Late 2018 : Anglesey Update-New Years Eve

American Royal Tern - Dulas

The Amlwch Snowy Owl

One of the Highlights of the year on Anglesey was this Snowy Owl near Amlwch in June, but here are the bird reports from the Island in Autumn and early Winter at the end of 2018.

On the 29^th August there were 5 Green Sandpipers at Llyn Cefni.

Next day on the 30^th August there were 6 Risso's Dolphins off The Range at South Stack.
Also another 2 pods of 6 Risso's Dolphins were off Cemlyn on the 1^st September and a Roseatte Tern here was a good late record for the site. On the 3^rd Sept a Wood Sandpiper was at Cefni Reservoir, an Adult Sabine's Gull from the High Arctic and 8 Black Terns from the continent passed Cemlyn. A Cetti's Warbler at Llyn Cefni on the 9^th September was unusual for this site.
A Green Sandpiper and 9 Greenshanks were at the Llanfachraeth end of the Alaw Estuary on the 9^th September. Another adult Sabines Gull passed Point Lynas on the 12^th September and a Pomarine Skua, 5 Arctic and 4 Great Skuas were off Cemlyn on the 16^th September. A Black Tern was at Lligwy on the 19^th September and a Sooty Shearwater passed Cemlyn on the 21^st September.
Another Risso's Dolphin was spotted off Amlwch Octel on the 23^rd September.
On the 29^th September an American Pectoral Sandpiper was at Cors Ddyga (Malltraeth RSPB), the first North American Wading-bird for this site.
In late September there was a large passage of Jays through North Wales. Mark Sutton had only ever had 4 records involving only 5 birds in total, between Cemlyn and Carmel head over the last 10 years. On the 29^th September he had 14 birds along this stretch of coast.
6 Pale bellied Brent Geese passed Cemaes Bay on the 5^th October, a bird not often seen in Cemaes.
A Jay passed over my Estate in Cemaes, Cae Derwydd on the 6^th October, part of the North Wales influx. 42 Crossbills passed over Cemlyn on the 7^th October and 2 Hooded Crows were at South Stack on the same day.
A Yellow browed warbler, a long distant migrant from Asia was in Wylfa head Car Park on the 10^th October. Considering they breed so far away, its amazing how many turn up each year in the UK.
Between Cemlyn and Hen Borth on the 10^th October there were 2 Common Redstarts, 120 Skylarks overhead, 6 Tree Sparrows and 3 Great White Egrets.

A Dipper was in Cemaes for the first time in over 20 years

A Dipper was on the River Wygir in Cemeas in early October around the 11^th October for almost a week, until torrential rain caused rising water levels to force it to move on as the rocks in the river that it fed from were submerged due to the excessive volume of water in the River. For the 22 years I've lived on the Island I've never seen a Dipper in Cemaes. Mike Smith saw the last one, and that was before I moved over here in 1996!
Another Yellow-browed Warbler was at Cafnan near Cemlyn on the 11^th October.
On the 14^th October a Great Northern Diver in full summer plumage was flying over Holyhead, a Richards Pipit flew over Holyhead, a Yellow browed Warbler was at Carmel Head and a Firecrest was by Coffee Cups at the Old Toll House, Penrhos.

The Penrhos Coffee Cup's Firecrest

A Hoopoe was reported at Traeth Lligwy, flying over the marsh on the 15^th October, but not subsequently.
Yellow browed Warblers were in Holyhead Breakwater Country Park on the 16th-18^th Oct and 1 was at Carmel Head on the 18^th October. 15 Brambling also flew over Carmel head on this date.
Cattle and Great White Egret were on the Inland Sea on the 19^th October and 23 Mediterranean Gulls were on the Inland Sea from the Anchorage pub on the 20^th October.

The Cemlyn Great Northern Diver

An Adult Great Northern Diver in Full Summer plumage was at Cemlyn for a few days from the 21^st October. A Black Redstart was at Soldiers Point and Holyhead breakwater country park on the 22^nd October. A Yellow browed Warbler was at Penrhos CP on the 25^th October.

