Bardsey's Wildlife: December 2009

Monday, 28 December 2009

Update of Birdlife for week beginning sunday 20th.

On the whole it has been a quiet week. The Firecrest and Black Redstart are still around and were seen most days.

Sunday 20th- A quiet day with the highlight being 2 Jack Snipe.

Monday 21st- Nothing to report.

Tuesday 22nd-Nothing to report.

Wednesday 23rd-A Grey heron flew down the middle of the island and 2 Gannets were at sea.

Thursday 24th-28 lapwings were the highlight.

Friday 25th- A Shelduck flew along the west side whilst there was a Grey Plover on Carreg yr Honwy.

Saturday 26th-The Grey Plover was still around.

Grey Plover (C) Ben Porter

Peregrine Falcon (C) Ben Porter

Skylark (C) Ben Porter

Mallard (C) Ben Porter

Lapwing (C) Ben Porter

Monday, 21 December 2009

Here is an update of Bardsey's bird highlights for the last week by Ben Porter.

Sunday 13th saw the first Jack Snipe since October, a Red-throated Diver was present near Carreg yr Honwy, there were 4 Mediterranean Gulls amongst a feeding flock of gulls and in the evening we had a Barn Owl in the lambing shed!

Monday 14th was a quiet day, the highlight being 2 Mediterranean Gulls.

Tuesday 15th - there was a Black Redstart in Henllwyn, also seen on several occasions later in the week.

Wednesday 16th - nothing to report!

Thursday 17th - a Firecrest was seen in the pine trees at Cristin and there was another Jack Snipe in the wetlands.

Friday 18th - 5 Lapwings seen on the Narrows.

Saturday 19th - A Wigeon was seen briefly in Henllwyn, but didn't stay around for long. There was also a Woodcock in Ty Pellaf withy.

Jack Snipe (C) Ben Porter

Herring Gull, Black-Headed Gull and Common Gull (C) Ben Porter

Black Redstart (C) Ben Porter

Barn Owl (C) Ben Porter

Monday, 7 December 2009

This is an update for the two weeks after Steve, Emma, Connor, Richard Brown and Richard Else left the Island, (29 of November-12 of December).

29th November- A Grey plover was present in solfach whilst 4 Mediterranean Gulls, 3 Little Gulls and an Arctic Tern were feeding out at sea. There was a Red Throated Diver near Carreg Yr Honwy and a Reed Bunting in the stubble fields with the Linnets.

30th November- There was a Brambling on our feeders and in the feeding flock there was an Arctic Tern, 2 Little Gulls and 2 Mediterranean Gulls.

1st December- A quiet day with 1 Brambling and a Little gull being the highlight.

2nd December- Nothing to report.

3rd December- The Brambling was still present and the Arctic Tern was still out at sea. A Woodcock was flushed in Nant Withy.

4th December- The Brambling was on our feeders and the Arctic Tern was still in the feeding flock.

5th December- Nothing to report.

6th December- 2 Little Gulls and a Blue Tit was the Highlight.

7th December- 2 Little Gulls and a Gannet were out at sea whilst a Brambling and 2 Skylark were inland.

8th December-A very quiet day with 2 Little Gulls being the highlight.

9th December- A Mediterranean Gull and a Little Gull was out at sea, a Great Northern Diver flew over the narrows and a Red Throated Diver was near Carreg Yr Honwy. A Woodcock was also seen.

10th December- A Lapwing was on the beach, a Mediterranean Gull was at sea and there was a Chiff Chaff at Nant.

11th December- A Shelduck was in Solfach and 2 Woodcock were seen at Nant.

12th December- Out at sea 4 Mediterranean Gulls and 2 Little Gulls were seen, a Red Throated Diver was near Carreg Yr Honwy and a Ringed Plover was in Solfach.

Brambling (C) Ben Porter

Lapwing (C) Ben Porter

Reed Bunting (C) Ben Porter

Grey Plover (C) Ben Porter

Mediterranean Gull (C) Ben Porter

Click to see inside!

Edited by Mike Archer, Mark Grantham, Peter Howlett and Steve Stansfield and published by T & AD Poyser, this fabulous book describes how much has changed since the first edition of Bird Observatories in Britain and Ireland was published in 1976. There are detailed accounts of the history and work carried out at each of the 18 observatories, with personal accounts by wardens and staff of the excitement of discovering a rarity, watching thousands of migrants attracted to a lighthouse after dark, and the pleasure and experiences that working at some of the country’s most remote and beautiful locations can bring. Click the picture of the book to see inside or to buy your copy.

