Glaslyn Whooper Swans

At Christmas 1972 a herd of 29 Whooper swans arrived at Portreuddyn farn, between Tremadog and Prenteg. Since then the herd has returned annually to various fields in the Glaslyn valley. They like the large open fields, frequently feeding very close to the main Prenteg to Llanfothen road, giving excellent views. Over the years the numbers have fluctuated peaking at 80 some years ago

Over the years a number of ringed birds have been present, with some like 2J34 returning for over 10 years. Most of these birds were originally ringed at the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust reserve at Martin mere. with a few having been ringed in their native Iceland. The birds were fitted with conspicuous and easily read plastic rings so excellent histories of these birds are available. However in the last few years only a single ringed bird has been present with the herd




On Saturday 21st February SCAN ringing group changed this and a family party were neatly caught and fitted with both metal and plastic rings. The majority of this family were cygnets and should over the next 10 years hopefully give us a story of migration to rival the nearby nesting Ospreys.

Can anybody reading the rings please inform  the BTO Cymru office.

Introduction to the Breeding Bird Survey and other BTO Surveys

Over the past few years we had very successful  Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) training sessions across Wales.This year we are taking a slightly different approach and having a sessions which will also be covering several of the other key BTO surveys.

You are invited to come to a meeting to meet other volunteers, share experiences and learn about existing and future BTO surveys. The agenda has not been finalised so we are asking you what you would like to be included. We will be covering an introduction to BBS, update on BirdTrack (if you don’t already use this system for your bird recording or would like to know more), learn about the Waterways Breeding Bird Survey, the Wetland Bird Survey, the Heronries Census, the 2015 House Martin survey and whatever you may want to discuss.

There is a choice of four venues, both hosted by Kelvin Jones, BTO Cymru Development Officer.

Clawddnewydd Village Hall, near Ruthun LL15 2ND, Saturday 14^th March at 13:30.

Llechryd Village Hall, Cardigan SA43 2NR (opposite petrol station) on Sunday 22nd March from 10:30

Llangasty Village Hall LD3 7PJ (next to Llangors lake) on Saturday 28th March from 10:00.

Pensychnant Conservation Centre, Conwy, Sunday 12^th April 10:30

Tea/Coffee will be available, and we would appreciate knowing whether you can attend in advance so please RSVP by  10^th March for Clawddnewydd, 12th March for Llechrhyd, 20th March for Llangasty, and 1^st April for Pensychnant.

We would love to hear from you about what you would like to get out of these meetings and if you know of anyone who would like to get involved in BTO surveys do please bring them along.

For more details contact either your regional rep or Kelvin at the BTO Cymru office.

Kelvin Jones,

BTO Cymru,

Tel: 01248 383285

kelvin.jones@bto.org