valley. Cattle Egrets are at RSPB Cors Ddyga and the Clwyd estuary, and a Siberian Chiffchaff at RSPB Conwy. A Snow Bunting at Holyhead was snatched by a Peregrine. Two Sand Martins were reported at Morfa Nefyn last week, with a smattering of summer migrants elsewhere in southern Britain.
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A murmuration of Starlings is one of nature’s winter spectacles. Thousands come together ahead of roosting, usually in a reedbed, where they can sleep above the water in relative safety from mammal predators. These are primarily winter visitors from Russia and northeastern Europe, and soon will be starting the eastward journey to their breeding areas.
Hundreds are currently coming into RSPB Conwy at dusk, and far larger numbers in the Cefni Valley. After feeding on fields across Anglesey, last week they gathered between the A55 and Llangefni. These are, of course, native birds that have probably been making seasonal movements across Europe for millennia. But Starlings spread across North America after just 160 were released in New York’s Central Park in 1890-91. The introduction created economic and ecological problems, and the population is now estimated to number 90 million birds. A new study, led by Julia M. Zichello from the American Museum of Natural History, shows that while the bill length of Starlings in Europe has remained the same for more than two centuries, those in North America are now 8% longer than Starlings caught in Wales, but their bodies are 5% smaller. By contrast, the bills of Starlings living in New Zealand – where they were introduced in 1862 – are no different to those in Europe. The authors can’t be certain what has driven the changes, but suggest a number of possibilities. Longer bills can help birds to thermoregulate, so may be an adaptation to warmer summers in North America than Eurasia. But the most likely explanation is that Starlings in America obtain half their food from outwintered dairy cattle, seeking out flaked corn in bundles of Alfalfa hay. If individuals with longer bills have better access to corn, inherited traits have been passed on by those Starlings that are most successful. Finding food in feedlots may also mean that the bill suffers less wear than when they probe the soil. The pace of evolution illustrates the challenge of forecasting the results of introducing species beyond their native range. Sightings last week include Avocet at Flint Castle, 10 Great White Egrets at RSPB Cors Ddyga and a Mealy Redpoll at Llyn Brenig. Seven Velvet Scoters and two Surf Scoters are at Llanddulas, 40 Waxwings remain near Halkyn, 90 Whooper Swans near Llanfrothen and five Slavonian Grebes in Beddmanarch Bay. Have your say on the future of farming The RSPB Cymru/Welsh Ornithological Society seminars on the proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme arrive in North Wales this week, with all welcome to Wrexham on Tuesday and Caernarfon on Wednesday, and an online session on Thursday 29th. WOS President Iolo Williams has urged people who support nature-friendly farming "If you do only one thing for Welsh wildlife in 2024 . . . please do this." Full details are on the WOS website. Curlews need our help Offer your help as a volunteer to survey Curlews in the Clwydian Hills this spring, as part of the Curlew Connections Wales project designed to help the species’ recovery. The project is also seeking help in Montgomeryshire and Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. Email kappleby@gwct.org.uk for details. At nine centimetres long and weighing just 5.5 grammes, little more than a 20 pence coin, it’s easy to overlook a Firecrest. But the black-and-white striped head and orange crown are striking. Firecrest is a scarce breeding species in Wales, although there could be more across Welsh forests than are found by birdwatchers each spring. It was one of the last resident species in Europe to be described in the scientific record, in 1820. Previously, it was assumed to be a variant of Goldcrest, with whom it shares the title of smallest bird in Europe.
