Tuesday 12 May 2009

A bright day – although the morning was characterised by sudden and violent gusts of wind – settled down at midday for a calm and hot afternoon. An immature Iceland Gull flying over the narrows was the only really unusual bird to be seen, but a fair variety of other birds were around. The Yellow Wagtail was back with the cows at the north end and the Reed Warbler continued to sing at Cristin. Numbers of other passerine migrants included 14 Common Whitethroats, ten Blackcaps, two Lesser Whitethroats, six Sedge Warblers, 17 Common Chiffchaffs, nine Willow Warblers, three Spotted Flycatchers, a Tree Pipit, six Eurasian Siskins and 16 Lesser Redpolls. Hirundine and swift passage continued at a steady pace, and wader numbers remained much the same. An interesting find in the stream at the north of the island was a large Horse Leach: a creature seemingly unrecorded on Bardsey since 1958.

The vast majority of Manx Shearwater burrows are now occupied by adults incubating their eggs; census work and productivity monitoring is currently underway. As a by-product of this, the Shearwater Flea, apparently not officially recorded in the whole of Wales for 30 years, has been confirmed to be highly abundant in certain parts of the island.

 

Common Whitethroat at Cristin
12 May 2009 (c) Steven Stansfield 

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