The day of the Wheatears

Light south-westerlies overnight coupled with the outbreak of rain early doors, produced an excellent fall of migrants at the Point of Ayr this morning.

As was the case a week last Monday, Wheatears were legion. The birds - grouped in flocks of ten to twenty - were concentrated around the area to the east of Presthaven Sands and also on the rocks near the old colliery site.

It is only a guestimate, but I counted a mighty one hundred and seventeen during a two hour walk, by far my highest count for a single site – smashing last week’s record to smithereens!

Two male Whinchats were good to find too, but star bird of the day was my earliest ever Spotted Flycatcher in the row of trees leading to the old hide. I really struggled to find one anywhere last year, so it was gratifying not only to discover my first for Flintshire, but see on at all – they really have crashed dramatically in recent years.

Plenty of warblers around too, with Sedgies the most conspicuous - singing from all types of habitat except sedge seemingly! Plenty of Chiffchaff, Whitethroat, Blackcap and Willow Warblers in voice too, and more warblerly calls eminating from the many dense hawthorne bushes, indicated a fair few more.

There seem to be very good numbers of Wheatears passing through this year - last Monday sixty three were at the POA and I have had big numbers in the uplands this spring too, including thirty seven during one walk in Mynydd Hiraethog.

I only have four years of personal experience to draw upon, but these numbers seem exceptional, so I am interested to hear if anybody else has had good counts this year...

Point of Ayr 29.4.10

Wheatear 117
Whinchat 2 (both male)
Spotted Flycatcher 1
Sedge Warbler 6
Common Sandpiper 1
Greenshank 1 (over)

Until later.

Craniology

Encouraging news from Somerset with the story that the Common Crane re-introduction programme is up and running.

The first batch of Teutonic chicks has begun to hatch and over the next few years they will be released on to their new manor of the Somerset Levels.

Being German, they will clearly not be backward when it comes to establishing and indeed expanding their territories, although hopefully this will be done with the more contemporary and conventional method of towels rather than a panzer division.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10089022.stm

The Cranes have rather irritatingly been called “Herons on Steroids” – clearly a ludicrous invention of some public relations wallah at either the WWT or RSPB head office. Why anybody feels the need to jazz-up elements in the natural world is beyond me, but then I am a curmudgeon and proud of it.

And, dipping my toe into the scary and seldom visited world of metaphysics, are Grey Herons just Cranes on growth-suppressant hormones?

Anyway, are there enough bigoted comments in this post to warrant a visit from Gordon Brown?

Until later.

Yellow Peril

A walk around the foothills of the Scouse Alps from the village of Cilcain went completely to plan (for a change), with all three target species for my Flintshire list present and an unexpected surprise too!

Whilst you are not exactly going to be beating off Hen Harriers with sticks on the well trodden Clwydians, this little walk can nonetheless be productive for upland passerines.

My main reason for visiting is because it now seems to be one of a handful of reliable spots in Flintshire for the declining Yellowhammer. Two birds present today – one on either side of the valley and both singing with alacrity.

Worryingly, they are the first two birds I have seen anywhere this year; concerns have been raised about the decline in the numbers of Stonechat, but to me the plight of the Yellowhammer is more alarming.

Not so the Wheatear, that along with the Common Whitethroat appear to be cropping up in good numbers absolutely all over the show this spring – the Sylvia warbler more so. Four pairs of Wheatears this morning and three Whitethroats too singing from the heather scrub.

If there are few things in life that are as reliable as a Volkswagen, then finding a Cuckoo near the fishing pool at Clicain is one of them! Every year they are here without exception and today a male was giving it some beans from a nearby hawthorn bush.

A cracking male Redstart completed my hat-trick of hope for species and I was more than happy with my few hours work, until a few hundred yards further up the bridleway I heard the unmistakable drumming of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker!!