Leach's Petrels were off Point Lynas

Rough weather brought in 5 Leach's Petrels and an adult Pomarine Skua past Point Lynas on the 27^th October and 7 Purple Sandpipers were at Cemlyn on the 29^th October.
3 Scoter including 1 American Surf Scoter were reported off Bull Bay on the 31^st October.
I had 2 Whooper Swans fly West over my house in Cemaes on the 31^st October, a new bird for my house list! These birds probably bred in Iceland and were on there way to their wintering grounds in North Wales, near Llangefni or possibly over on the Glaslyn, Porthmadog.

The Whoopers near Llyn Cefni

2 Great White Egrets were at Cemlyn on the 1^st November and 4 Tree Sparrow, 10 Brambling and a Whimbrel were there on the 4^th November.
On the 5^th - 9^th November an Immature Rose Coloured Starling was at Beth's Gallery, Pen-y-sarn with the Common Starlings.
On the 7^th November a Swift species was seen at Brynrefail. Next day, presumably that same bird was 6km to the North at Llaneilian, near Point Lynas. There was quite a lot of Swifts reported in the UK in November, and all the ones that were seen well enough to be specifically identified turned out to be Pallid Swifts, a more southern species, that breed later and only migrates south much later than our British Common Swifts. So the Anglesey birds were more than likely Pallid Swifts!
There were 38 Whooper Swans including 8 juveniles between Llangefni and Llanerchymedd on the 10 th November.
A late Swallow was at Hen Borth on the 16^th November, plus 2 Bramblings and a Lapland Bunting.
15 Cetti's Warblers at Malltraeth RSPB (Cors Ddryga) was a good count for this site and the Island and at least 2 Greenland White-fronted Goose were here from the 21^st November onwards.
20 Scaup were on the Inland Sea from the 22^nd November onwards.
A Red Squirrel was seen on and off in November and into December in the Woodlands and gardens along the Afon Wygir in Cemaes.
Although its been a mild Winter so far, a Snow Bunting was at Tyn Llan, Cemlyn on the 24^th November.
On the 26^th November at Malltraeth RSPB (Cors Ddyga) there were 37 Pink footed Geese, 10 Whooper Swans, a Barnacle Goose and a Marsh Harrier. Then on the 4^th December there was a high count of 5 Water Pipits there with at least 2 still there on the 11^th .
On the 7^th December there were 146 Pale bellied Brent Geese and a single Dark Bellied Bird at Penrhos Country Park and 5 Black Guillimots were in the Holyhead area on the 9^th December. Also on that date in Red Warf Bay there were 110 Common Snipe and at Dulas Marsh there were 20 Common Snipe and a Jack Snipe.

Tony White found this Royal Tern

Find of the year was by Tony White from Tregele, when he found and photographed Britain's 4^th record of an American Royal Tern at Dulas estuary on the 10^th December. It commuted between here an Lligwy till the 11^th before leaving Anglesey. It was later seen on the Gann Estuary in South Wales then on the Isles of Scilly off the tip of Lands End.

Royal Tern at Dulas

On the 12^th December a Long tailed Duck was on Llyn Cefni and a Common Sandpiper was reported in Beddmanarch Bay.
Counts on the Alaw Estuary, between Valley and Llanfachraeth on the 13^th December included 33 Bar tailed Godwits, 98 Grey Plover, 22 Knot, 945 Dunlin, 72 Ringed Plover and 613 Wigeon.
On the 17^th December on the Inland Sea there were 2 Great Northern Divers, 14 Scaup, 4 Mediterranean Gulls and a Long tailed Duck. Nearby there were 3 Slavonian Grebes in Beddmanarch Bay and in Holyhead Bay there were 2 Red throated and 1 Black throated Diver, plus a Black Guillimot.

Llyn Llygeirian

Female Lesser Scaup on the right

Diagnostic Wing-stretch

One of the weirdest records I had this year was when I was driving on the A55 over the Inland Sea on the 18^th December in strong blustery weather. I saw a bird appearing to take off in the fast lane and fly away from me. It was black and white and initially I thought it was a Magpie taking off after feeding on roadkill. As I undertook it at high speed narrowly missing it I looked to my right, and there was a female Long tailed duck looking me in the eye, a mere 4 feet away! It then veered off, over the wall and onto the Inland sea proper. I can only imagine that the ridiculously blustery weather had forced it down onto the road, as it was flying low from feeding in Beddmanarch bay back to it's favoured Inland Sea foraging grounds.

