Julian Hughes
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penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Julian Hughes
@penrhynbirder.bsky.social
900 followers 350 following 650 posts
Nature, and saving it. Editor Welsh Bird Report. https://birdsin.wales/
Weekly BirdNotes in Daily Post. http://www.birdnotes.wales/
Co-editor of The Birds of Wales. http://tinyurl.com/TheBirdsOfWales
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penrhynbirder.bsky.social
My first Woodcock of autumn and perhaps my last butterfly. A Goshawk in half-hearted display and a couple of pairs of Choughs from nests elsewhere in Y Carneddau.

Glorious to be out, coatless, under blue skies in Cwm Anafon. #BirdingWales
November 8, 2025 at 6:48 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Enjoyable @cofnod.org.uk conference @bangoruniversity.bsky.social, celebrating its 20th anniversary, all under Roy Tapping's leadership.

Gathering of #NorthWales nature people, great opportunity to learn about other taxa, kicked off by Clare from @rspbcymru.bsky.social @naturambyth.bsky.social...
November 7, 2025 at 6:11 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Well late for #WildFlowerHour as I've been attached to the laptop since dusk cos I chose to play in the sunshine today.

Lots of Red Campion and Yarrow on a walk above Nefyn and the delicious coconut aroma of Gorse. A couple of Red Admirals and Chiffchaffs and I almost believed it was summer.
Yarrow, a white petalled flower growing beside the footpath near Nefyn on Pen Llyn, North Wales.
November 2, 2025 at 10:44 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
The annual rarities report from @britishbirdsbbrc.bsky.social, always a good read for a winter evening.

But en route, do stop and read a fascinating @britishbirds.bsky.social 'Eye' article from Sula Brookes about developing names for birds in #BSL British Sign Language. Brilliant work.
Cover of British Birds magazine for October 2024, featuring a photo of an Asian Desert Warbler on a dead Rose branch. The warbler is small and brown, with a pale throat, chestnut tail and yellow legs and iris. The title of the BBC Eye article: "British Birds and British Sign Language: signs of change" above a photo of a male House Sparrow on an orange roof tile. The House Sparrow is pale grey below, with a black throat that extends to its breast, a dark bill and eye, a grey crown and a chestnut back to the head.
October 28, 2025 at 1:26 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Woke to a wild and wet morning on the Ceredigion coast, but that's fine as today is indoors at the annual @birdsinwales.bsky.social Conference @aberuni.bsky.social. Look forward to catching up and meeting new people.
October 25, 2025 at 7:05 AM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
And here was your Godwit taking off @societyofwildlifeartists Natural Eye exhibition last week.

Delighted that another person gets to admire @fidhw.bsky.social's glass bird talents.
October 20, 2025 at 8:15 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Even more niche than my usual posts...

Coming into Crewe just now, I noticed an engine with the plate 'Avocet' that I remember being named for the @rspb.bsky.social centenary in 1989.

Turns out that it is unique in railway history and restoration has just been completed by enthusiasts.
The unique Class 89, 89001, was built as a prototype in 1986 for a fleet that was never ordered. 89001 was named "Avocet" on 16th January 1989, with the plates removed again by July 1992 when the loco was put up for sale. Bought privately by a team of Brush engineers, it passed through the ownership of a bus company before being sold to GNER who overhauled the loco and returned it to traffic in 2000. It was again stored in 2003, and moved to Barrow Hill into the group's care at the end of 2004. Following attention from the group, the loco was passed fit to move by rail and travelled to Crewe Works and Norwich for events in 2005. Put up for sale by GNER in October 2006, our "89 Appeal" resulted in the purchase of the loco by the end of the year. It was repainted into original InterCity Executive livery in early 2007, and then in 2020 into Inter City Swallow livery. Copied from website mentioned in post.
October 18, 2025 at 2:10 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Splashes of yellow and purple amid the greens and browns on Mynydd Mawr, the most westerly point in #NorthWales, yesterday.

Western Gorse, a couple of species of heather and this patch of Creeping Cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans). #WildFlowerHour
October 12, 2025 at 7:08 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Turnstones lined up to be counted on today's @webs-gsmp.bsky.social survey on the #Conwy estuary, rather than huddling together.

