Another hot day, the air felt warm before the sun rose and a Spotted Flycatcher was the first bird seen in the garden. Nets were opened at Cristin and the Withies, it was reasonably active, with Willow Warbler being caught in bigger numbers than there have been recently.

 

A walk to the South End produced 18 Redshanks and a Greenshank, which is the second record of the autumn for the latter, two Ringed Plovers and a Dunlin were present on the Narrows too. Oystercatcher numbers have dropped right off since the breeding season came to a close, less than ten are recorded per day between the Narrows and South End now.

 

More cement mixing took place today, it was very hot work but all the solar panel frames are now in their foundations which is good news. There are quite a few steps to go before they will be completed, but most of the hard, physical work is done now. A big thanks must go to Mark Carter, without his help over the last month the whole job would have taken many times longer than it has done.

 

A walk to Nant later in the day yielded the second Gatekeeper of the year, a nice butterfly which is rare on Bardsey. It is similar to a Meadow Brown, but with more orange and spots on the hind wing, and two small white spots on the forewing.

 

In the evening we had an outdoor curry night with Patrick and Gill, the breeze had picked up only slightly so it was still warm enough to sit outside as the sun went down.

Ringing totals: 7 Willow Warblers, 3 Wren, 1 Robin, 2 Goldfinches, 2 Dunnocks, 1 Song Thrush, 4 Blackbirds.

The air this morning was warm, giving a very Mediterranean feel to the island, rain moved in mid-morning for a couple of hours, and then the heat picked up again, hitting around 24C in the mid-Afternoon. It then rained again in the evening, very heavily, giving us some more much needed water!

Stormy skies before the rain set in at the South End

Before it started to rain this morning, Sam opened a few nets in the garden, but closed soon afterwards as the clouds began to look particularly threatening! There wasn't much around in the garden until after the rain had moved through, when four Spotted Flycatchers in the sycamore tree at the top of the garden were probably fresh in, along with another two which flew straight through the garden heading south. A few Willow Warblers were around too after the rain, and a Buzzard headed south along the Mountainside.

The afternoon saw work pressing on with the Solar Panels, almost all of the frames are now concreted in, and after tomorrow that part of the job should hopefully be completed. I think I can speak for all of us in saying that we're looking forward to this being done, and the solar panels being fully installed!

somewhat of a sunset once the rain had moved through.

Other birds today included: one Grey Heron, one Sparrowhawk, one Ringed Plover, three Dunlin, three Whimbrels, 29 Curlews, six Redshanks, 10 Turnstones, three Robins, 16 Willow Warblers, two Goldcrests, five Great Tits, one Siskin and four Redpolls.

 Slightly too windy to open nets this morning, which was a shame because there were at least two Spotted Flycatchers in the garden first thing in the morning. However, not many Willow Warblers, just four at Nant and a couple in the Withies.

Sunrise over the mountain

A walk to the South End early in the morning was reasonably productive, although it must be said that the roosts of Gulls that have been present (although dwindling) for the last few weeks had vanished today, and just two Great Black-backed Gulls were present on the South End. Quite a contrast to the hundreds of gulls that were present daily just a couple of weeks ago!

Spotted Flycatcher in the morning fog

Sanderling on Solfach

Raven on the South End

23 Curlews took off from Henllwyn on arrival and a couple of Redshanks flew with them, three more were on Solfach along with a two Ringed Plovers, three Dunlins, 11 Turnstones and a Sanderling that was moulting into winter plumage.

Some nice birds to see on the South End were two Choughs (numbers have been lacking lately, post-breeding) and two Ravens, these two species are easy to take for granted here but are great to see none the less, and to have them on our doorstep is quite amazing really.

Later in the morning, George and Sam went to some of the productivity burrows to check how many still had chicks, and ring any chicks that they could get to. We'll find out in about a month or so how productive this season has been.

Solar panel work took place almost all day, Mark has been busy (as he always is) lining up the frames and more were concreted in place today, it won't be long before the panels themselves are mounted in place. Unfortunately, it rained later in the day which meant that cement mixing wasn't ideal, so work will continue tomorrow, and instead, it was time for the favourite rainy day activity of entering ringing data...