The bird was in a small copse of mature deciduous trees that unfortunately lay in the middle of some farmers’ fields, so not wanting to be on the wrong end of a Shotgun I listened from the path for a good twenty minutes before it eventually stopped – superb!

Cilcain 26.4.10

Yellowhammer 2
Cuckoo 1
Redstart 1
Tree Pipit 2
Raven 2
Whitethroat 3
Wheatear 8
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 1

Old Haunts

With lightish southerly winds and rainfall early doors, I headed over to the Point of Ayr in anticipation of a decent flush of migrants.

As I entered Talacre a showy Tree Pipit suggested early promise, but any hopes of a decent fall soon evaporated as I walked further into the dunes. Three Wheatears and four Common Whitethroats was as good as it got and with the numbers of dogs and people increasingly looking like Crufts meets the Kumbh Mela, I headed for the sanctity of Garth Wood.

Eerily quiet for late April, things soon picked up when I heard a male Pied Flycatcher singing further up the path. When I got close to where it was scratching away, I realised it was from the precisely the same spot that I had seen a male bird last year!

I watched it for a good fifteen minutes, but with the bird retreating higher and higher up into the canopy, I left it to keep working on attracting a lady.

The area of farmland behind Garth Wood had been extremely productive for Yellowhammers last year, but worryingly they are absent this spring, despite yards of suitable hedgerow.

With a spare hour remaining, there was just enough time to pop into Connah’s Quay on the way back. Around a hundred Blackwits were feeding on the edge of a retreating tide and six Wheatears flitted around the surrounding sheep fields.

The bunded pools were largely empty, but a quartet of cracking Greenshanks made up for the absence of any other birds.

Until later.

The Magnificent Seven

Some High Plains Drifting turned into the Magnificent Seven at High Noon today when I sat in astonishment watching five Hen Harriers around a peak in North Wales.

Thanks and credit must go to Bill Owen who found two males and three females displaying whilst out walking last week and was subsequently kind enough to pass on the information to me.

It capped quite an astonishing walk, as earlier on the morning I had been watching another ‘courting couple’ at what seemed like a nest site in another part of the moor, taking my total Hen Harrier count for the day to an incredible seven birds – I never thought I would see the day in North Wales!

At the first nest site I was also witness to another first. I could actually hear the female bird calling from the ground – all other Hen Harriers I have seen have been mute!

In the five years I have been watching the hills in spring, I would speculate that Hen Harriers are on the up in Wales. Spend long enough in suitable habitat and I would think you are virtually guaranteed to find one.

I was also taken aback at the numbers of Raven. I counted at least ten pairs over six hours with numerous single birds floating around too. Only Wheatears outnumbered them – they seemed to be on every stone wall I looked at.

The only disappointing note was the lack of breeding wading birds considering the amount of suitable habitat. I walked miles and only came across two pairs of Curlew, with no sign of any Golden Plover or Dunlin, although a Common Sandpiper feeding along the edge of an area of water was an unexpected bonus.

Sorry to be so unspecific about the area, but sadly you still can’t be too careful…

Undisclosed Area 22.4.10

Hen Harrier 7
Buzzard 5
Red Kite 1
Kestrel 1
GC Grebe 1
Raven 26
Wheatear 37
Common Sandpiper 1
Curlew 4
Red-legged Partridge 2

Until later.

Flora Marathon

A yomp around the woods south of Halkyn was a tad disappointing for birds, but what it lacked it fauna it certainly made up in flora.

The undisputed discovery of the walk was this cracking little flower. I’m generally not too clever with things like this, so if anybody has any idea what it is then I would be extremely grateful.

If I am honest, then I hope it is an orchid of some description, but like somebody new to birding who thinks they have found a mega, I fear that my initial enthusiasm at discovering something I believe to be rare will be dampened by the cold reasoning of knowledge.

Opening the confessional, I remember my first Curlew Sandpiper was looking back now in all probability an alpina Dunlin - actually it was as there were around forty-nine others! It seems strange now because in some of my immodest moments I like to think of myself as being pretty good on the old shorebirds. Sea birds too, but it only takes the odd raptor or passerine and my ignorance is restored!

