Hybrid Roseate x Common Tern

Roseate terns last nested at Cemlyn around c. 1994, and the once healthy Anglesey population of Roseate Terns has now gone. They didn't die out, they just moved over the water to the other side of the Irish Sea to Rockabill Island in Dublin Bay. Now your best bet to see them over here is for wandering lone birds at Cemlyn, popping into the tern colony like the bird there this morning. However for years there have been a few birds that have been forming hybrid pairs with Common Terns over on the Skerries. I managed to get over there last Monday and I was lucky enough to see this hybrid bird that has been there this summer. It is an inter-grade between the two species. The bill not long enough for a Roseate and too much red on it . The wing pattern was also half way between Roseate and Common, when I saw it flap it's wings, but unfortuately I didn't have my finger on the button for that potential shot. Never the less, here are a few photos of an interesting bird. I only saw it with Common terns, but apparently this Hybrid was paired up with a Roseate, so I wonder what it's offspring would look like!

RSPB Conwy sightings board

Monday kicked off with a great white egret, only the second reserve record (and the first to plant its feet firmly on reserve mud) and is still present today. Aside from its size, its bright yellow bill is distinctive, but a close look shows traces of black at the tip of the upper mandible, remnants of its breeding-season coloration farther south in Europe.

The first wigeons and shovelers of the autumn arrived this week, another signal that the northern breeding season is coming to a close. Teal numbers are also on the up, while waders include a couple of hundred curlews, a few black-tailed godwits, dunlins and whimbrels, a single greenshank and green sandpiper, with a little stint reported on Thursday (21st).

For more sightings from RSPB Conwy this week, check the latest reserve blog post.

Where are they now

BTO Cymru in partnership with RSPB Cymru have been colour ringing Curlew on their breeding grounds on the north Wales moors.

They have now left their breeding areas and are congregating on our coasts and estuaries.

Should you see one can you please contact BTO Cymru

either tel: 01248 383285  or rachel.taylor@bto.org

Malltraeth Godwits

Malltraeth RSPB is a nice place for a Summer Walk at the moment. When I was there at the weekend (Sunday the 10th)  we were treated to a fly-by of 10 Icelandic Full Summer Plumage Black tailed Godwits (near the office end/ A55 end). A nice sight in an otherwise bit of a wash-out of a weekend!