Long tailed Ducks-Last winters birds in Trearddur Bay

On the 20^th December the usual Purple Sandpiper flock in Trearddur Bay was reduced from 13 to12 when 1 bird was taken by a Peregrine.

An Anglesey Purple Sandpiper

Next day, on the 21^st December an Adult Meditteraenean Gull flew over where I work in Cemaes and a flock of 12 Long tailed Tits brightened up a dull winters Day as they accompanied me as I walked back to work after my lunch.

I had a Winter plumaged Med Gull fly over work.

Whilst dropping off Christmas Cards at the end of December in Pentraeth, a friend of mine showed me the Great crested Newts getting ready to breed in his Pentraeth back Garden, reflecting how mild the Winter has been so far.

2018 back of Camera Catbird shot-ta to the bloke stood next to me :-)

My three Best Birds of the Year for 2018 were the Amlwch Snowy Owl, the Dulas American Royal Tern and Britain's Second American Grey Catbird at Lands End, a bird I have previous history with! 17 years ago, local Birder Ken Croft found Britain's first American Grey Catbird at the Pine Plantation at South Stack. I went there after work on that Friday and waited patiently for an hour hoping to see this rare bird. Then my Wife called me. I was on call, and had a call-out and had to go back to work in Amlwch. I begrudgingly trudged back through the scrub to the path, then I noticed some birders running. I ran over to them and they told me that the Catbird had just flown down the side of the hill and landed in the bushes that I had been stood by for the last hour! Nooooooooo!!!! I looked on for a further five minutes with no joy, but then I had to head back to work! I went back the next morning, but again it never showed. There were Blackcaps and Dunnocks flitting around, and some observers were claiming these fleeting views as the Catbird, but I had no joy. So I missed my chance of seeing this Mega rare bird on Anglesey and in the UK. 17 years later Britain's Second Catbird turned up at Land's End and luckily for me it hung around for a few weeks. I had a free Friday and left Bangor at 7pm after work on a Thursday with Martin. We were in a Travel Lodge in Taunton Devon at 12.30 am, and after a “good nights sleep” were at Land's End at 9.30am on the Friday. Sunshine, showers and blustery wind meant not ideal viewing conditions but we got the bird. Several nice but relatively short views. Not enough time to get a photo but enough time to put the Ghost of the 2001 South Stack bird to rest!

Happy Bunny

So all the best for the festive season and the New Year. Current birds worth looking for include the long staying American Lesser Scaup on Llyn Llygerian. The Inland Sea is currently hosting Black throated and Great Northern Divers plus Scaup, Long tailed Ducks and Slavonian Grebes. Also why not give Malltraeth RSPB reserve aka Cors Ddyga a try for Bittern, Marsh and Hen Harrier, Cettis Warbler, Water Pipit and even Greenland White-fronted Goose if you are lucky. Good luck and all the best for 2019, Steve Culley

Firecrest

Snowy Owl-all the best for 2019

American Royal Tern on Anglesey

An American ROYAL TERN at Dulas Bay and then Traeth Lligwy on 10.12.18 found by local birder Tony White.

The bird was present at Lligwy until 15:52 then fed offshore and is back there today.

  It is ringed on the right leg and is thought to be the bird that has frequented the Channel Islands since Feb 2017, Pagham Harbour in June 2018 and the Channel Islands again in August 2018.

Its likely the bird roosted on Ynys Moelfre but is frequenting either Traeth Dulas or Lligwy.

If travelling here the Lesser Scaup is also still at Llyn Llygeirian.

A Message from the Arctic from Ben Porter-this Wednesday at Bangor Birdgroup

This week at Bangor Birdgroup we have Ben Porter. After he finished University in Cornwall we've finally managed to get Bardsey's Ben Porter for a talk about a Message from the Arctic. Ben will be talking about his findings from Sail against plastic. A student led research expedition to the icy archipelago of Svalbard during June in the Summer of 2018. It should be a cracker, so hopefully we will see you there!

At Bangor Bird-group we meet on Wednesday nights in the University of Bangor Brambell Building, Deiniol road opposite Asda just down from the Train Station. Costs are £2 per meeting (non members), or even better join as a member. Membership costs are as follows- Waged = £15, £12 for concessions and free for Bangor University students. 