Today was warm and calm, but the island remained shrouded in mist again until early evening, these days have a strange feel to them, so it was nice to be able to see further than one hundred metres by the evening!

This morning was calm, so George headed up to Nant to ring, on leaving the Obs, a Bullfinch was calling in the garden, an unusual bird on here, especially in August. Ringing at Nant was quiet, but a few nice things were caught with Spotted Flycatcher and a few Lesser Redpolls being the highlights; there was also a Great Spotted Woodpecker present.

juvenile Lesser Redpoll

Sam headed out on a walk to the Narrows and the South End, a Teal on Solfach was the highlight, being the first since the spring. 18 Turnstones, 12 Curlews, three Dunlin and six Redshanks were around, these numbers are similar to what there have been of late.

The afternoon was spent progressing with the solar panel work, the frames have not started to be cemented in and before long, the solar panels should be in place! It's an exiting prospect to be able to have electricity in the Obs throughout the day, and will make a real difference in late autumn on the island when it starts to get dark early in the afternoon, as we'll be able to have lights on all afternoon and evening without worrying about the amount of diesel being burnt - bliss - well, for us anyway!

Other birds around today were: two Grey Herons, one Ringed Plover, one Kestrel, one Blackcap, one Goldcrest, three Spotted Flycatchers, four Great Tits and five Redpolls.'

Ringing totals were: 5 Wrens, 2 Lesser Redpolls, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Goldcrest. Total 9 birds of 4 species.

The forecast for this morning was quite bleak, heavy rain from four in the morning and lasting pretty much all day. With this in mind, last night we were all out trying to catch Terns on the Narrows (just on the off chance, to see how well it would work) unfortunately this yielded nothing. Storm Petrels were ringed at the North End, Mark caught 23 birds, of which 20 were new. However, in the morning there was no rain in sight, but the constant threat on the forecast meant that it would be better to do indoor jobs. This involved painting a couple of walls in the store room, ready for the new batteries and inverters to be mounted on, and entering ringing data. A few Willow Warblers and a Blackcap were all seen in the garden early on, so it would appear we are still waiting on our next good arrival. A first for the year was had when checking the moth trap, a Great Spotted Woodpecker which quickly flew over the Obs south, calling as it went. At around 1030 it did start raining and at around 1430, it became clear that the weather was going to persist and so a very (very) wet walk to the South End was undertaken. Not much was had that wasn't expected, but being out in the harsh island weather is a nice experience. Six Turnstones were perched on the rocks around the narrows, and six Redshanks burst out from the rock pools, calling as they went. The weather did persist until 1700, when the sky finally cleared and the evening became really rather pleasant, with a flat calm sea and typically gorgeous sunset.

Today has been hot, sunny and calm - a very nice day on the island indeed!

This morning was flat calm, so George opened nets at Nant, Sam opened the nets at the Obs and Mark opened the nets in the Withies. There wasn't masses of birds around, but there was a few nice bits and pieces, with Spotted Flycatchers and Tree Pipits being the highlights of the birds caught, with a few Willow Warblers too. (Full totals for the ringing sessions will be at the bottom of the post).

Opening nets at Nant

juvenile Spotted Flycatcher

Tree Pipit 

When heading back from ringing, it became clear that flying ants had kicked off today as a few flocks of gulls had started to build over the island. Amongst the masses, there were 15 Black-headed Gulls over the Obs and 25 Black-headed Gulls over the Plantation too. Sam headed down to the South End and a Swift was also taking advantage of the masses of ants, while a Little Egret flew over Henllwyn.

In the afternoon, George, Sam, Mark and Sian headed North to get started on ringing some Manxie chicks, it wasn't massively productive as we seemed to have chosen particularly stony walls to start on, but we managed to ring chicks between us, not a bad start to the season.

A walk to the South End and the Narrows in the evening saw a few waders around along with other bits and pieces, three Ringed Plovers, nine Dunlin, six Whimbrels, 32 Curlews, seven Redshanks, 24 Turnstones, four Sandwich Terns and one Swift.