A Firecrest at Bodffordd Sewage Treatment Works on Anglesey last week is only one of four reported in North Wales since the turn of the year. Typically around a dozen are sighted by the end of February across the region, numbers having increased during the early 2000s. In the last decade, however, only in winter 2016-17 were fewer recorded in the region. Little is known about the origin of our wintering Firecrests, or whether our small breeding population moves elsewhere. Bird-ringing suggests at least some come here from countries bordering the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, arriving via a short sea crossing from Belgium and the Netherlands. The wintering flock of Waxwings remains at Halkyn, with 75 on the Mountain last week and 21 in the village on Saturday. Another group is near Llanddulas, where two Surf and two Velvet Scoters remain offshore. Another Surf Scoter was reported off Black Rock Sands on Sunday. Great White Egrets, Cattle Egrets and Water Pipits are at RSPB Cors Ddyga, where the mild weather prompted a Bittern to crank up its booming call. A flock of Pink-footed Geese, numbering more than 500, are in the Cefni Valley, and another 3000 fed in fields east of Abergele with a single White-fronted Goose. Last week’s high tides pushed a Water Pipit close to Flint Castle, where two dozen Twite feed up ahead of their journey to a Hebridean summer. If you have joined the social media channel, BlueSky, you can find me here. The first estimate of the likely impact of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) on seabird populations in the UK shows big changes even before last year’s outbreaks. The RSPB Centre for Conservation Science compared numbers in spring 2023 to surveys at the same colonies during 2015-21. The report estimates the impact of HPAI in the 2022 breeding season and the following winter, when seabirds are in the Atlantic Ocean, some as far away as southern Africa. The biggest population changes were in species that tested positive for HPAI across multiple colonies in northwest Europe. In Wales, the most substantial effects were on Black-headed Gull, which was already on the Welsh Red-list of conservation concern having suffered huge declines between 1973 and 2000, when many inland colonies were abandoned completely. This new assessment, at three-quarters of remaining Welsh sites, showed a further 77% decline. In total, the population has fallen by around 95% in 50 years. Gannet, Common Tern and Sandwich Tern were also badly affected in Wales, as shown in the table above. Detailed monitoring by reserve wardens shows that numbers of Gannets on Grassholm, which was the fourth largest colony in the world, fell by 52% in just one year between 2022 and ’23. The number of Sandwich Terns nesting at Cemlyn, Anglesey, fell by around 50% in the same period, and of Common Terns at four colonies by 28% in just one year. It doesn’t account for the further effects of HPAI in summer 2023, when adults and chicks died at the most important gull and tern colonies in Wales. The wider effects of bird flu are evident in counts of Great Skuas migrating past Wales. The Welsh Bird Report showed that numbers in autumn 2022 were 87% below average. The following summer, the Scottish breeding population was 76% lower. Guillemots, Shags and Fulmars are starting to return to their cliff ledges, but it will be May before wardens at seabird colonies get a feel for numbers, and all will fear a repeat of last summer’s ghastly scenes of sick and dying seabirds. Even if bird ‘flu is minimal this year, recovery will be slow because it takes several years for birds to mature to breeding age. It may be the end of the decade before the full consequences are realised. RSPB Cymru is calling on Welsh Government to complete its promised Seabird Conservation Strategy and commit funding to actions that will increase resilience to other pressures in the marine environment, making them better able to face sudden shocks such as disease. Even before HPAI, the UK’s seabirds were under pressure from climate change, industrial fishing, invasive non-native animals and offshore energy infrastructure.
