Bardsey's Wildlife: February 2010

Monday, 22 February 2010

Despite spring being around the corner, the cold temperatures have persisted and have made it feel very wintry. However, even the cold temperatures do not stop the birds providing us with a fantastic chorus throughout the day and hundreds of Auks on the east side are still rafting up in the early morning. Pussy Willows are beginning to come out in some of the withies although the daffodils around the Abbey are only just poking through the ground.

Throughout the week there has been a Jack Snipe or two in the wetlands and a few Gannets out at sea which are now becoming a familiar sight again. From the 17^th onwards there were 2 Red Throated Divers feeding with the usual flock of Shags just off the West side. A Woodcock was in the gorse at Pencristin on the 15^th whilst on the 17^th and the 19^th 2 Ring Plover were in Solfach. 2 Little Owls were heard calling down in the wetlands on the 19^th. One of these was seen the following day. As ever the Firecrest is at Cristin, happily feeding in the pines.

Redshank (C) Ben Porter

Meadow Pipit (C) Ben Porter

Merlin (C) Ben Porter

Ringed Plover (C) Ben Porter

Rock Pipit (C) Ben Porter

Fulmar (C) Ben Porter

Tuesday, 16 February 2010

This week has been a quieter one with very few birds about. There is now a steady population of birds on the East side with up to 280 Guillemots, 120 Razorbills, 21 Shags and 46 Fulmars flying about and on the cliff ledges. The Firecrest is still feeding in the Pines and around Cristin. I was away from Friday to Sunday and prior to then there were not many birds of note. On Thursday there was a Knot trailing behind the Curlew flock and 3 Red Throated Divers feeding with the raft of Shags just north of Carreg Yr Honwy. On our way back from the mainland I saw a male Red Brested Merganser flying towards the island (But wasn’t seen on the island afterwards).

Turnstone (C) Ben Porter

Herring Gull (C) Ben Porter

Rock Pipit (C) Ben Porter

Shelduck (C) Ben Porter

Tuesday, 9 February 2010

It has been a quiet start to February with few, if any different birds about. The milder, wetter weather has made it feel a bit miserable at times but, when the sun comes out it has felt as if spring is on the way. The Rock Pipits have begun their parachute-like song-flight around the shore and yet more birds are adding to the morning chorus. The Black Redstart has finally decided to leave, the last sighting was on Tuesday 2^nd although the Firecrest is still amongst the Finches and Tits at Cristin.

Monday 1^st- A Gannet flew by out at sea.

Tuesday 2^nd- 3 Common Gulls and another Gannet was out at sea whilst a Woodock was at Ty-Pellaf withie.

Wednesday 3^rd- 2 Jack Snipe were in the wetlands and a Woodcock was at Nant.

Thursday 4^th- Nothing to report.

Friday 5^th- A single Jack Snipe was in the wetlands.

Saturday 6^th-(A Collard Dove was at Nant, first for the year)

Sunday 7^th- A Golden Plover flew down the west side whilst 4 Jack Snipe were in the wetlands. 2 Little Owls were calling in the night.

Black Headed Gull (C) Ben Porter

Dunnock (C) Ben Porter

Starlings (C) Ben Porter

Curlew (C) Ben Porter

Redshank (C) Ben Porter

Monday, 1 February 2010

With fewer birds around, January finished quietly. Looking back, it has been a mixed month with amazing numbers of Lapwing, Golden Plover, Woodcock and Snipe, with the odd scarcer bird thrown in, for instance Wigeon, Red-Breasted Merganser and a lovely Little Gull.

This week was perhaps the quietest week of the month, but the numbers of seabirds on the East side continue to rise and more birds are singing in the morning (despite the return to winter temperatures!). I now consider the Black Redstart and Firecrest to be residents as they have been here for a month and a half now. Very high tides towards the end of the week (2^nd highest of the year) did push more Gulls and Waders higher up the beach in Solfach.

Monday 25^th- A Lapwing was in Henllwyn whilst a Mistle Thrush was in the arable fields.

Tuesday 26^th- A Ringed Plover was feeding in solfach with the turnstones and the Mistle Thrush was still about.

Wednesday 27^th- A quiet day with 2 Ring Plover being the highlight.

Thursday 28^th- Nothing to report!

Friday 29^th- Still nothing!

Saturday 30^th- A higher tide pushed 32 Black Headed and 19 Common Gulls into solfach

Sunday 31^st- An even higher tide and stronger winds pushed 24 Black Headed Gulls and 16 Common Gulls close to the hide.

Common Gull (C) Ben Porter

Turnstone (C) Ben Porter

Whimbrel (C) Ben Porter

Buzzard (C) Ben Porter

Merlin (C) Ben Porter

Skylark (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, 22 February 2010

Tuesday, 16 February 2010

Tuesday, 9 February 2010

Monday, 1 February 2010

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