Julian Hughes

#BirdingWales

Mute Swans: where do they all come from…? Populations of most breeding birds are measured in pairs, or sometimes, singing males, and while most small songbirds attempt to nest every year of their short lives, the same is not true of larger...

Wales' fourth Pacific Golden Plover leads the cast of visitors in @northwaleslive.bsky.social BirdNotes. And as I ponder where the flocks of moulting Mute Swans originate, @btobirds.bsky.social ringers have the answer.

📷 @keelebirder.bsky.social. #BirdingWales

www.birdnotes.wales/blog/mute-sw...

@markhipkin.bsky.social Nice!

The #marineheatwave update for this week from @mercatorocean.bsky.social shows some pretty intense conditions off the Norwegian coast, and sustained abnormal #SST around the UK and Bay of Biscay. I wonder how such an extreme year in the #NorthAtlantic will affect #seabird productivity this year...

Dewch draw i ddysgu am y #gylfinir ar y Maes heddiw. #cysylltugylfinircymru #eisteddfod2025. Un o'r 28 enwau lleol ar ei chyfer yw aderyn y glaw.

I love the idea of Storm Florist... Thousands of tulips, roses and lilies blasting east at 70 knots

Good news from Wim Van den Bossche:
"decree published, no Curlew and Black-tailed Godwit hunting allowed in #france till (at least) 1 july 2026 🙏"
legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORF...
#ornithology
Hunting bans can make a difference - see what happened in GB:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2022/04/21/c...

Senior Conservation Officer | RSPB Are you passionate about providing a future for Wales’s wildlife? Do you have a clear understanding of the challenges facing our coastal, upland, woodland and wetland wildlife? Are you a team player w...

#SwyddiGwylltCymru #WalesWildlifeJobs

Senior Conservation Officer with @rspbcymru.bsky.social, closing date 03/08/25

app.vacancy-filler.co.uk/salescrm/Car...

Maps showing the 73 marine and coastal/terrestrial IBAs published by BirdWatch Ireland. Text reads: New assessment. Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas for seabirds across Ireland. 73 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas to inform seabird conservation Consultations, experts, colony data, tracking data, at-sea survery data Asks of Irish Government

@birdwatchireland.bsky.social, with support from @birdlifeglobal.bsky.social , @birdlifeeurope.bsky.social and collaborators, have published 73 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas for Seabirds.

Learn more➡️ www.seabirdtracking.org/birdwatch-ir...

With massive thanks to all involved!

✨ One win at a time!

Our Dutch partner @vogelbeschermingnl.bsky.social just won a court case to protect more seabirds at the Bruine Bank/Brown Bank in the North Sea! 🌊

More species will now receive legal protection in this critical foraging and migration zone. A big win for seabirds and science.

A female Greenfinch is perched on a branch looking unwell. Her feathers are fluffed up, which can be a sign of trichomonosis.

Help @rspbscience.bsky.social study bird disease (trichomonosis) outbreaks

If you see a sick or dead bird in your garden, please report it here: gardenwildlifehealth.org

@bto-gbw.bsky.social
@zslscience.bsky.social
📷 Ben Andrew

Storyville - Copa '71: The Lost Lionesses A Storyville documentary about an extraordinary football tournament, told through the fearless voices of the women who took part and including recently uncovered archive footage.

Still cheering The #Lionesses and missing football on TV? Well worth watching this. Great first-person testimony from women now in their 60s and 70s whose matches filled stadia with >100,000 fans.

And monumental misogyny that stopped the women's game in its tracks.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Shoutouts to @northwaleswt.bsky.social, @glaslynospreys.bsky.social and @brenigospreys.bsky.social.

Pit-stop for world traveller A Curlew Sandpiper took on much-needed food at Gronant beach at the weekend, its plumage rich in brick-red tones moulting into grey-and-white winter dress. Assuming this individual made a breeding...

In this week's @northwaleslive.bsky.social BirdNotes, news from Osprey nests and a roundup of sightings in #NorthWales, including this fine Curlew Sandpiper (📷Joel Tragen). And have your say on proposed name change for a popular nature reserve.

