The 28th saw the return of Steve, Emma and Connor onto the island for a few weeks, and this arrival seemed to stimulate a few noteworthy species to turn up. A Snow Bunting flying and calling over Cristin mid-morning was amazingly the first record of this year. Other noteworthy passerines included the Water Pipit on Solfach, a Reed Bunting over Ty Pellaf, a Chiffchaff at Cristin, and seven Redwings in the withies. A Jack Snipe was flushed from the wetlands, along with four Snipe.
The weather on the 29th took a turn for the worse, with gale-force north-westerlies bringing the temperatures back down, and keeping any passerines well hidden away. There was a small movement of Razorbills, Guillemots, Gannets and Kittiwakes out to sea, with a Red-breasted Merganser and Mediterranean Gulls flying past with them.

The Water Pipit remained on Solfach for both days, and represented the most noteworthy bird on the island during this period. Both days were otherwise very quiet, with hardly any new arrivals in despite the very calm conditions. A Merlin terrorised the Rock Pipits on Solfach on and off throughout the day on the 26th, whilst singles of Sparrowhawk and Kestrel were also recorded around the island. Four Redwings and a Fieldfare were present around Ty Pellaf in the early morning. A Woodcock and one Snipe were flushed from the wetlands on the 27th, and a flock of 11 Common Scoters flew North past the island out to sea.

 The Water Pipit continued to feed alongside the Rock Pipits, although would get chased away by particularly territorial birds

Rock Pipit

It was another calm couple of days, although overcast conditions settling over the island made it feel very cold. There were virtually no noteworthy sightings on the 24th, with very few thrushes around the island's gardens, and not much movement out to sea. The Hooded Crow remained on Solfach, and  was still present today. The 25th was a slightly more eventful day, with the Water Pipit making an appearance on Solfach midday. The bird was seen feeding amongst the usual mix of Rock Pipits, along with a couple of birds which looked more like A.p. littoralis. The Water Pipit was a very striking bird, with off-white underparts and more defined streaking making it look like a Meadow Pipit at times. It is likely that this is the same bird that was present a couple of weeks ago.
On the rest of the bird front: a flock of 21 Lapwings flew South-east over the Narrows, a Jack Snipe and four Snipe were flushed from the Ty Pellaf Wetlands, and a Merlin chased the flock of Goldfinches around Ty Pellaf. Thrush-counts were back up, with a total of 26 Blackbirds, nine Song Thrushes, a Fieldfare, and five Redwings recorded.

 Water Pipit- note the much paler tones on the underparts, more defined streaking and browner upperparts

 Rock Pipit

There is still a small flock of Starlings on Solfach, although most of them have dispersed 

These two Choughs became engaged in an interesting battle, which ended with both of them flying off after each other, and several other birds in pursuit!

The 22nd was another calm day, and saw the continued arrival of thrushes on the island, albeit in small numbers. A total of 45 Blackbirds, one Fieldfare, 27 Song Thrushes, four Redwings and a Mistle Thrush were scattered over the island, although most were seen moving up the slopes of Pen Cristin. There was no sign of the Siberian Chiffchaff, although two Chiffchaffs were present, along with one Goldcrest. Another Short-eared Owl (perhaps the same bird as yesterday, was flushed from the mountainside near Carreg Bach.

There were fewer migrants around on the 23rd, with the only increase of thrushes represented by nine Redwings, which flew over in singles. A pipit seen briefly on Solfach in the morning looked very much like the Water Pipit from a few days ago, but a Sparrowhawk promptly scattered the whole flock, and it was not seen again. A small movement of passerines overhead saw three Skylarks, 28 Meadow Pipits, 14 Chaffinches, five Siskins, two Goldfinches and a Greenfinch passing over. Single Water Rails were seen in the Carreg Wetlands and Cristin Withy, and three Snipe were also flushed from the wetlands. 

 Most of the Song Thrushes were typical British Song Thrushes T.p. clarkei with warm brown tones on the back and rump 

 One or two of the Song Thrushes were Continental Song Thrushes T.p. philomelos, with more grey-toned backs and rumps

 Winter Wren

A much more pleasant day with lighter winds saw a good selection of noteworthy species dotted around the island. The second Goldeneye of the year flew North past Solfach mid-morning, although very little else passed by. A Jack Snipe was flushed from the lower end on the Ty-Pellaf Wetlands, along with two Woodcocks and six Snipe. The Siberian Chiffchaff remained around Ty Pellaf, feeding alongside a Chiffchaff and a Goldcrest. A Short-eared Owl was seen on the mountainside near Carreg Bach in the afternoon, before flying down to Carreg Reed Bed. Thrushes seemed to be on the move through the island, with a total of 23 Blackbirds and four Song Thrushes recorded.

 Solfach continues to be a big centre of activity, with the feeding flock of 30 Choughs spending most of the day amongst almost 1000 Starlings

 Starlings

 The Hooded Crow continues to feed on Solfach, as it has done so for over a month

 The Siberian Chiffchaff continued to shelter behind the barns at Ty Pellaf

 'normal' Chiffchaff

It has been a very bad year for Short-eared Owls on the island, with fewer than ten records since January.