Not bad for 22 talks!

Doors open at 7 for a 7.30 pm start. Talks last for around 1 hour. All members of the public are welcome. 

Scarce and Rare Birds in North Wales- Bangor Bird-group this Week

This week Robin Sandham will be talking about Rare birds in North Wales. There's nobody better to talk on this subject as at the end of the day, he wrote the book. I'm sure he will have a few books at the talk available for people to buy, and its a must read for anyone interested in the birds of North Wales or rare birds in general.

At Bangor Bird-group we meet on Wednesday nights in the University of Bangor Brambell Building, Deiniol road opposite Asda just down from the Train Station. Costs are £2 per meeting (non members), or even better join as a member. Membership costs are as follows- Waged = £15, £12 for concessions and free for Bangor University students. 

Not bad for 22 talks!

Doors open at 7 for a 7.30 pm start. Talks last for around 1 hour. All members of the public are welcome. 

Champions of the Flyway : Israel 2018 in Bangor this Week

This Wednesday local birder Marc Hughes will be giving us an update of how the Leica Red Kites got on in the Champions of the Flyway bird-race, raising funds and awareness for the plight of migrant birds across the Mediterranean and through the Middle East. It was the first time a Welsh team had entered this International Bird-race, so please come along to find out more about this good cause, how well they did and the fun they had in participating in this rather exciting 24 hour bird-race!

At Bangor Bird-group we meet on Wednesday nights in the University of Bangor Brambell Building, Deiniol road opposite Asda just down from the Train Station. Costs are £2 per meeting (non members), or even better join as a member. Membership costs are as follows- Waged = £15, £12 for concessions and free for Bangor University students. 

Not bad for 22 talks!

Doors open at 7 for a 7.30 pm start. Talks last for around 1 hour. All members of the public are welcome. 

I wish they all could be Californian............

Heermann's Gull

This Wednesday Dennis Atherton is coming over from Bolton to give us a talk about Californian Pelagics and Western Birding at Bangor Birdgroup.

 A rush flight to catch the last Pelagic of the season in the world famous North Pacific waters around Southern California,  after 26 hours with no sleep i then go on a bumpy boat to be stranded at sea for 12 hours looking for birds, And who said Birders are mad?  After checking out the sea birds I spend two weeks up and down the California coastline looking for all the speciality birding on offer, From the seas off San Diego to the Mountains of California and finally looking for the elusive California Condor in Santa Barbara, Condor Country.

Western Gull

Pink footed Shearwater

Steller's Jay

At Bangor Bird-group we meet on Wednesday nights in the University of Bangor Brambell Building, Deiniol road opposite Asda just down from the Train Station. Costs are £2 per meeting (non members), or even better join as a member. Membership costs are as follows- Waged = £15, £12 for concessions and free for Bangor University students. 

Not bad for 22 talks!

Doors open at 7 for a 7.30 pm start. Talks last for around 1 hour. All members of the public are welcome. 

More on Licencing to kill Ravens in Wales

After reading RDS’s blog on NRW’s licencing to kill Ravens in Wales, see: https://www.rdsconservation.com/?p=630&fbclid=IwAR2Nmv3KuvK-0vAKox_Cky2QDiojXC-zdjbyvb9Dv12Lmq2AII8ZolvAg-Y

I had a few questions of my own so submitted an FOI to:

accesstoinformationteam@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk    

You can do the same too.

Here’s NRW’s statement on Licencing to kill Ravens:

https://naturalresources.wales/about-us/news-and-events/statements/licences-to-kill-ravens/?lang=en&fbclid=IwAR1-sK-9WvWSyNQs_epFvfvUn6yB8lHAPhVQ4_HYyVUM7lAA3QcBBOquZCM

Here’s what I asked:

Q1. Is it still 4 licences that have been granted in Wales and are the total number of birds declared as being killed still correct.

NRW: Yes a total of four licences have been approved for the shooting of ravens since January 2015 to the current date. Note that two of these were for the same site, which had problems with ravens in two different years.

Q2. (if possible) the general area where the licences have been granted and whether NRW have concerns with regards to proximity to sites where wildlife crime has been recorded.  Is this a consideration? Do you consult the RCU on proximity to the above sites where licences are granted?