#BirdingWales

www.birdnotes.wales/blog/pit-sto...

Nature prescribed for health in new Welsh scheme Newport is the first city in Wales to introduce RSPB Nature Prescriptions, a scheme promoting nature-based activities to improve health and wellbeing. Backed by healthcare professionals and public support, the free, non-medical initiative aims to reduce stress and anxiety through stronger connections with nature, following successful pilots in Scotland and England.

Newport has become the first city in Wales to launch Nature Prescriptions – an innovative scheme promoting time in nature as a tool to boost health and wellbeing:

Poster for WOS Conference

📣 Mae tocynnau ar gyfer Cynhadledd eleni ‘Gwylio, Gwrando…a Chofnodi! Gwnewch i’ch Adara Gyfrif’ bellach ar werth i aelodau. Ar werth i bawb arall Medi 1af (Rheswm da arall i ymuno â WOS)
@rspbcymru.bsky.social
@btocymru.bsky.social

birdsin.wales/2025-annual-...

Poster for this year’s WOS Conference

📣 Tickets for this year’s Conference ‘Hear it! See it! Record it! - Making Your Birding Count’ are now on sale to WOS members. General sale on September 1. Yet another reason to join WOS!
@rspbcymru.bsky.social
@btocymru.bsky.social

birdsin.wales/2025-annual-...

A busy day talking about saving nature at the Royal Welsh Show, and to thank the @senedd.wales Curlew champion @markisherwoodms.bsky.social.

Thanks to @gwct.org.uk for hosting several events, this one with @natreswales.bsky.social, both farming unions and #Curlew Connections Wales.

Horrible, sickening & all too familiar news. As an RSPB volunteer, I’ve enjoyed getting to know ‘Dynamo’ over the past six years - a remarkable bird who during that time sired so many chicks in the Bowland fells. How can there be any argument against the strict licensing of grouse shooting estates?

Ymgynghoriad cyhoeddus ar newid enw gwarchodfa ger #Bangor #NorthWales
Mae gwybodaeth hanesyddol wedi dod i'n sylw ni, gan ddarparu tystiolaeth ar gyfer newid yr enw o 'Spinnies Aberogwen' i 'Llyn Celanedd'.

www.northwaleswildlifetrust.org.uk/cy/news/ymgy...

It should (be 'are'), but I always get that wrong too.

Thanks Zak. I've followed him for when he does!

Agree, there are lots of places that merit inclusion. PS. I had nothing to do with the ad, I just saw it when I opened the magazine this morning.

Top work by Nick and @zspaull.bsky.social, and 👏 to every warden - paid and unpaid - who looks after tern and other seabird colonies, through baking heat and lashing rain. We salute you. Diolch!

Brilliant to see @transportforwales.bsky.social advertising in @rspb.bsky.social supporter magazine, promoting great places to experience nature accessible by rail in Cymru. Da iawn!

It's a special kind of skill that not only is the Oystercatcher not in focus, but neither is the field... #TopMarks

#BirdingWales

It’s not over until the last Gannet flies ​The breeding season for Welsh birds is long. It started before Christmas, when the first Fulmars occupied favoured ledges on seacliffs. Through February, some Ravens and Grey Herons sat tight on...

For some birds, autumn migration is underway, the breeding season for others has a long way to go.

News from #NorthWales in @northwaleslive.bsky.social, with recent sightings and @cms.int welcome for @welshgovernment.bsky.social intent to ban lead ammunition

www.birdnotes.wales/blog/its-not...

A long time since the numbers of butterflies exceeded the count of birds on my @birdtrack.bsky.social list. A dozen species along a couple of km of the #Anglesey Coast Path near Porth Swtan.

Plenty of Swallows feeding and a few Whimbrels and Common Sandpipers on migration.

Who says you can't find your own space in #Eryri? We met not a soul today while exploring Cwm Pennant. Found a Whinchat family (not a common breeding species in Caernarfonshire), many dozens of Ringlet butterflies and a Keeled Skimmer. Hundreds of Heath Spotted Orchids too. #BirdingWales