Very few birds of note were present, but a very pleasant sunny day was enjoyed by all. A Ringed Plover was on the beach, and six Common Chiffchaffs, a Willow Warbler, three Spotted Flycatchers, three Siskins and five Redpolls were also seen.
Several puzzling slugs found in recent days have been tentatively identified as Dusky Slug Arion Subfuscus – another new species for Bardsey if confirmed.
The year’s first ringing expedition around the east side allowed the numbers of seabirds in the colonies to be better assessed. Encouragingly, most species seem to be present in moderate numbers: reasonable counts of Razorbills, Common Guillemots and European Shags on their ledges, while plenty of gulls (Herring and Lesser Black-backed) were also on nests. Two broods of Red-billed Choughs were ringed and one of the traditional sites appears to have failed and an adult was found dead nearby.
East side ringing trip
All pictures 28 May 2009 (c) Steven Stansfield
Getting to the seabirds and choughs is rather tricky along the narrow sheep track
The cliff top sheep track comes close to the egde and it's a long way down!
Ringing Shags
Baby Shags (c) Richard Brown
Young Herring Gull
Fulmar on its nest
Steve Colour-Ringing Choughs (c) Richard Brown
First brood of Choughs
Next brood of Choughs (much smaller than the first)
Guillemots on ledges
Razorbill in the colony
Peregrines look on from above
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