Winter visitors to our coast this week include two Surf and up to 12 Velvet Scoters at Llanddulas, Black-necked and Slavonian Grebes off Aber Ogwen and Borth-y-gest. In Flintshire, a flock of 150 Waxwings remains above Pentre Halkyn, 25 Twite at Flint Castle, six Snow Buntings at RSPB Point of Ayr and three at Gronant. A Ring-necked Duck and four Scaup are on Llyn Tegid, and a Dipper is already nest-building on the river at Rossett. Sporadic since Christmas, Clocaenog’s Great Grey Shrike put in an appearance last week in clear-felled forestry northwest of Llyn Brenig. Smaller than a Mistle Thrush, with a longer tail, a few Great Grey Shrikes winter in Wales from their breeding areas in Finland and Scandinavia. Clearfell provides snags from which to survey open areas for small prey. In times of plenty, they store small birds and mammals on a large thorn or barbed wire, hence the shrikes’ old English name of ‘butcherbird’. Great Grey Shrikes’ winter territories in Britain have moved west since the 1980s, resulting in increased records in Wales. Numbers grew in the early 2000s and peaked last decade, with more than 25 individuals in some years. However, sightings have fallen to just three or four each winter, although there is time for more to be found this month. The reduction is evident elsewhere in Britain, as described in this Birdguides article, and it remains a major rarity in Ireland. There is no obvious reason for the historic increase or recent decline. Is it ‘short-stopping’ as evident in wintering waterbirds from the east, with birds not moving so far as the climate warms, or are Great Grey Shrike breeding populations falling in northeastern Europe, as elsewhere on the continent? Waxwings continue to draw admirers to Pentre Halkyn, with 180 birds on Saturday. Other weekend sightings include overwintering Long-tailed Ducks on Llyn Maelog and two off Benllech, Hooded Crow at RSPB South Stack, and the Snow Goose of unknown origin at Llay. A Slavonian Grebe is off Rhos Point, Cattle Egret and Great White Egrets at RSPB Cors Ddyga, and 300 Pink-footed Geese flew up the Cefni valley on Sunday. In Cardigan Bay, three Long-tailed Ducks were off Criccieth and five off Black Rock, and two Black-necked Grebes at Borth y Gest. A Glossy Ibis has again been at Pwllhelli and Abererch. Three ways to help birds this week:
Across Africa, changing day length away from the Equator alerts some birds to set off on migration soon. German even has a word for it: Zugenruhe, a restlessness that occurs ahead of movement. Given the right weather, by the end of February the first Sand Martins and Wheatears could be arriving here. In the second half of April, Whinchats will arrive, but for now they are in the savannah and forest mosaics of central Africa.
Whinchats have disappeared as a breeding species from much of lowland Britain, and are not doing so well in the uplands either. They favour unenclosed grasslands, and in Wales have always been associated with lightly-grazed ffridd/coedcae, on the upland fringe where vegetation of varied structure is interspersed with scattered trees, especially Rowan and Silver Birch. Bracken is important for Whinchats, especially in south-facing upland valleys. Have a read of this blog about a recently-published study by the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science for more details. With luck, each pair of Whinchats will raise several young each summer, illustrated by the winning image in the Welsh Ornithological Society annual photographic competition. Mold-based photographer Andy Davis caught a male serving a freshly-plucked Bilberry to a chick not yet ready to fly. Check out the WOS website to see the other fantastic photos that were shortlisted. While our summer visitors build up their fat reserves, winter visitors are doing the same before trekking north or east. The Waxwing flock at Halkyn grew to over 150, the largest in North Wales since January 2017. Elsewhere in Flintshire, a Smew remains at Talacre, Snow Buntings at Point of Ayr and over 30 Twite at Flint Marsh. A Great Grey Shrike was near Llyn Brenig and a Snow Goose at Llay on Sunday, while there are Black Redstarts on the north coast at Kinmel Bay and Holyhead. A Ring-necked Duck remains on Llyn Tegid, a Glossy Ibis feeds near Pwllheli Cob and a Firecrest was at Morfa Madryn, near Llanfairfechan. Farmers are encouraged to take part in the Big Farmland Bird Count before 18 February. Details at bfbc.org.uk Reports suggest that last week’s cold snap pushed Blackcaps into gardens around North Wales. They are attracted not just to supplementary food, but to wildlife-friendly plants that provide shelter and harbour natural food in difficult times. Blackcaps are a summer visitor from North Africa, but some come here from central Europe, as far east as the border of Poland