My oft repeated and hackneyed old line is that you only become an expert in something when you realise how much there is you don’t, and can’t know. Donald Rumsfeld was pilloried for his “known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns”, but it actually did make sense.

Applying this to birding, often the best birders are the ones who are confident enough to say when they don’t know because they understand from the knowledge that they have gained that it is impossible to draw an accurate conclusion – the known unknowns.

I bet you weren’t expecting this gibberish were you?

Anyway, back to the walk. As I mentioned it was fairly slow on the avian front. A pair of Bullfinch and a brace of Treecreepers in Coed y Cra was the best of a day dominated by the more common species. Having said that, it was fantastic to hear at least twenty Blackcaps today – a true challenger to the Nightingale in my book.

Nonetheless, the flowers still dominated the day: Marsh Marigold, Colt’s Foot, Wood Anemone, Lesser Celandine, Daffodil, plus many other UFOs (unidentified flowering objects) made for a superb three hours.

Until later.

We're on the move...

Migration finally got underway apace today, with excellent numbers of passerines and hirundines at the Point of Ayr this morning.

Wheatears were everywhere; in the Talacre Dunes, in the horse paddocks near Presthaven and all over the old colliery site. Sixty three birds this morning – my highest count ever for a single area. Superb.

Sharing a grassy fenced-off section with a pair of Wheatears near the entrance to Presthaven was the bird of the morning – a cracking male Whinchat, a first for the year.

After checking the constant stream of Swallows and Martins for anything unusual I was treated not to a red rump, but a completely different silhouette – my earliest ever Common Swift!

A gropper reeling from some scrub was the next bird of note, but a scan across every blade of grass and every fence post in the horse paddocks for a Ring Ouzel or a Yellow Wagtail drew a blank.

With father time jabbing me firmly in the shoulder blade, a quick look around the new (or old as it should have read -thanks Mark!)** hide produced a Whimbrel and another good flypast from what seems to be the resident jack Merlin.

Point of Ayr 19.4.10

63 Wheatear
1 Whinchat
150+ Meadow Pipit
200+ Swallow
200+ Sand Martin
1 House Martin
1 Swift
1 Whimbrel
1 Merlin (male)
2 Kestrel
1 Grasshopper Warbler

Until later.

** By the way Mark, I bumped into the BHP Land Manager at the Point of Ayr on Tuesday and she said that the RSPB and BHP were just about to decide who is going to apply for planning permission for a replacement hide - 21 months and counting.

A Little Dubius

I could probably have counted the numbers of waders and wildfowl on my fingers and toes this morning (if I was born in Norfolk then almost certainly), but nonetheless some interesting birds were present during my WeBS count at White Sands this morning.

A brace of Whimbrel were not exactly hard to separate from a small flock of Curlew, as both birds called regularly and periodically took small five minute flights as if they knew they had to move but were unsure precisely where they were going.

Hearing in dispatches of a decent fall of Wheatears across the estuary this morning, it was not surprising to find two birds – a female and a probable Greenland male – hopping around the loose boulders at the end of the rivetment.

With my count not exactly taxing me, I decided to use the last thirty minutes to try and scan around for something more unusual. A pair of farmyard ducks was topping the not very impressive list of oddities, until I just caught a couple of small waders creeping across an area of bare earth.

By the time I had pointed my scope towards the area they had taken off, but I soon picked them up through my bins flying straight for me. I initially thought Dunlin, but as the birds veered left and flew twenty yards in front side-on, I could see they were plovers and when I checked the wings for white bars and found they were absent - Little Ringed was confirmed!

Until later.

Bluesky Thinking

Turning on the radio on Thursday evening, I was greeted to silence. This was somewhat of a surprise as my wireless has been set bang-on Radio 4 for three years at least.

