Birds in Wales

374 Pages·2011·22.557 MB·English

by  Roger Lovegrove, Iolo Williams, Graham Williams

BIRDS IN WALES
http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield
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TheDeeatLlangollen
Birds in Wales
by ROGER LOVEGROVE, GRAHAM WILLIAMS
and IOLO WILLIAMS
Illustratedby
Kim Atkinson, Phil Bristow,Terence Lambert, Darren Rees,
Philip Snow and Owen Williams
T&ADPOYSER
London
First published 1994 by T & AD Poyser Ltd
Print-on-demand and digital editions published 2010 by T & AD Poyser,
an imprint of A&C Black Publishers Ltd, 36 Soho Square, London W1D 3QY
Copyright © 1994 text by Roger Lovegrove, Graham Williams and Iolo Wiliams
Copyright © 1994 illustrations by Kim Atkinson, Phil Bristow, Terence Lambert,
Darren Rees, Philip Snow and Owen Williams
ISBN (print) 978-1-4081-3792-5
ISBN (epub) 978-1-4081-3790-1
ISBN (e-pdf) 978-1-4081-3791-8
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form
or by any means – photographic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, re-
cording, taping or information storage or retrieval systems – without permission of the
publishers.
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Contents
Preface 7
Acknowledgements 9
The Artists 11
1 The Welsh Counties - administrative boundaries 13
2 Myth and history 14
3 Sources and references 17
4 Principal sites mentioned in species accounts 18
5 Physical characteristics and bird habitats 19
6 Bird recording in Wales 24
7 The impact ofagriculture on birds 27
8 The offshore waters ofWales 29
9 Backgroundto the species accounts 33
The species accounts 36
Appendices
1 Scientific names ofspecies mentioned in the text 351
2 List ofstatutoryand non-statutory sites ofespecial
significance for birds inWales 352
3 List of acronyms and initials used in the text 353
4 Escapes and species which have notbeen admitted
to the British and Irish List 353
References 355
Species index 367
IMeg, Daia'r teulu ameichcefnogaeth.
ToJudithand Charlottewithlove.
For theLady Mary
AMyrddinsy'ngwauhud alledrith
Preface
It seemedagoodideainApril 1981whentwoofustalked middle of the 19th century, by men such as Doddridge-
with Trevor Poyser about the merits of setting out on a KnightandLewisDillwyn areinvaluable records- would
project toproduce, forthe firsttime, aBirdsofWales,asa that there were more of them, whatever the doubts or
companion volumetothatwhich ValerieThomwasplan- queries wemight haveabout theaccuracyofoneortwoof
ning inScotland. We knewthen that weweretaking on a theinclusions.
fairly big commitment and agreed with Trevor that it However, itisnot onlyforthe 19thcenturythat such a
wouldbeover-optimistictoaimtocomplete itinlessthan paucityofinformationand writtenrecord existsinWales.
fiveyears.Little did werealise just how much ofacom- Although,withtheriseofconcernfornatureconservation
mitmentit would turn out to be! We slowlygrasped the and the environmentingeneral, wehavesomehigh-qual-
astuteness of Valerie Thom in negotiating a Sabbatical ity data on the numbers and distributionofmany species
yeartoproduceBirdsinScotlandaswestruggledtomatch within threatened groups or communities, great gaps in
our workingcommitmentswith the RSPB tothe ebb tide our knowledge are still evident. Thus we have good
oftimeinresearching the book.Deadlinepasseddeadline indices for breedingseabird populations since the 1970s,
and how Trevor Poyser and later Andrew Richford accurate data for many birds of prey, notably the rarer
remainedsopatientisaconstantwonder tous.In 1989we ones, and regular figures for intertidal populations of
were joinedon the permanentstaffofRSPB in Walesby wildfowland wadingbirds butat the sametime weknow
1010Williams, who with the enthusiasmofrelative youth desperately little about the fluctuations ofmany common
did not resist the invitation to become the third author. passerine species. No more than seven Common Bird
He has not only brought an added dimension of Census plots havebeen worked foraslongasten yearsin
Welshness to the book but has worked likeaTrojan and Walesand eventhese fewdonot lend themselveseasilyto
webelieveit is true to saythat without his participation comparisons, one with another, as they cover different
and the share that he tookon it isalmost certain that the types of habitat. It has not been possible for us to quote
bookwouldnothavebeencompleted. even one example of density for a range of some of our
We have thoroughly enjoyed writing this book and, commoner species, for example, Swift, Jay,
despite the staccato progress which hasmarked its gesta- Yellowhammer. The comparison between the level of
tion, never for amoment have wetired ofit or wished it information known about our commonest species in
werenot there. Ratherwehaveached tohavethe time to Walesand most areasin England isasoberingone, miti-
put into the research which the subject fully deserves. gatedonlyinpart bythe frequentpleathatWalesisthinly
Despiteour full-time involvementin birds and bird con- populated(certainly byfieldbirdwatchers!).Thestatus of
servation in Wales we have, apart from anything else, many of our commoner species is actually most poorly
learned somuch ourselves throughthe writing ofit.Even known in thoseareaswhich havethe highesthumanpop-
at this finalstageofits preparation wewould wishforsix ulations!