and Ukraine, in winter. Upwards of 2000 Blackcaps winter in Wales, those in the north primarily around the coast and in the Dee and Clwyd valleys. Read more about Blackcaps in Welsh gardens in this BirdNotes column from 2021. This weekend’s RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch will be an opportunity to stocktake Blackcaps and other wildlife using our gardens. Visit rspb.org.uk/birdwatch to take part. There is much we don’t know about the changing habits of migratory Blackcaps, dubbed ‘microevolution’, but new technology is starting to change that. Nanotags, weighing just one-eighth of a gramme and attached to the smallest of songbirds, emit a unique pulse every 3.7 seconds that can be picked up by a dedicated Motus receiver. Base stations are spread across the Americas, and increasingly in northwest Europe, enabling individual birds to be tracked in real time as they cross the continent. A paper in the journal British Birds this month illustrates the potential of this new technology. There are no receivers yet in Wales, but one planned at the Calf of Man Bird Observatory will be used to study Wheatear migration this year. Recent sightings include 50 Waxwings near Halkyn Quarry and flocks in Prestatyn and Dyserth. A Glossy Ibis flew over the A55 in Anglesey’s Cefni Valley on Monday, and a Cattle Egret at nearby RSPB Cors Ddyga. A Long-tailed Duck is off Benllech, a Little Gull at Traeth Dulas and a small flock of Snow Buntings at Talacre. A pale-cheeked American Wigeon at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands is probably one seen on Anglesey before Christmas. A new project is calling for volunteers to help survey Curlews in the Clwydian Hills this spring, as part of a new Curlew Connections Wales project designed to help the species’ recovery. The project is also seeking help in Montgomeryshire and Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. Email kappleby@gwct.org.uk for details. Wildlife broadcaster Iolo Williams has called on people to have their say on the Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme. The Welsh Ornithological Society and RSPB Cymru have teamed up to run a series of briefing events, including in Wrexham and Caernarfon, as well as an online seminar, in late February. Iolo is urging everyone to get involved, to ensure that the new scheme helps farmers take action to help nature thrive. Iolo said “If you do only one thing for Welsh wildlife in 2024, please do this.” Dates and details are on the WOS website.
The influx of wintering Waxwings to North Wales seems to be diminishing, although 40 were in Wrexham’s Watery Road on Saturday and three fed beside the café on Llanddulas beach at the weekend. A mile to the east, sharp-eyed Waxwing watchers on New Year’s Day spotted that one of a flock at Middle Gate, on the road to Abergele, wore coloured rings on its legs. They were attached by Grampian Ringing Group as part of a long-term project. An animated map of resightings, published by Sam Langlois on X, formerly Twitter, shows how Waxwings have moved south through Britain since early November, after arriving in northeast Scotland from Scandinavia. Surprisingly, however, the bird seen in North Wales was not among them. It had been ringed in Aberdeen in November 2022 and was seen later that winter in Aalborg, northern Denmark, presumably on the way back to its breeding area. The Grampian project has ringed more than 4500 Waxwings, but this is only the eighth bird to be seen again in a different winter following its ringing. Meirionnydd’s juvenile White-tailed Eagle continues its stay in the hills above Llanuwchllyn, presumed to come from Scotland or Ireland. Not far away, a Ring-necked Duck and four Scaup are on Llyn Tegid. A smart male Smew is at Talacre, and several Snow Buntings on saltmarsh at nearby RSPB Point of Ayr. On Anglesey, an estimated 200,000 Starlings roost at Llyn Bodgylched, a flock of Pink-footed Geese were on Llyn Llywenan last week, and a Scaup and Ruffs at RSPB Cors Ddyga. Slavonian Grebes are on the Inland Sea, with others off Benllech, Harlech and Llanddulas. The Llŷn’s long-staying Glossy Ibis remains at Abererch and a Black-throated Diver was among a dozen Great Northern Divers off Pontllyfni. Water Pipits have been by Porthmadog Cob and near Penrhyn Bay. Forecast colder conditions may push songbirds and waterbirds west if ground conditions become icy and wetlands freeze. Skylarks, Fieldfares and Pink-footed Geese are among those likely to head into Wales if we remain milder than eastern Britain. A flock of Pink-feet flew over the Clwyd estuary, and perhaps the same were at Llanerchymedd, on Sunday. More Waxwings could arrive too. Sightings of the punk berry-munchers include flocks in Penmaenmawr, Connah’s Quay, Nannerch, Saltney, Mold, Bagillt, Rhuddlan and Rhyl.