It was incredibly windy today, with gusts of 50 mph pummelling the island for the best part of the day. This wind, coupled with the very low temperatures, made it feel like the Arctic. The composition of birdlife wasn't that dissimilar either! Essentially, there was very little indeed around the island, although Solfach seemed to be the main centre of activity. The now resident Hooded Crow was feeding alongside 800 Starlings and the flock of overwintering Choughs on the rotting piles of kelp. A large gull flock of over 400 Herring Gulls dodged waves in the bay, and a handful of Kittiwakes, Common Gulls and Black-headed Gulls were also amongst them. Thre Dunlins joined the usual 40 Turnstones and 15 Redshanks on the rocks to the west of Solfach. Inland, a Siberian Chiffchaff was discovered at Ty Pellaf, feeding alongside a Chiffchaff in the relative shelter around the back of the buildings. This tristis-type Chiffchaff is probably the same bird that was seen at Cristin a few days ago.

 There were some quite impressive waves crashing off and onto the island, produced by the gale-force winds. There is actually a Kittiwake somewhere in this image

 Kittiwake (top) and Herring Gulls (bottom) against the stormy backdrop

 Although the bird did not call, it was a very prominent tristis-looking Chiffchaff, especially when feeding alongside the normal collybita

Siberian Chiffchaff (bottom of the image) to compare to Chiffchaff (top)

For the past three weeks, I have been away from the island, volunteering with my sister at the A Rocha centre in Kenya- hence the reason for the somewhat reduced updates on the blog. However, Pete Howlett, and latterly Mark and Steve have done a great job keeping updates during this time, although thankfully there have not been many things to report on the island anyway!

As a bit of a different post, I thought I would share some of the images that I have taken during our time at the fantastic Kenyan A Rocha centre. Mwamba (the A Rocha Kenya field study centre), is sited along the coast of Watamu, set back from the beautiful white Watamu Beach. There are several important sites for bird and wildlife in the surrounding area, including Mida Creek, the Arabuko Sokoke Forest, the Sabaki River Mouth and Gede Ruins. There is a great diversity of birdlife found amongst this wide range of habitats, for example the endangered Sokoke Pipit, Sokoke Scops Owl, Spotted Ground Thrush, Amani Sunbird and East Coast Akalat to mention a few. Along with these rare species, the estuaries and river mouths of Sabaki and Mida Creek hold internationally-important numbers of waders, such as Crab Plovers.

Hundreds of species of birds have been recorded in this area, and so one could go on all day about the migrants that originate from Palearctic, Oriental and Nearcitic regions (to name a few). However, here are a few images some of the species that I had the pleasure of seeing and photographing during my time there.

 Pied Kingfisher

 African Paradise Flycatcher

 Lesser Flamingos

 Mangrove Kingfisher

 Grey-headed Bush-shrike

 Typical mixed wader flocks. Greater and Lesser Sand Plovers, Terek Sandpipers, Little Stints, Ringed Plovers and Ruddy Turnstones

 Trumpeter Hornbill

 African Pied Wagtail

 Red-fronted Tinkerbird

 The very shy Four-coloured Bush-shrike, or more appropriately named Gorgeous Bush-shrike!

 Long-crested Eagle

 White-throated Bee-eater

Crab Plovers

 Yellow-throated Longclaw

Red-capped Robin-chat

Well, there have been very few updates to the blog in the past few weeks. Ben, our usual 'blogger' has been sunning himself catching Crab Plovers and the like in Kenya, however, he is back in the UK today and back on the island in a few days time when normal service will resume.

We have left the island for a while to go to meetings. Mark is off for the winter and will return next year. Chris, our long term volunteer is also off the island and back in the north-west (probably twitching!)

However, we have to say goodbye the three folk for the last time this year.

Firstly Dafydd Crabtree who has been on the island all year as the BITL volunteer coordinator. Dafydd, a trained botanist is hoping to find work in Bonnie Scotland next year.

Secondly, after seven years as BITL's island Warden, Emyr Roberts is leaving us. He is moving just over the water to Rhiw, the large hill that can bee seen to the east on the Mainland (where the telecoms masts are). Emyr will be working for the National Trust looking after two properties there.

Finally, after five years (three as full time BBFO Assistant) Steve Hinde has decided that Bardsey is too flat for him and he is missing the mountains! We have to say a sad goodbye to Steve who will be very much missed by all the staff, residents and guests who either live on Bardsey or just visit. Steve is looking to do some work on mountain birds in Scotland next summer, though is planning on returning to volunteer for us for a short while. Thanks for all the work you have done over the years Steve

Good luck to all three of those who are 'leaving for good'.

Everyone leaving!

from left: Dafydd, Emyr, Chris, Jo Porter (Not leaving, just going to Manchester airport to collect Ben!), Connor and Emma (Behind) Steve and Mark.