Saturday 4th December - Friday 10th December 2021

Intro:

… Green 236 …

Passerines and others:

Perhaps the most interesting bird of the week was a Scandinavian Rock Pipit that was found on the wrack zone adjacent to the road bridge at Malltraeth (5^th-6^th).  The bird had a dark green darvic ring on its right leg with the inscription 236 in white and a metal ring on its left.  Subsequent checks established that it was part of a ringing scheme in Norway, with the bird having been ringed as an adult male on the 1st April 2021 at Maletangen – a distance travelled of some 787 miles.  It is the 3^rd return of a Rock Pipit from this scheme for Wales, with 64 from England and 20 from Scotland.  Also present on the same patch of wrack was a Dutch ringed Chaffinch.

 Photo: Scandinavian Rock Pipit, Malltraeth, 6th December - Martin Jones

Snow Buntings were seen at Traeth yr Ora (7^th) and Holyhead Harbour (6th, 9^th, 10^th), while Black Redstarts were seen at Moelfre (4^th) and Silver Bay, Rhoscolyn (5^th).  2 Water Pipit were at RSPB Cors Ddyga (5^th) and a very late Barn Swallow was at Malltraeth village (5^th).  Hooded Crows were seen at South Stack (5^th) and Henborth (10^th).  A Great Spotted Woodpecker seen flying along Holyhead Breakwater (9^th) was out of its natural habitat!

Waders:

The number of Black-tailed Godwits at RSPB Cors Ddyga continues to increase to what are unprecedented numbers in respect of Anglesey, with the latest estimate being of 560 birds and a count of just part of the flock amounting to 431 birds (6^th).  Purple Sandpipers were seen at a number of sites with 4 at Moelfre (4^th), 3 at Trearddur Bay (5^th), 1 at Silver Bay, Rhoscolyn (5^th) and 1 at Soldiers Point, Holyhead (6^th).  Holyhead Bay held 35 Grey Plover (6^th) and 3 Knot (6^th), while nearby there were 2 Greenshank in Beddmanarch Bay (9^th).

Divers & Grebes:

Great Northern Divers were seen at a number of locations including 1 on the Menai Strait between Plas Newydd and the Britannia Bridge (4^th), 1 in Holyhead Harbour (4^th – 10^th), 1 past RSPB South Stack (9^th) and 3 between Holyhead Bay and Penrhos (9^th).  A Red-throated Diver was at Silver Bay, Rhoscolyn (5^th).  A Slavonian Grebe was seen on the Inland Sea (5^th) and up to 33 Great-crested Grebes were in Holyhead Bay (33 on 9^th, 30 on 8^th, 22 on 6^th).

Swans, Geese & Ducks:

12 Pale-bellied Brent Geese were at the mouth of the Dulas estuary (9^th), while 17 were seen to fly in from the North-West towards Holyhead Bay (9^th).  5 Eider were off Benllech seafront (7^th).

Seabirds:

Up to 9 Black Guillemots were in Holyhead Harbour (9 on 10^th, 6 on 9^th, 3 on 8^th) and 1 was seen in Holyhead Bay (8^th).

Gulls and Terns:

Sightings of Mediterranean Gull included adult birds at Holyhead Bay (6^th & 8^th) and at Beddmanarch Bay (6^th).   Following Storm Barra, 156 Kittiwake passed west through Holyhead Harbour in 1 hour (8^th), with others lingering at the more sheltered west end of the harbour.

Raptors:

RSPB Cors Ddyga was the raptor hotspot with 2 Marsh Harriers (5^th) and 2 Red Kites (5^th).

Herons, Egrets and allies:

Sightings of Great Egrets included 2 birds at RSPB Cors Ddyga (5^th) and 1 at Llyn Llywenan (5^th).

 

Forthcoming week – 11^h December – 17^th December?

Previous records have included a Cattle Egret at Pont Marquis (11^th) in 2018, a Richard’s Pipit at Malltraeth Cob (12^th) in 1977, a Rough-legged Buzzard at Cemaes (12^th) in 2012 and a Pallas’s Warbler at Soldier’s Point (17^th) in 2006.