A Snow Goose of unknown origin grazes with Greylags in the Dee Valley, south of Holt. It’s a ‘blue morph’ bird, plumage resulting from a dominant gene, so not the same as a white morph on the Dee estuary in the last couple of winters. Snow Goose was recently added to the national list by the Welsh Ornithological Society, along with Moltoni’s Warbler and Tennessee Warbler, all of which were recorded in Wales for the first time in 2022. You can download a copy of the Welsh List from their website. A White-tailed Eagle seen in Meirionnydd last month remains in the area, reported by a farmer near Llanuwchllyn last week, and on nearby Llyn Tegid a Ring-necked Duck and Scaup are off Glanllyn. Black-necked Grebes were off Aber Ogwen and Carreg y Defaid, near Llanbedrog, at the weekend. Several Slavonian Grebes were off Harlech, with Great Northern Divers scattered around both coasts of Pen Llŷn. Near Pwllheli, a Glossy Ibis remains at Abererch, a Snow Bunting flew over the Great Orme, and an unseasonal Sandwich Tern was off Penmon on Saturday. A male Smew was in the Dee estuary. Magpie has been removed from all General Licences by Natural Resources Wales, meaning that anyone with cause to kill the corvid requires a specific licence from NRW. That has been the case in relation to bird conservation for a couple of years, but now also applies to agricultural damage. The decision followed a review that could find little evidence of widescale damage by Magpies to livestock, feed or crops which could not be resolved by non-lethal methods. Details of the decision were published on the NRW website. The first day of the year renews enthusiasm for many birdwatchers, with one group in North Wales clocking up 110 species. Anglesey Bird News confirmed that 128 species were seen on the island on Monday, and that 230 were reported there during the previous 12 months.
Waxwings continue to draw admirers across the region, with the largest flocks of up to 60 in Kinmel Bay, 40 in Rhuddlan, 36 in Bodelwyddan and 30 in Ruthin, and others at RSPB Conwy, Saltney, Old Colwyn and near Llanddulas. A Great Grey Shrike plays hard-to-get in Clocaenog Forest while a Glossy Ibis and Great White Egret are at Abererch, near Pwllheli. Jack Snipe were at RSPB Conwy, Traeth Dulas, Bangor harbour and below Aled Isaf Reservoir, and 13 Purple Sandpipers at Rhos-on-Sea. Two Long-tailed Ducks are off Benllech and another commutes between Llanfairfechan and Glan y Môr Elias. Three Great Northern Divers are off Borth-y-gest, two in Porthmadog Harbour and others at Ynys Llanddwyn, Cemlyn, Penmaenmawr and Anglesey’s Inland Sea. A Black Redstart was at Holyhead’s Fish Quay and five Slavonian Grebes in Cymryan Strait. Although North Wales’ celebrations were damp and breezy, 2024 kicked off with fireworks across the world, just days after their effects on birds had been quantified for the first time. Research led by the University of Amsterdam, and published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, used weather radar to show that in The Netherlands, the New Year’s Eve peak saw 10,000 to 100,000 times the normal number of birds taking to the air compared to other nights. The highest responses were within 5km of fireworks, but flight activity remained higher than normal up to 10km away. Radar imagery of the responses were shared on social media site X (formerly Twitter). Larger-bodied species, such as geese, ducks and gulls, in open landscapes responded more readily to the sounds and lights. Since fireworks are set off in almost every community, the study suggests that across the country, millions of wintering birds are disturbed. Although they have yet to measure the impact of this synchronised disturbance on birds’ life chances, the researchers have called for fireworks-free zones, especially around wetlands and coastal farmland. |
Bird notesA weekly update of bird sightings and news from North Wales, published in The Daily Post every Thursday. Archives
May 2024
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