months free from other commitments to delve more Regular county bird reports (or annotated summaries)
deeplyforhistorical nuggets which wearesure arestillto began first in Montgomeryshire in 1947 (now defunct
befound. even in summary since 1981-82) followed by the
This isthe first attempt there has been to produce an Cambrian Bird Report in 1953-54 (covering Anglesey,
authoritative Birds in Wales, which has meant that we Caernarfonshire, Denbighshire and Merioneth) and the
have had to search as far back into the annals of written Glamorgan Bird Report in 1962. At the time of writing
records asweare able. We are not clear whether our job (1993),annual reports are now published covering allthe
has been made easier or more difficult by the fact that (old)WelshCountiesexcept, sadly,Montgomeryshire.
Wales has been very poorly served by way of historical County avifaunas have been produced at one time or
ornithological information. Before the flush of growing anotherforallcounties except Anglesey- oneofthe most
interest in birds which manifested itselfin amodest tide exciting bird areas of Wales - Montgomeryshire and
of written records, county lists and avifaunas for several Denbighshire(althoughHope Jones and LawtonRoberts
"fashionable" areas ofWales around the end of the 19th produced alist ofDenbighshire birds in 1982).We have
and early20th centuries, there isdesperately little byway certainly felt handicapped in producing this volume, by
of written accounts to tell us the bird populations ofany theabsenceoftheseaccounts.
areas of the Principality. Even A. G. More in 1865, It isinevitable that wehave no illusions about the fact
attempting the first comprehensive collation of informa- that this account ofthe birds ofWales,albeit asfullaswe
tiononthe distributionofbirds duringthe nesting season can make it, reveals the enormous gaps that exist in our
in GreatBritain, could find fewcorrespondents in Wales knowledge ofbird occurrencesand populationsinWales;
able to supply him with information and his coverageof wecan do little about the past and that willremain sub-
birds in the Principality is barely even a veneer. stantially a tantalising mystery, but we can apply our-
Accordingly the one or two local lists produced in the selvestothe future and itisour hope that otherswillseek
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8 Preface
toupdate this volumeinthenot-too-distantfuture and be book will act as a catalyst for improved bird recording
able to bridge many of the gaps which we are, through throughoutWales,especiallyinthoseareaswhicharecur-
necessity,leavingunfilled.Inthisrespect wehopethat the rently mostpoorlycovered.
Acknowledgements
It is self-evident that no attempt could be made to pro- (Anglesey), Tony Pickup (Rhandirmwyn), David
duce a book such as this without enormous help from a Saunders (Milford Haven), Brig. Clive Simson (Aston
great number of people: amateur birdwatchers, county Rowant), Dick Squires (Eglwysfach), Clive Stephenson
recorders, professional ornithologists,archivists, museum (Minffordd), Ken Stott (Guilsfield), Dr Derek Thomas
staff,foresters and ahost ofothers. Toallthose whohave (Gower), Mike Walker (Llanwddyn), Colin Wells (Dee
givenhelpininnumerablerespects werecord adeep debt Estuary), PaulWhalley(LlanfairP.G.),DrDavid Worrell
of gratitude, which is difficult to express adequately. (exFlatholm),IvorWynmclean(Caergeiliog).