NRW: 2 Denbighshire different years but same site, 1 Vale of Glamorgan and 1 Gwynedd.  NRW does not take into account proximity to wildlife crime sites and does not consult the RCU on such matters.

Q3: What non-lethal methods were used before the granting of licences.

NRW: Non-lethal methods have included:  Human presence, CD’s on poles and hung on trees lasers, Bags hung on trees, Radio noises, distraction feeding.

Q4: What non-lethal scaring methods were used at the time of killing?

NRW: The licence conditions specify the way ravens must be killed or how the eggs/nests should be destroyed. The licence only allows killing of ravens to be undertaken using the most humane methods possible. For instance, shooting must only take place when birds are close enough to ensure a clean kill.  The report form does not specify the scaring methods used at the time of the killing, however condition 21 does state that “ Co-ordinated scaring programme including non-lethal shooting to scare must be used in conjunction with the shooting.”

Q5: Why is there such a high maximum number given per licence to lethal methods?  I have been an ornithologist for 30 years and have only seen 75 birds or more at a roost site.  Why grant one site that limit? They cannot know that have a problem with 75 birds as they wouldn’t be on site at one time, unless it was a roost site.

NRW: This figure is unique for each licence. This depends on the nature of the problem and how many ravens are causing the problem in question.   A licence application form includes a legal declaration. The applicant is required to sign the form to confirm that the information provided is correct to the best of their knowledge and belief. Any false information provided within the application form would constitute as an offence. 

Q6: How NRW controls the method and limit on the killing.  It looks like one site has had a licence to kill 50 then 25 birds to protect livestock then pheasants.  This rings alarm bells for the reasoning and justification especially if it is close to a hot spot of wildlife crime. 

NRW: NRW controls the method of killing via the conditions on the licence.  Condition 6 states that “Birds must only be shot in range to ensure a clean kill”.  Condition 7 states that “Wounded birds must be pursued and humanely dispatched”. 

The number of birds to be killed under a licence is decided on a case by case basis, taking into account the nature of the problem, the amount of birds causing a problem, and whether alternative scaring techniques have been deployed.  

Q7: How does each site actively self-police only to shoot to protect livestock under attack?  Are areas baited or decoyed and is this policed?  I work closely with a few farmers and they tell me carrion crows are far more damaging to lambs than ravens are.

NRW: The licence is a legal document and is granted under section 16(1)(k) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) specifically for the purpose of preventing serious damage to livestock.  As such, birds must only be shot for this purpose, and any deviation from this would constitute as an offence.  It is the licence holder’s legal responsibility to ensure that shooting is only undertaken for this purpose.   NRW does not police the licence activities.

Q8: Is there a buffer zone between sites granted licences

NRW: There has not been a need to consider buffer zones as NRW has only granted 4 licences since its formation in 2013.  The total of applications received is low.

Q9: Does the recent AM/NRW decision to ban shooting and rearing of pheasants on NRW land have a bearing on proximity of licences to kill ravens in future.  Should ravens on NRW land be killed on neighbouring land should that rearing or shooting move to neighbouring land.

NRW:  NRW will assess each application on its own merits and this would have no bearing on our decision making process.

Q10: Does NRW request proof that eggs were destroyed and not chicks?

NRW: NRW has issued 1 licence for the removal of 1 raven nest to preserve public health and public safety.  NRW requests proof in the report form, where the licensee must declare how many nests and or eggs were removed under the licence.  Condition 81 stated that “no birds shall be killed under this licence”.

Q11: Who are the ornithologist you use for advice on this matter?

NRW: NRW employed Ornithologist 

Q12: How sure is NRW that declared totals of birds killed are honest. 

NRW: The licence is a legal document, and any false declarations would constitute as an offence.  

Well, I don’t know about you but for me this raises more questions and doubt over the control, self-policing, adherence to conditions and I intend on asking more until this stops or until I’m satisfied there is greater control and policing.  What a ridiculous state we are in.