I was just about to investigate the problem when a Blackbird broke into song. As soon as it had finished, the owner of the garden that the thrush was singing in said how much she was enjoying the quiet – a rare commodity for her given that she lived directly under the flight path to Heathrow.

Congratulations to PM and Eddie Mair for highlighting the positive side of the cessation of commercial flights across Europe. Contrast the BBC News channel that when not showing pictures of regional reporters inside empty air terminals and aeroplanes parked up on the tarmac, carp on about how much it is costing the economy ad infinitum.

So, in an attempt to provide a little balance, here is a list of some positives to arise from Volcanogate.

1 A glorious clear blue sky unmarked by vapour trails that normally mean our airspace looks more like an Emo’s wrist.

2 The irritating gobshite owner of Ryanair, Michael o’Leary, is losing wodges of cash.

3 Wonderful sunsets.

4 Less carbon dioxide is being pumped into the atmosphere.

5 Blanket news coverage means less time for Brown, Clegg, Cameron et al to espouse hot air, waffle and spin.

And, of course, all those people who are currently sat in their garden with a glass of chabbers, enjoying one of life’s simplest pleasures: birdsong, rather than the roar of Rolls Royce engines.

Until later.

Redstarter for 10

A glorious male Redstart rattling out its scratching song from the top of a leafless and knarled old sessile oak near the village of Llandrillo was the perfect start to my dawn raid of Cadair Berwyn this morning.

If I have a favourite mountain in Wales, then Berwyn and its escarpment is it. For a starter it has fairly unusual topography; running roughly east to west, the ascent from the south is a moderate climb through heather moor, whilst the north face is an almost vertical, precipitous slope of grass and loose rock.

The walk has one other thing going for it too – the flawlessly spic and span public toilet in Llandrillo village – and if you don’t believe me, then pay a visit and read the letters pinned-up on the wall by the local council from a host of satisfied ablutionistas!

Anyway, back to the birds. Like the pair of Dunlin I found breeding up here last year (talk about finding a needle in a haystack) waders were in evidence this spring too in the form a Curlew and also a Snipe. I always get immense satisfaction finding wading birds breeding in the uplands – I imagine our ancestors gained similar satisfaction following a successful hunt!

Expectedly a few Wheatears and a few flyover Ravens were encountered, but the surprise birds of the day were five Crossbills feeding in a small larch copse back on my way down.

Cadair Berwyn 17.4.10

Curlew 1
Snipe 1
Raven 3
Redstart 1
Wheatear 3
Raven 3
Buzzard 2
Crossbill 5

Until later.

The Jet Set

Two Common Sandpipers feeding on the edge of the rapidly drying out bunded pools, plus a Whimbrel poking around the perimeter of the Ash Pool were evidence, finally, of some wader movement at Connah’s Quay this morning.

Migration fascinates me – as I’m sure it does many – and I always imagine how many country stamps these birds would have in their passports - should they have the need to carry one!

With no fear of foreign cultures, unfamiliar cuisine, and no language barrier, many birds are true citizens of the world and a humbling reminder that we human beings didn’t invent the concept of the ‘global village’.

It was also quite ironic to watch a giant airbus wing being freighted along the River Dee - all the fuss we have to go through to do something birds take for granted...

The Black-tailed Godwits must be making final preparations for take off too – many of the birds are now in full breeding plumage. They must make a fabulous spectacle on their breeding grounds; it’s good to know that there is more to Iceland than cod, dodgy banks and Kerry Katona. (And now it appears, ash clouds).

Unexpected visitors included a brace of Twite that put in a brief appearance in front of the west hide – the latest I have ever recorded this species on the estuary.

Connah’s Quay NR 14.4.10

2 Common Sandpiper
1 Whimbrel
1 Greenshank
1 Spotted Redshank
1,100 Black-tailed Godwit
350 Redshank
250 Oystercatcher
30 Curlew
20 Knot
2 Twite
1 GC Grebe

Until later.

