Welsh bird news

Unusual tern settled in Llanelli

Squally weather blows rare gull-billed tern off course to WWT Llanelli

June 2012. Birders are flocking (Why do birders always flock? Why don’t they migrate, slime or even ponce?) to WWT National Wetland Centre Wales at Llanelli to see an extremely rare gull-billed tern who has taken up residence. It is thought the recent squally weather has blown the bird off course from its usual summer haunts across Europe.

This is only the second record of a gull-billed tern in Carmarthenshire, the first was recorded back in 1996 also at WWT Llanelli. Gull-billed terns breed across Europe in Denmark, Holland, northern Spain and parts of Eastern Europe.

Rarity

Centre Manager, Nigel Williams, commented: “It is exciting to see such a rarity turn up, particularly as this species has not been seen here in 16 years. The bird is quite happy out on the newly created saline lagoon and has been delighting visitors who can clearly see it from our British Steel Hide. The gull-billed tern also seems to have been adopted by our black-headed gull colony, as he’s taken to roosting with them overnight.”

Also from Wildlife Extra:

Sharp decline in upland birds in Wales

Independent surveys reveal drastic declines in Wales’ upland bird populations

June 2012. Ornithologists in Wales have expressed shock at the findings of a range of independent surveys carried out across Wales in the last two years that reveal massive declines in the numbers of many of our upland birds.

Iconic species in decline

Species in serious decline include many of the iconic species that define our uplands including curlew, golden plover, chough, peregrine falcon and ring ouzel. If the current trends continue these species may be extinct in the Welsh hills before too long.

Surveys undertaken by independent consultancy Ecology Matters reveal that on the Plynlimon range in mid Wales numbers of golden plover have declined by 92% since 1984 with only one pair remaining; red grouse have declined by 48% and four species – teal, peregrine, ring ouzel and black headed gull are now extinct in this area.