Later on, George and Sam headed down to Solfach to set a net to try and catch some terns after dark. Unfortunately, after two hours they had no success, so they'll give it another go on the next calm night. A brief check of the beach did yield a Dunlin though, so it wasn't a total waste of time!

juvenile Dunlin caught on Solafch

Other birds today were: one Grey Wagtail, four Sedge Warblers, one Reed Warbler, three Garden Warblers, 43 Willow Warblers, four Spotted Flycatchers, four Great Tits and four Redpolls.

Ringing Totals today: 3 Blackcaps, 5 Dunnocks, 1 Garden Warbler, 16 Manx Shearwaters, 2 Robins, 1 Song Thrush, 2 Spotted Flycatchers, 1 Stonechat, 2 Tree Pipits, 23 Willow Warblers and 10 Wrens. Total of 66 birds of 11 species.

The fog from yesterday continued into the morning of today. Last night George and Mark were ringing Storm Petrels at the North End, yet another successful night with 23 new birds and seven retraps, this brings the year total tantalisingly close to the 300 mark, with 298 ringed so far...

The weather early this morning

The visibility 4 hours later

Unfortunately, as mentioned, in the morning the heavy fog and faint drizzle did persist and it was too damp to ring. Although visibility was far from ideal, a walk to nant and down the West Coast did produce decent numbers of Whimbrels and fledgling juvenile Willow Warblers. Three Sandwich Terns and ten Turnstones were in Solfach too, feeding in the gloom.

Meadow Brown

Purple Thorn

Autumn Lady's Tresses

The fog cleared at around 0900 and the sea was once again visible from the Obs. A second attempt at birding on the South End yielded 35 Linnets, 18 Meadow Pipits nine Curlews. Two Ringed Plovers flew across the Narrows, too.

We said goodbye to Daniel Owen today. He's been a good help, particularly when it came to monitoring the number of gulls roosting around the island. He was rewarded with Bardsey's earliest autumn record of Sabine's Gull and a plethora of Yellow-legged Gulls, a species that can easily be overlooked.

As we said goodbye to Daniel, we also welcomed Patrick and Gill, long time guests to the Obs. It will be lovely to have them here for the week, and it was good to have a catch-up over a cup of coffee.

Today has been foggy throughout, in the morning visibility was reduced to below 50 metres at times, and didn't really clear at all throughout the day, apart from a brief sunny period in the early evening, but fog again drawing in later on.

looking East from Henllwyn

In the morning, George and Mark headed out and it seemed that a few more birds were around than yesterday. There were two Spotted Flycatchers calling in the Obs garden as they left and a couple of Willow Warblers, too. Up at Nant, the first two Goldcrests of the autumn were present, their characteristically high-pitched piping calls could be heard echoing throughout the plantation, while another Spotted Flycatcher and ten more Willow Warblers were present here.

Once George had got back, he then headed out again to get on with checking some of the Manx Shearwater Weekly Growth Rate burrows. A number of birds have now stopped gaining weight as rapidly as they were, and a couple have started to lose some, and put all of their stored fat into growing their feathers. A few of the chicks now have wing lengths reaching 200mm, so in around a month's time, they should be ready to think about leaving!

Dan and Sam headed to the South End and Narrows again and there were a few more bits around today. Again, there was one Yellow-legged Gull, but new birds were 12 Mediterranean Gulls, 38 Black-headed Gulls, seven Sandwich Terns, four Common Terns and four Guillemots.

The afternoon was then spent getting the South side of the Obs ready for next week's visitors. It has been strange not having anyone in for the past week, and has flown by, so it'll be good to have some people around again over the next week!

looking West from Ty Pellaf

Other birds today were: one Grey Heron, three Purple Sandpipers, eight Whimbrels, 55 Curlews, one Common Sandpiper, 26 Turnstones, one Little Owl, one Grey Wagtail, two Robins, one Whitethroat, three Blackcaps, 18 Willow Warblers, eight Great Tits and one Lesser Redpoll.

The nets were opened in the morning when the weather was clear, just a slight breeze from the west. As expected for the time of the year, it was not the most productive session, but a Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat and Stonechat were nice birds to catch in amongst a few Willow Warblers.

 

At around 0900 when the nets were closed both at Cristin and in the withies, the fog came in thick, and it carried a fine rain with it which made walking around the island a bit less enjoyable than it would have been… Yesterday, a seal pup was seen on the narrows, this is a month earlier than the earliest pups usually arrive! A walk to the narrows to find the pup proved to be quite disappointing as it was found on top of a rock about 20 or so metres from the shingle where it was seen yesterday. Not the most promising start, but we will see how this progresses.