The Welsh Prairies

I am starting to get paranoid now. Another walk in the uplands and another Red Kite was dispatched to track me up the mountain. Big Brother is watching me from Kitecam!

What with the fine spell of weather we are enjoying I was in the uplands again checking out another possible spot for breeding Golden Plover following a tip off.

Unfortunately it involved a steep climb to over two thousand feet that would have been enough of a slog in itself, but the hundred metre dip before the summit was just cruel.

People always bang on about ‘views’ – normally estate agents selling houses overlooking our impoverished countryside – that are rarely ‘truly stunning’, but if you excuse a hint of hyperbole on my behalf, the view from the top was incredible - taking in most of North Wales’ major peaks.

Sorry for being vague again about the location, but although my search for Golden Plovers was fruitless, I was treated to very close views of a pair of Hen Harriers – probably on territory.

I don’t want to sound blasé, but Hen Harriers appear to be on the up in North Wales – what a coincidence following the cessation of commercial grouse shooting! Sadly, that means fewer game birds and it was disappointing not to find at least one Black or Red Grouse despite walking through miles of prime habitat.

Aside from the hundreds and hundreds of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks, I didn’t see very much else apart from one Wheatear. But on a day like this it didn’t really matter – and did I tell you about the views…!

Undisclosed Site near the Arenigs 12.04.10

1 Red Kite
2 Hen Harrier (pair)
1 Wheatear
1 Raven

Until later.

Still Hanging On

I imagine being stalked is generally not a pleasant experience. Today, however, was an exception as a Red Kite traced my every footstep around an area of Mynydd Hiraethog. It must have appeared and vanished on at least four separate occasions, until it eventually bumped into another bird (a pair perhaps) before drifting up into the ether on the warm thermals.

Superb as these birds undoubtedly are, the bird that really made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck was the haunting call of a Golden Plover. In stark contrast to the spread of the Red Kite, these glorious waders are declining breeders in the Welsh Uplands, so it was extremely heartening to find at least one bird on territory.

Encouragingly, two other species of wader were also on breeding grounds – I had lovely views of two pairs of Curlew (plus on distant bird trilling) and three pairs of Lapwing too.

Given the legions of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks around and about, it was perhaps not surprising to see that this endless supply of food had not attracted a suitor. I have been spoiled over the last two springs with numerous Hen Harrier encounters in the uplands, so this morning it was good to finally get good views of a Merlin – a very confiding female that nonchalantly sat on a fence post as I wheezed past.

Great weather, great birds and great habitat – it doesn’t get much better than this!

Mynydd Hiraethog (Undisclosed Area) 10.4.10

2 Red Kite
1 Merlin (female)
12+ Buzzard
1 Golden Plover
5 Curlew
6 Lapwing
6 Wheatear
2 Raven
1 Grey Wagtail

Until later.

Glyndyfrdwy

April to June is the golden period as far as I am concerned – a time when after a long and hard winter, the Welsh Uplands dust themselves off and open for business.

Spring migrants may have been thin on the ground this morning in the north Berwyns and a quick glance over towards Carnedd-y-filiast revealed a covering of snow still, but a warm sun and a large chorus of birdsong certainly put a bit more spring in the old step; a spring I may add that is a little more compressed by a heavier load than last year!

A Tree Pipit was good too see – on territory and full of beans too, blasting out verse after verse. Meadow and Tree Pipits can be hard to separate, but this male was an excellent exhibiter of the thin flank stripes and contrasting white/buffish belly most reference books refer to. But, why get technical when the Pipit was, after all, sitting on top of a Tree…

A pair of Wheatears were also on territory and perched on their preferred type of real estate too – a ramshackle stone wall. A flyover Raven was the next bird of note, but save the odd distant Buzzard, the area was unusually devoid of any other raptors.

Glyndyfrdwy 09.04.10

1 Tree Pipit
2 Wheatear
2 Stonechat
1 Raven

Until later.