Made it easy to find each one marked by SCAN ringing group. Except that all stood on the leg with a yellow ring, and kept the leg with an inscribed flag tucked away...
A row of Turnstones (small wading birds that are dark brown above and white below, with bright orange legs) line up on the wooden edge of Deganwy Quay. The photo is taken over the wall from the car park, the birds just a couple of metres away from people out enjoying the seaside.
October 12, 2025 at 2:56 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
From the summit of Mynydd Anelog, despite the cloud, I could see Strumble Head in Pembrokeshire and @rspbcymru.bsky.social South Stack on Anglesey, a distance of 90 miles.

Not too many places that you can see a greater distance between two points in #Cymru.
October 11, 2025 at 6:51 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Great to see Highland Cattle introduced by @nationaltrust.org.uk to graze Llyn's coastal slopes, improving conditions for invertebrates, flora and Choughs below the @walescoastpath1.bsky.social.

Plenty of Choughs feeding around the cloddiau and crags, including a flock of 20+ on Mynydd Carreg.
A ginger-coloured Highland Cow with large black-tipped horns, lies beside the Wales Coast Path, chewing the cud and watching out to sea, beyond a low rocky island.The opposite side of the valley is a bracken monoculture, and breaking it up by grazing is doubtless one of the reasons that the cattle have been introduced here. New fencing has been installed towards the bottom of the slopes to ensure the cattle remain safe. If the cattle open up the vegetation, the more varied structure (as well as the invertebrates in the cow pats) will help Choughs to forage. A clawdd (plural cloddiau) is an earth bank faced with stones and usually topped with turf. It is the traditional boundary of fields in western Llyn and Ynys Enlli, and provides a great place for Choughs to probe their curved red bills into the soil in search of invertebrates. It's hard to grow a hedge in these parts, and definitely looks better than a fence.
October 11, 2025 at 4:25 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Migrants in Llyn valleys as elusive as the forecast sunshine for #WorldMigratoryBirdDay (there may be a nano-pixel of Radde's Warbler @bardseybirdobs.bsky.social in the background!).

Plenty of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits airborne and maybe my last Red Admiral of 2025 on Mynydd Anelog. #BirdingWales
Mynydd Mawr rises out of a calm sea, the clawdd-fringed, irregularly-shaped pasture fields in the foreground giving way to the brown bracken and heather-clad slopes. Bardsey (Ynys Enlli) lies offshore in the background.
October 11, 2025 at 4:25 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Guten morgen. Love the range of cheeses available at the local market. I could even have bought a #Snowdonia cheese.

But we need a word about geographic origin, Deutschland.
Snowdonia "Black Bomber" cheese for sale on a market stall in northern Germany. The accompanying sign (8.50 Euros a piece) shows its country of origin as England.
October 4, 2025 at 7:44 AM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
The Swifts don't know (they're whizzing around over Africa now) but it's their big day @senedd.wales. I'm on BBC Radio #Wales in a few minutes talking about the petition to mandate Swift Bricks in new buildings, started by @juliabarrell.bsky.social

www.northwaleswildlifetrust.org.uk/take-action/...
October 1, 2025 at 6:53 AM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Before the rain arrived, first visit to my two @btobirds.bsky.social Winter Bird Survey squares above Conwy, which I otherwise rarely visit outside the breeding season.

Quite a few Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps still around, Robin winter territories galore, and several Choughs foraging on the mountain.
September 27, 2025 at 10:06 AM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Blue skies and warm sunshine for my last non-work Friday until next April. Started at Ynys Badrig where 28 Gannet chicks are yet to fledge, some still very downy. On to Llyn Llygeirian where a Bittern stalked the reed fringe. Then Alaw estuary to find a Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper... 1/2
September 26, 2025 at 5:28 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Interesting read about timing and distance of migration by Common Scoters.

Also confirms important role of Irish Sea/Liverpool Bay for Icelandic breeding population as well as those from eastern Europe that are vismigged across northern England each spring and autumn.
September 23, 2025 at 8:23 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Just add water... (and a load of warden know-how). An hour at @rspbcymru.bsky.social Cors Ddyga: the first Pintails arriving, flocks of Golden Plover wheeling through the sky and Snipe exploring the new pools.