 

Whilst looking for the seal pup, Sandwich Terns were seen feeding in the fog over Henllwyn, over the course of the day, 26 were counted. Also, with them were Black-headed Gulls and Kittiwakes which then moved to the South End. Gull counts today include 56 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 358 Herring Gulls, 21 Great Black-backed Gulls, 356 Kittiwakes and one Yellow-legged Gull. In the evening, a flying ant emergence on the South End caused a small feeding frenzy to take place.

 

The difference in the weather over lunchtime was dramatic, all of a sudden, the rain and fog cleared and the blue sky came out, for the rest of the day, the weather was calm and sunny and about as nice as it gets. This good weather continued well into the evening, giving way to a brilliant sunset. Whats more, as the sun was setting from Cristin, five Common Dolphins, four Risso’s Dolphins and Arctic Skua were seen off the West Coast.

 

Today's weather was rather grim, with some quite heavy showers spread throughout, and strong south westerly winds again, until late evening.

In the morning, George and Sam headed for the shelter of the North Hide, to take advantage of the strong winds and sea watch for a couple of hours, in the hope that the winds may produce some birds of interest. There was nothing particularly different seen, but good counts of Manxies, Gannets and Fulmars were had, with a few other bits thrown in too. It's always nice to be out when the weather gets rough on the island, it really makes it feel wild here. (Full seabird counts at the bottom of the post).

Gannet heading south

Manxie heading south

Dan headed to the South End, where a pod of Common Dolphins close inshore was a nice surprise, there were tonnes of Kittiwakes around too, and a different stream of Manxies were moving from the East. More Yellow-legged Gulls were around too, with at least one new bird being seen today, which headed south off the South End after feeding for a while in Solfach. Also, across from Solfach on Henllwyn, four Ringed Plovers were feeding, with 22 Turnstones nearby on the Narrows.

Common Dolphins

Dunlin on the rocks at the South End

Ringed Plover on Henllwyn

In the afternoon, the rain drew in so it was time to crack on with entering some ringing data and getting some breeding bird maps completed ahead of starting some report writing when the weather next deteriorates.

Annoyingly, mist covered the sea in the evening which meant sea watching was near impossible, though the faint shapes of many shearwaters heading south could still just about be made out.

Other birds and full seabird counts today were: 68 Fulmars, 9932 Manx Shearwaters, 1182 Gannets, 11 Common Scoters, six Purple Sandpipers, 11 Whimbrels, 61 Curlews, seven Redshanks, 22 Turnstones, two Yellow-legged Gulls, two Mediterranean Gulls, eight Black-headed Gulls, 1211 Kittiwakes, two Guillemots, 11 Razorbills, three Puffins and two Robins.

As forecasted, today was wet and windy from the off, with a 40mph south-westerly... Mark was out seawatching in the early hours, although the action only really picked up a little later. By the end of the morning 3962 Manx Shearwaters had been counted, mostly moving south.

The adverse weather meant that a walk down to Solfach was quickly aborted, although not before five Ringed Plovers were counted. Later in the day, wader counts included 14 Redshanks, 43 Curlews, six Whimbrels, seven Purple Sandpipers, 39 Turnstones, one Common Sandpiper and one Dunlin.

Unfortunately, there was no sign of yesterday's remarkably early Sabine's Gull. However, there were two Yellow-legged Gulls in Solfach and 26 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 356 Herring Gulls, 27 Great Black-backed Gulls and 254 Kittiwakes recorded from the Narrows south.

The late morning and afternoon consisted of some gardening, Mark was busy at the top of the garden digging up a dis-used pipe to be repurposed. Meanwhile, many of the trees in the garden were getting cut back and later chipped by the chipper on Gareths tractor.

From 1600 onwards some ringing data was inputted and a few other indoor jobs were taken care of.

Today's weather was mixed, it started grey, cleared up with sun around midday, and then clouded up again in the evening.