Ducking and Diving

With a drake American Black Duck a stone’s throw away down at the Conwy Estuary, Stan Skelton and I headed down the A55 to try and catch a peak.

Arriving at RSPB Starbucks we were informed that the bird was last seen a little further down the river, mooching around a sandbank. Frustratingly when we rocked-up it had been flushed by a Ray Mears type out for a late afternoon paddle in his canoe and was consequently nowhere to be seen.

Still, it was hardly a chore to hang around for a while in this gloriously picturesque valley, especially when the local Buzzards and Ravens were up enjoying the thermals.

Speculating that the bird may have returned to the bay near the castle we decided to have one final punt from the footpath that runs around the RSPB reserve. After a blank thirty minutes SS persuaded me to have one final scan over a large number of waders, gulls and wildfowl behind the railway station. After some searching I picked up darkish duck feeding with a pair of Mallards. The bird looked compelling, but it wasn’t until the sun had started to fall thus improving the definition of the bird’s colouration that we could be satisfied it was the Black Duck!

Other interesting birds included a pair of mint Red-breasted Mergansers and plenty of Sand Martins noisily hawking insects over the lagoons.

On a completely unrelated thread – has anybody been following Kingfishergate on the North Wales forum? Personally, I find it astonishing that anybody could be so reckless as to put a picture of a Kingfisher’s nest on a website with the Scouse Alps’ most prominent landmark in the background – you could hardly provide more accurate directions to its location.

He then seems to try and hide behind legal ambiguity in order to justify his actions, but surely he has a moral obligation to ignore any urge he has to take photographs of the birds and err on the side of caution instead. However, I speculate that somebody dumb enough to reveal the nest’s location to all and sundry in the first place, maybe not the best person to exercise personal restraint and good judgement.

And now for something completely different – the benefits of photography! Ashley Cohen has sent me this picture of an Oystie with a warped bill. Minor mutations and distortions of birds’ bills are not uncommon, but peculiarly I saw a Curlew with precisely the same affliction at the same location – Greenfield – only a few weeks ago? Who’d have thunk it?

Until later.

Back on the Beat

I was back on my old beat of Greenfield this morning looking for migrants. With good numbers of Ring Ouzel popping up all over the show, I was hoping to strike lucky this morning too.

I didn’t. However, nine Wheatears, nine Swallows, four Chiffchaffs and a good count of five White Wagtails near the sewage works was a satisfactory return for a ninety minute walk and provided good evidence that this area is a decent spot for birds on the move. Keep watching this space – a Hoopoe is just around the corner!

Still feeling sprightly, I opted to a walk around another of my favourite spots: Garth Wood. As soon as I opened the car door a Comma butterfly floated past and at least four different Chiffchaffs could be heard singing nearby; in fact I think for the entire duration of the walk I was never out of earshot of at least one Chiffchaff and by the end I had racked up twelve males in full verse.

No Willow Warblers or Blackcaps (or Ioras DJ!) yet though and I can’t remember the last time I was in a woodland during spring and didn’t hear one single Great Tit singing its familiar ‘teacher-teacher’ refrain.

Garth did give up one of its more uncommon residents today mind you – I enjoyed a good twenty minutes sat in a sea of Wood Anemone watching a Dipper near where the footpath crosses the stream.

It was heartening to see a few other flowers finally in bloom too – Lesser Celandine and Primrose were in flower, plus a couple of others I snapped on my mobile phone that I still trying to reconcile with illustrations from my Collins’ book of British Wildlife!!

Until later.

Red Polls on the March

A busy Easter weekend meant little time for birding, but I did get the opportunity to take a walk around Primrosehill Wood near Kelsall, Cheshire.

Surprisingly, the canopy of the woodland was absolutely buzzing with activity, with the larch trees in particular hosting very large flocks of Siskin and Lesser Redpoll – the biggest numbers of either species I have ever seen!