Migrants

Being sited on the main migration route of many species, Bardsey (or Ynys Enlli in Welsh) is a well-known site for migrant birds, turning up many scarcities and rarities, as well as large numbers of common migrants. The island’s list now stands on 326, after the recent addition of Citrine Wagtail in October 2012.

Although Bardsey’s reputation for rare birds may not quite match that of some observatories, it is almost certainly the best site in Wales for rarities. Among Bardsey’s rarer visitors are the first Summer Tanager (1957) and Yellow Warbler (1964) to have been recorded in Britain and Ireland, as well as American vagrants such American Bittern, Sora, Kildeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Grey-cheeked Thrush, American Robin, Song Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Red-eyed Vireo, Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Blackpoll Warbler. To add to this impressive list of rarities, Black-winged Stilt, Lesser Yellowlegs, Lanceolated Warbler, River Warbler, Western Orphean Warbler, Booted Warbler, Blyth’s Reed Warbler, Eyebrowed Thrush, Thrush Nightingale, Red-flanked Bluetail, Isabelline Wheatear, Black-eared Wheatear, Collared Flycatcher, Blyth’s Pipit, Pine Bunting, Rock Bunting, Yellow-breasted Bunting and White-throated Sparrow have all been recorded.

Besides the rarities, Bardsey regularly attracts large numbers of weary migrants during 'fall' conditions in Spring and Autumn, largely a consequence of the fully operational Bardsey Lighthouse. In 2011, for example, a single grounding of migrants resulted in over 1000 Willow Warblers making groundfall on the island in August. In the not-so-distant past, a single attraction of 40,000 Redwings occurred in late October at the end of the last century.

Breeding birds

Bardsey is home to some 26, 000 pairs of Manx Shearwaters, which can be heard on dark nights from mid-March to August. They breed in their excavated burrows, which are scattered all over the island. Chough is the most important species of conservation concern, with between four to eight pairs nesting around the coastal cliffs most years, and a wintering flock of up to 50 individuals. A pair of Peregrines breed on the island, and a 1-2 pair of Ravens also nest most years. There are several species which nest only occasionally, such as Sparrowhawk and Little Owl, along with Afro-Palearctic migrants like Sedge Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. Up to ten pairs of Stonechats can nest in the isolated gorse patches around the island, along with many Linnets and Meadow Pipits. Corncrakes were once a common breeder on the island, although since 1970 there have been no confirmed pairs nesting. In recent years the likes of Lapwing, Yellowhammer, House Sparrow and Starling have also all become extinct as breeding species. In contrast, Shelduck, Puffin, Long-eared Owl, Grasshopper Warbler and Goldcrest have been added to the breeding bird list since 1998.

Ringing

Ringing is a very important part of the observatory’s role on the island. Since 1953, the observatory has ringed over 315,00 birds of 198 species. The highest number ringed in a single year was 1988, with a total of 11, 301 birds ringed of 93 species. There have been many days in the observatory’s history when several hundred birds have been ringed in one day; these occasions have mostly involved breeding seabirds, although these numbers can also easily occur with migrant species.

Lepidoptera

A total of 561 species of moths have been recorded on the island. Bardsey is not an overly good location for scarce moths, although the existence of Thrift Clearwings (Nationally scarce) has been established on the Thrift plants around the coast in recent years, after first being recorded in the years 1980 and 1996. Migrant moths arrive in small numbers every year, for example the annual arrival of Hummingbird Hawkmoths in the autumn; rarer immigrants in the past have included Death’s Head Hawkmoths, Vestals, Crimson Speckled and Red-necked Footman.

In recent years, a greater emphasis has been placed on recording and identifying the so-called ‘micro-moths’, which has resulted in the finding of 41 new species for Bardsey since 2011. In 2012, the coastal subspecies of Eana penziana (E.p.colquhounana) was re-found on the island, which was the first time that this Nationally Scarce species had been recorded on Bardsey since 1966. Apotomis semifasciana is also amongst the scarcer species of micro-moths to inhibit the island (also Nationally Scarce).

Butterflies are present on the island in small numbers, with species such as Common Blue, Small Copper and Small Tortoise-shell being the most common. A scarcer breeding species is the Grayling, which can be found in small numbers on the top of the mountain. Migrant butterflies such as Painted Lady can arrive in their hundreds, although other migrants such as Clouded Yellow and Dark-green Fritillary are quite rare.

Bardsey's Wildlife

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Monday, 28 December 2009

Update of Birdlife for week beginning sunday 20th.

Monday, 21 December 2009

Monday, 7 December 2009

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