This morning, Sam ringed at the Obs and Mark headed down to the Withies to open the nets there, it was quiet, but a Swallow, a Meadow Pipit and two Linnets provided some nice variety. After closing the nets, Sam and Mark headed to Solfach to use the Heligoland and caught a few more Rock Pipits and a juvenile Pied Wagtail. (Full ringing totals at the bottom of the post).

Male Stonechat on a fence line in the Withies

Dan headed to the South End with Steve, there were again two juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls around, and at least 300 Kittiwakes on the cliffs too with Mediterranean Gulls, Common Gulls and plenty of large gulls around, too. Later, when back at the Observatory and counting Kittiwakes in pictures that were sat on the sea, a smaller, more dark-mantled gull was spotted amongst them, on closer inspection of other photos, it turned out to be a second calendar year Sabine's Gull! These gulls are usually a feature of September seawatches with strong North-westerly winds, not something you bump into on a hot day at the beginning of August! A search for it later on did not yield anything, but who knows, maybe it will be around in the morning...

Yellow-legged Gull on the South End

Sabine's Gull

the noticeably smaller Sabine's Gull in the background, with a Kittiwake infront

Mark headed out to Pen Cristin to try and ring some Manx Shearwater chicks, a combination of some chicks being too large, and some burrows being too deep, meant he only ringed 15, not a bad start to the pulli ringing season, though!

Other sightings today: one Grey Heron, one Buzzard, four Kestrels, two Peregrines, five Purple Sandpipers, one Bar-tailed Godwit, eight Whimbrels, 18 Curlews, 11 Redshanks, two Common Sandpipers, 19 Turnstones, two Mediterranean Gulls, one Common Gull, five Sandwich Terns, 17 House Martins, one Robin, two Song Thrushes, two Sedge Warblers, two Blackcaps, 13 Willow Warblers, five Great Tits and one Redpoll.

Ringing Totals:

Today was a scorcher! From the early morning until the late evening it was certainly t-shirt weather here on Bardsey, a slight south-westerly was the only breeze to be had.

The nets were opened at Cristin in the early morning, and although a mere seven birds were ringed, this total did include a Lesser Redpoll, a Linnet, a Willow Warbler and a couple of Goldfinches. Because the numbers were low, the nets were closed at around 0930.

On the narrows, a Common Seal was seen, only the second this year. A Kestrel was also seen over the mountain, a nice passage migrant here. Waders today include four Ringed Plovers, eight Whimbrels, 21 Curlews, 10 Redshanks and three Turnstones. Gulls included 55 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 38 Great Black-backed Gulls, two Yellow-legged Gulls and 552 Kittiwakes including a french colour-ringed bird.

 Juvenile Kittiwake

 Second-year Kittiwake

Adult Kittiwake

Common Blues copulating in Nant Valley

Work continued with the solar panels, now we are waiting for the concrete to arrive before moving onto the next stage of fitting them in place. The Heligoland also went under more repair work today, it seems to be one thing after another with more and more rotten wood being found all the time..! But never-the-less, progress is being made.

For those wanting to see the completed obs, here are a few pictures to let you know how everything is looking at the moment.

The gift shop

 The dining room

The new lounge, converted from the old office

As many will be aware, Peter Hope Jones, a BBFO former vice president and report editor passed away on 13 July. He was a great man and inspiration to many, having an impressive and admirable career in the field of ornithology and conservation. Here is a link to his obituary published in the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/29/peter-hope-jones-obituary

Today started grey, cleared up and was beautifully sunny for the afternoon, and then clouded up again in the evening before rain started later on.

Our first week of guests departed today, it flew by and went very well. The Obs will now be empty for the next week to 'disinfect' itself, before we receive our next set of guests on 8th August. It will seem strangely quiet now as we had began to grow accustomed to having people living next-door again!

This morning, Sam headed out to the South End and the Narrows, a few waders were around again with four Turnstones and two Common Sandpipers.

George headed out late morning to continue with his weekly growth monitoring Manx Shearwater burrows, one chick has hit the 700g mark, while a couple of others have began to slow their weight-gain, with one now actually losing weight, and putting all of that stored up fat into the massive amount of feather growth necessary before they fledge in a few weeks' time.

While some chicks are already weighing in at 700g, some are still less than half of that, like this little one!

The afternoon was then spent continuing with some work on and around the Heligoland Trap in the garden to get it ready to begin re-meshing at some point over the next week.