Cornell-The American dream on Halloween at Bangor Birdgroup

Elliot Monteith is a young Birder from the Wirral. He will be coming over to give us a talk on the Cornell laboratory of Ornithology this Wednesday (Halloween). It provides the highest grade of ornithological research in the world and is a leader in the drive to engage, educate and inspire the future generation of ornithologists. Elliot was one of the three young British Birders that won a Scholarship to the labs young birder camp courtesy of their partnership with the Cameron Bespolka trust about how the lab is changing the face of conservation across North America and the World, along with how the lab is helping the next generation in methods that are just making their way across the pond.
So avoid the Trick-or-treat-ers and come over to Bangor this Wednesday.

At Bangor Bird-group we meet on Wednesday nights in the University of Bangor Brambell Building, Deiniol road opposite Asda just down from the Train Station. Costs are £2 per meeting (non members), or even better join as a member. Membership costs are as follows- Waged = £15, £12 for concessions and free for Bangor University students. 

Not bad for 22 talks!

Doors open at 7 for a 7.30 pm start. Talks last for around 1 hour. All members of the public are welcome. 

Waderquest in Bangor

This Wednesday Rick and Ellis Simpson from Wader Quest are coming to town. Wader Quest are a charity that was set up to raise funds for Shorebird projects and to raise awareness about the problems they are facing around the world regarding diminishing populations and threats to the world Shorebird fly-ways. Come along it should be a really interesting talk.

At Bangor Bird-group we meet on Wednesday nights in the University of Bangor Brambell Building, Deiniol road opposite Asda just down from the Train Station. Costs are £2 per meeting (non members), or even better join as a member. Membership costs are as follows- Waged = £15, £12 for concessions and free for Bangor University students. 

Not bad for 22 talks!

Doors open at 7 for a 7.30 pm start. Talks last for around 1 hour. All members of the public are welcome. 

How the Vulture lost it's head and other Wildlife tales from Zululand

This week at Bangor Birdgroup Tarik Bodasing will be talking about "How the Vulture lost it's head and other Wildlife tales from Zululand".

Tarik recently moved to the UK from South Africa after marrying a Welsh Girl. He was eased gently into to his first British Summertime with a two month heatwave, which was quite handy as he was working as one of the Cemlyn Tern wardens who normally have to withstand the wind and rain of a typical Welsh Summer, whilst standing on the shingle ridge.

Prior to moving to the UK he worked as a South African Wildlife Ecologist in Zululand, and this Wednesday he will be telling us some of his Wildlife tales. One not to miss!

At Bangor Bird-group we meet on Wednesday nights in the University of Bangor Brambell Building, Deiniol road opposite Asda just down from the Train Station. Costs are £2 per meeting (non members), or even better join as a member. Membership costs are as follows- Waged = £15, £12 for concessions and free for Bangor University students. 

Not bad for 22 talks!

Doors open at 7 for a 7.30 pm start. Talks last for around 1 hour. All members of the public are welcome. 

Bangor Bird Group is back!

  The 2018-19 Bangor bird-group season starts again on the 3^rd October. Ian Hawkins, RSPB site manager for Cors Ddryga will be talking about his trip to New Zealand. He was in search of the birds and wildlife in this country rich in endemics and famous for its seabird spectacles and amazing scenery who's landscape was carved out by fire and ice. Then we will be having a talk from Tarik Bodasing. Tarik was as one of the Cemlyn wardens this summer. He was originally from near Durban in South Africa until relatively recently when, he met a Welsh girl whom he married and is now living with, and their young child down in Mid Wales. He will be telling us how the Vulture Lost it's head and other Wildlife tales from Zululand. Then Wader Quest are coming to town. Wader Quest are a charity that was set up to raise funds for Shorebird projects and to raise awareness about the problems they are facing around the world regarding diminishing populations and threats to the world Shorebird fly-ways.

Elliot Monteith is a young Birder from the Wirral. He will be coming over to give us a talk on the Cornell laboratory of Ornithology. It provides the highest grade of ornithological research in the world and is a leader in the drive to engage, educate and inspire the future generation of ornithologists. Elliot was one of the three young British Birders that won a Scholarship to the labs young birder camp courtesy of their partnership with the Cameron Bespolka trust about how the lab is changing the face of conservation across North America and the World, along with how the lab is helping the next generation in methods that are just making their way across the pond.