Cattle Egrets forage among the cows. Unseen, Skylarks calls above. Magic!

#BirdingWales
September 23, 2025 at 7:25 AM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
The Wales Sabine's Gull chart for the 21st century so far, with doubtless more records to come - more info in Alt Text. Final figures will appear in @birdsinwales.bsky.social 2025 Report.

The column also includes welcome news from @highseasalliance.bsky.social; thanks @stubutchart.bsky.social.
Chart showing Sabine's Gull numbers in Wales each year since 2001. The previous highest total was 176 in 2011, while 261 have already been reported on Birdguides in 2025. This autumn's provisional total is six-times the annual average. To provide some context, the total this decade is 462 so far, compared to 410 in 2010-19, 327 in 2000-09 and 148 in 1990-99.
September 22, 2025 at 6:04 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
With several sites in Wales hosting multiple Grey Phalaropes over the weekend, 2025 is now the best year this century, with 112. #BirdingWales

The best-ever year will take some beating, however. 227 were seen from The Smalls lighthouse alone in just 12 days, during 18-29 September 1960.
Chart shows the number of Grey Phalaropes recorded in Wales annually since 2001. The best year on record was, until this weekend, 2001 with 107 individuals. 2025 has now overtaken that with 112.
September 21, 2025 at 6:32 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Finally digitised transects I walked in May, counting Wood Warblers in the Conwy catchment. All 308.6km of them, mainly in @natreswales.bsky.social - managed Coed Gwydyr.

Reliving sunny mornings and warbler and flycatcher songs brightened a dull job on a dank day. Hope they're safely in Africa now.
Map of the Afon Conwy catchment showing the routes walked in the semi-natural woodlands and plantations of Coed Gwydyr during Wood Warbler surveys in May 2025. Although the GIS tells me that I walked 308km, my phone at the time put it closer to 400km with all the back-and-forth returns from dead-end tracks and multiple loops!
September 20, 2025 at 6:51 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
A quick chart to show how 2025 looks for Grey Phalaropes so far in #Wales, based only on those reported by @birdguides.bsky.social. It's just 12 away from the 2008 total with 3.5 months to go and counts from Strumble Head to come, which are usually provided at the end of the season. #BirdingWales
Chart shows the number of Grey Phalaropes recorded in Wales annually since 2001. 2025 is currently the third highest bar with 71. The only years with greater numbers were 2008 (82) and 2001 (107). The average is 29 birds.
September 16, 2025 at 6:50 AM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
There's probably a Grey Phalarope in this clip, but I spotted it only after I'd filmed. Swimming, occasionally making short flights and dipping into the waves. Magic little birds!

Also at Porth Cwyfan, 120+ Sandwich Terns, Whitethroat and several Greenshanks. #BirdingWales @angbirdnews.bsky.social
September 12, 2025 at 12:55 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Daw eto haul ar fryn

A rare day out of the office - and I got absolutely soaked. But the sun will shine again on the hill.
A rainbow 🌈 arcs above a lone tree growing among flowering heather on a North Wales moor, against dark clouds from the rain that passed
September 4, 2025 at 8:00 PM
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
This is fantastic news from @birdwatchireland.bsky.social, for the whole Irish Sea tern meta-population 👏. Can't be too many sites that are suitable for all five species.

Had a quick look for #Wales and can find four sites that have held all five species at some point, but never at the same time!
Map of northwest Wales (UK) showing 42 sites in vice-counties Caernarfonshire and Ynys Mon (Anglesey) that held breeding terns at least once between 1880 and 2023. Only five of these were occupied in 2025. Cemlyn, Inland Sea, a private site and Ynys Llanddwyn have all held Common, Sandwich, Arctic, Little and Roseate Tern at some point during that period, but the most at one time is four of those species. Generally, Little Tern's habitat needs are a bit different to the others, so they have rarely been in a mixed colony in Wales.
September 3, 2025 at 3:18 PM