Other sightings today included: one Buzzard, one Peregrine, 12 Curlews, three Redshanks, two Common Sandpipers, four Turnstones, two Black-headed Gulls, one Robin, three Song Thrushes, six Willow Warblers and ten Great Tits.

It was too breezy to ring this morning, but by no means was it a bad weather day. The sun was shining and the wind was a warm southerly. Yellow-legged Gulls were still present today, with at least three present on the South End, also recorded were some darvic ringed Great Black-backed Gulls, one from Skokholm and one from the Calf of Man, as well as one ringed on Bardsey last year.

 Willow Warbler

 Yellow-legged Gull

Sedge Warbler

George was busy checking his Manx Shearwater burrows for most of the day, although the threat of rain, later on, meaning that he will be finishing those tomorrow. DemOn was the job for the afternoon from about 4pm onwards.

Meanwhile, work was continuing with the solar panels and the Heligoland trap. Really, just the mesh needs to go on the trap now and it is more or less finished. Not that that will be a small job, but it will hopefully be fairly straight forward. All the foundations are now dug for the solar panels, so we will wait for the concrete to come before moving on to the next phase of securing them in place.

 The blue skies over Bardsey today

A Manx Shearwater chick, they are getting big!

Today was sunny throughout with a strong Southerly breeze meaning the sea was a little rougher than it has been recently.

In the morning, Mark seawatched from the Obs for an hour or so, it was relatively quiet with the highlight being a dark morph Skua which was unfortunately a little too far out to positively ID, although it was quite acrobatically chasing a Kittiwake, so it was probably an Arctic.

Waders had been on the move again, 40 Curlews, 25 Whimbrels and 11 Redshanks were spread across the Narrows and the South End, and today was the first day for over three weeks that no Common Sandpipers were recorded.

juvenile Dunlin on Solfach

there are still plenty of juvenile Wheatears around the Narrows too

Afterwards, he headed North up to Nant, and was rewarded, when he had very brief views of what he thought was a Melodious Warbler drop into the bushes at Ty Capel. It was very skulking, and wasn't seen again, until later on at the Obs when indeed, a Melodious Warbler turned up and was seen well briefly and aged as an adult. This is the first record since 2016.

Dan headed to the South End later on with George, and it seems that the Southerly winds overnight have produced yet more Yellow-legged Gulls... today, nine individuals were seen and seven of which were different to ones seen already, meaning 11 have been recorded over the last three days.

Juvenile Yellow-legged Gull showing the dark mask, long pink legs, and characteristically long-winged profile

In flight, the whitish head is perhaps a little more apparent, along with the neat black tail band contrasting with white tail

the 'weak' pale panel shows nicely here

Other birds of note were: one Grey Heron, 31 Common Scoters, one Peregrine, one Ringed Plover, nine Turnstones, one Mediterranean Gull, two Common Gulls, one Little Owl, one Sand Martin, 16 Willow Warblers, one Spotted Flycatcher and one Redpoll.

The weather was nice and calm this morning which meant that the nets were opened in the withies and in the garden. Willow Warblers weren't around in force today, but 12 were ringed. Some nice variety was had as two Linnets, one Stonechat and a Sedge Warbler were also ringed. As a side note, we ringed the 3000th bird of the year today!

The Heligoland trap was put to good use today, 13 Rock Pipits were caught and ringed with a darvic, and as a bonus, a Common Sandpiper was in the trap at the start of the day which was also caught and ringed, making it the third of the year for the species!

 Common Sandpiper caught on Solfach today

Rock Pipit with a darvic

The Yellow-legged Gull sightings continued today, with one more new bird having been photographed by Dan Owen. A juvenile, once again that was sitting on the South End before flying to Carreg yr Henwy.

Yellow-legged Gull on the right and Herring Gull on the left

Yellow-legged Gull on the South End today

The thrift, along with many flowers in the Wetlands have all but gone here now, but Blue Harebells are looking brilliant on the mountain.

Ringing totals today: Rock Pipit 13, Common Sandpiper 1, Willow Warbler 12, Wren 3, Linnet 2, Sedge Warbler 1, Stonechat 1, Dunnock 1, Blackbird 5.