Wales isasmall country and it is therefore easier to feel We have a special debt to those who have read and
that oneknowssuch people individually. In addition, the commented on drafts of individual species accounts,
factthat allthreeauthors work forTheRoyalSociety for many ofthem people making important contributions to
the Protection of Birds (RSPB) means that part of our the accuracy and fullness of the texts. While the authors
daily work involves us in contact with many individuals hold themselves whollyresponsible for allthe statements
throughout Wales and we have the privilege to number madethroughoutthebook,wegratefullyacknowledgethe
most ofthose whoare quoted belowamong our personal collectivewisdomand experienceofallthese people:Ted
friends. We are deeply grateful for all they have con- Abraham, DuncanBrown, NigelBrown, Ken Croft,Peter
tributed. Davis, Peter Dare, Jack Donovan, Rob Evans, Dr Peter
Our first thanks are to our publisher, initially Trevor Ferns, Julian Friese, Tony Fox, Ken Jones, Owen
Poyser himself and latterly Andrew Richford, for help, Leyshon, Alastair Moralee, Steve Moon, Ian Morgan,
advice,encouragementand aseeminglybottomless wellof Steve Parr, Martin Peers, Peter Rathbone, Ivor Rees,
patience.Ithasbeenapleasure workingwithboth. Graham Rees, Dilwyn Roberts, David Saunders, Peter
County bird recorders have tolerated innumerable Schofield, Mike Shrubb, Barry Stewart, Anna Sutcliffe,
requests from us and have responded with kindness and Steve Sutcliffe, Stephanie Tyler, John Underhill-Day,
generosity to an almost endless barrage of questions and Eddie Urbanski.
queries: Peter Davis (Cardiganshire),Jack Donovan and Help hasbeen given to us in awide spectrumoffields
Graham Rees (Pembrokeshire), Brayton Holt bymany others. BenAveris,Mick Green, DavidThomas
(Montgomeryshire), Peter Jennings (Radnorshire), andChristieWild put inmanyhoursofworkintheearlier
Martin Peers (Breconshire), Peter Rathbone years in extracting records from written sources and
(Denbighshire and Flintshire), Dilwyn Roberts museum collections. Andy Irwin latterly gavemuch help
(Carmarthenshire), Reg Thorpe (Merioneth), Tom inextractingwildfowldata.StephenHowe intheGeology
GravettandAlanDavies(Caernarfonshireand Anglesey), DepartmentattheNational MuseumofWaleshasrepeat-
SteveMoon (Mid and SouthGlamorgan),Brian Gregory edly pointed us in the direction of many important
(Monmouthshire),HaroldGrenfell(WestGlamorgan). archaeological sources for some of the earlier records of
Many other individuals have helped with specific individual species in Wales. Other Museum staff have
requests for information or clarification: Ian Armstrong alsobeenofmajorassistance,mainlythroughtheiroologi-
(Heddon-on-the-Wall),DrRichard Arnold (Bangor)who cal collections of Welsh material: Dr Colin Harrison,
has unselfishly made manuscript notes and diaries avail- British Museum at Tring; Prof. Peter Morgan and Dr
able to us, Raymond Bark-Jones (Formby),John Barnes StephenGreen, NationalMuseumofWales; Prof. W. G.
(Waunfawr), Michael Betts (Skokholm), Ron Birch Hale, Liverpool Polytechnic; Dr C. A. Parsons,Jourdain
(Saughall), Nigel Brown (Bangor) has been unstinting Society Collection at Gloucester Museum; David M.
with his time on innumerable occasions, Rob Cockbain Niles, Delaware Museum of National History; R. D.
(Liverpool), Ken Croft (Anglesey), Rob Evans James, Royal Ontario Museum; Philip Nagle,
(Llanfairfechan), Peter Fraser (Bristol), Andrew SmithsonianInstitute;Lloyd Kiff, WesternFederationof
Gouldstone (Holywell), Bob Haycock (Stackpole), Steve Vertebrate Zoology; John Bull, American Museum of
Howe (Cardiff), Mark Hughes (Penmaenmawr), Merfyn Natural History; Raymond Paynter, Agassiz Museum;
Hughes (Llanfairfechan), Rob Hume (RSPB, Sandy), Gillian King, Oxford Museum; Janet Hamber, Santa
Clive Hurford (Cardiff), (late) Gordon Ireson Barbara Museum of Natural History; Prof. Geoffrey
(Bridgnorth), Richard Knight (Rhayader), Peter Mathews, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT),
Lansdown (Cardiff), John Lawton Roberts (Llangollen), Slimbridge. Other very fruitful sources have been the
J. C. Wyn Lewis (Llanrhidian), Harold McSweeny Alexander Library, Edward Grey Institute(EGI)Oxford
(Aberedw), Alastair Moralee (Holyhead), Sally Moralee (Coward, Oldham, Jourdain, Whitaker and J. H. Owen
(Holyhead),TonyMercer(Brynsiencyn),JulianMoulton diaries) and the Merseyside County Archives (Boyd
(Rhyl), (late) John Mullins (Ruislip), Keith Naylor diaries).
(Nottingham), (late) Desmond Nethersole-Thompson We are also extremely grateful to the Seabirds at Sea
(Sutherland),JohnO'Sullivan(RSPB, Sandy),JackParry Team of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee
9