The birds were around the Harrow Hill area of the wood and their ranks also contained two Brambling – one a cracking summer plumaged male – and at least ten Crossbill too, although typically they were heard but not seen.

Lots of zilpzalps were singing from the young birch plantations that also included a half-hearted Yellowhammer too. These sections of the wood can be really profitable in spring for warblers, with the difficult to locate Garden Warbler normally in residence alongside the similar sounding Blackcaps.

Primerosehill Wood 4.4.10

400+ Siskin
300+ Lesser Redpoll
10 Crossbill
2 Brambling
6 Chiffchaff
4 Nuthatch
1 Yellowhammer

Until later.

It'll be all White on the Night

A pleasant walk around the environs of Burton Point produced a good selection of birds including a ringtail Hen Harrier, a jack Merlin and tens of Black-tailed Godwits and Meadow Pipits.

As sod’s law dictates, after theorising about the lack of male raptors on the estuary, the last three Merlin I have seen – including this evening’s bird – have been males, after seeing no more than a handful over the last five years!

The Godwits and the Pipits were taking advantage of the inundation of the marsh by the recent high tides; the stately waders probing busily in the softened and saturated earth, whilst the Pipits foraged along the strandline.

Migrants included two male Wheatears behind the sheep pens, and also notably a White Wagtail feeding with a group of Pipits near the sentry box.

A local Green Woodpecker was also making its presence known with a series of loud yaffles and also giving its voice box a good work out was a Common Buzzard taking advantage of the weak early spring thermals.

Plenty of Wrens singing today too – they have been eerily quiet since the harsh winter, but over the last three or four days I have heard a fair few birds breaking into verse. I always assumed Wrens to be largely resident, but I can only assume that there has been a recent influx of these diminutive passerines from the continent?

Until later.

Iora Found in North Wales?

I found this interesting article in the Oriental Bird Club Magazine this morning - thought it may be of some interest…

A nomadic passerine, originally considered to be a race of Marshall’s Iora, has been discovered by a British Ornithologist breeding in Great Britain. The bird was found by Roger Rogers of the British Trust for Ornithology whilst conducting a routine piece of survey work in a remote wooded area of North Wales.

The bird is now considered by most ornithologists as a separate species and has subsequently been named after the Austrian naturalist who first identified the bird in 1917 - Hans Llopf. It is now known by its latin name Aegithinia llopfia, but more commonly referred to Llopf’s Iora.

It is not understood how the bird arrived in the United Kingdom, but this Indian endemic has been found stowing away on aircraft and with the increasing number of flights between the subcontinent and Europe, an invasion of the Western Paleartic has been widely predicted for a number years .

Said Rahul Dravid of the Bombay Natural History Society: “In recent years small populations have established themselves in Dubai and New Jersey – almost certainly birds that have hitched a lift via aircraft. Indeed, Llopf’s Iora breeds near Mumbai airport at the MG National Park. There seems to be a correlation between where the colonies are found and the destinations that Kingfisher Airways flies too. We can’t be sure, but the company’s aircraft hanger does lie on the perimeter of the airstrip – right next to the forest. You only have to put two and two together and Kingfisher has recently started flights to Birmingham too.”

The location is currently being kept secret, but there are fears that if the Iora has a chance to establish itself, it will dominate other species and force out already threatened birds such as Pied Flycatcher, Redstart and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

Jenny Dogood from the UK’s RSPB was quoted as saying: “There are fears that Llopf’s Iora could be the avian equivalent of the Grey Squirrel. Not only does the Iora overwhelm our native birds, but in India it is also known to predate the Pygmy Woodpecker and there are worries that if it does establish itself, then the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker could disappear for good –down the throat of the Iora.”

Local birders are both frustrated and excited. One of their ranks, a chap called Kenny Kite mused: “I can understand the secrecy and I do have fears for our native wildlife. On the other hand, Llopf’s Iora would be a LIFER for me and I am quite keen to see it, before the Environment Agency sends their men in with guns.”

Until later.