Keeping on the North America theme Dennis Atherton is coming over from Bolton to talk about the Western USA and Pelagic birding. It was a rush flight that Dennis took to catch the last Pelagic of the season in the World Famous North Pacific Waters around Southern California. After 26 hours with no sleep and only aeroplane food he then went on a bumpy boat for 12 hour to see an amazing Seabird spectacle. Following that he spent 2 weeks going up and down the California Coastline looking for all the local special birds. From the Seas around San Diego to the to the Mountains of California, Dennis was searching for all the local specialities and was trying to see all the Californian named birds.

Then Marc Hughes will be giving us an update of how the Leica Red Kites got on in the Champions of the Flyway birdrace, raising funds and awareness for the plight of migrant birds across the Mediterranean and through the Middle East.

Fellow Leica Red Kite Robin Sandham will then be talking about Rare birds in North Wales. There's nobody better to talk on this subject as at the end of the day, he wrote the book. I'm sure he will have a few books at the talk available for people to buy, and its a must read for anyone interested in the birds of North Wales or rare birds in general.

Then we have Ben. After he finished University in Cornwall we've finally managed to tie down Bardsey's Ben Porter for a talk about a Message from the Arctic. Ben will be talking about his findings from Sail against plastic. A student led research expedition to the icy archipelago of Svalbard during June in the Summer of 2018. Then we finish the year with the Christmas Party with a buffet and Steve's Quiz, with assorted prizes and the chance to be the winner of the Birdbrain of Bangor Bird-group Shield!

In January Chris Jones is talking about Birding in Wellies: an Autumn week on Shetland, Chris, Robin, Henry Cook and myself experienced Shetland proper for the first time in October 2017 and Chris will be talking about what happened when Four North Wales Birders went to Shetland in the wind and the rain.

Then Henry Cook will be talking about Birding North Peru : A travelogue from an independent trip around the little known and mega-diverse area of North Peru, featuring Spatulate-tails, Cresent-chests and Inca-finches.

Then Kelvin Jones from the BTO will then be giving his new talk on Hawfinches in Wales before Mark James Pearson arrives to give his talk on Filey Internation. Mark is well travelled and well known on the UK circuit. He will be talking about the seasonal migration around Filey Brigg on the Yorkshire coast. He will be talking about hammering his patch constantly for five years showing us what common migrants and rarities have moved through the area over this time.

Then Ben Stammers from the wildlife trust will be talking about the wonderful life of our local Swifts before Julian Hughes from the RSPB talks about the breeding birds of Cyprus and migration of birds through this region.

Then we go back to the USA, where local birder Alex Jones will be talking about the Eastern United States this time. Summarizing his trips to New York, Michigan and Florida.

As we go into the home run in March, former Bangor Student Mathew Bruce will be talking about his work on Wildlife Crime at the Lodge for the RSPB investigations department.

Following this local Naturalist Richard Birch will be showing us the Second instalment of his film on Chile, after he returned to the country again to witness more of its amazing scenery and wildlife.

Finally I will be bringing the season to a close at the AGM with my talk on Himalayan Gold. In the Spring of 2018 I went with two other North Wales Birders, Rhion and Gareth to the North East Indian regions of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Its an interesting area bordered by Bhutan, China and Myanmar. We has a vast assortment of fantastic birds from Bengal Florican, Fire tailed Myzornis, Himalayan monal and Beautiful Nuthatch to the critically endangered and range restricted Bugun Leochicla, just to name a few. It was a really special trip!

As well as these talks, Birdgroup members can also see the North Wales Wildlife trust talks. This season they include Living Landscapes in action. Jonny Hulson (NWWT Project Officer) talks about the amazing diversity of wildlife found on Wrexham Industrial Estate, home to 300 businesses. Roy Tapping has been involved with our North Wales Local Records Centre since its start-up. He will be talking about it, in his talk Cofnod - making wildlife data count. Then Chris Baker, the NWWT People & Wildlife Manager talks about Our Wild Coast, on how young people are getting stuck in on the North Wales coast. Then the Wildlife Trusts final talk is by our very own Spiderman. Richard Gallon from Cofnod is the most enthusiastic spider man you will ever meet and he will be talking about Spiders on Welsh mountains and bogs!

So hopefully we will see you this season in the Brambell Building, Deiniol Road, just down from the station. Wednesday nights, doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm kick off.

Non members £2 per meeting. Annual Subscription £15, Concessions £12, Students (free)