Bardsey's Wildlife

Tuesday 7 January 2014

January 4th
It felt distinctly calmer after yesterday's storm surge, although there was still a very high tide in the morning, which continued to cause erosion around The Narrows. On the bird front, the first Red-throated Diver of the year flew North past The Narrows mid-morning, along with an adult Gannet and the usual scattering of Kittiwakes. A small feeding flock of three Goldcrests, two Blue Tits and two Great Tits were noted in Nant Withy, having been hiding away for the last week during the stormy weather.

A few juvenile Kittiwakes were seen feeding in Henllwyn at low tide

The Hooded Crow continues to linger around Solfach and The Narrows, although is still quite timid

The huge seas and tides have meant that Solfach is virtually bare of any seaweed. Some of the Choughs have instead been scavenging amongst the rocks and seaweed which has been thrown up onto The Narrows by the waves

January 5th
A very strong south-east wind picked up ahead of Monday's severe storm, although this did encourage a few slightly more noteworthy bird onto the island...the highlight of the day came in the form of a fantastic adult Glaucous Gull, which was seen amongst a flock of 53 Herring Gulls on The Narrows mid-morning. This is the first Glaucous Gull since December 2012, and the first adult for over seven years. Elsewhere on the bird front, a sewatching session from the North End produced a small number of seabirds: the first two Great Northern Divers of the years flew West, whilst three Red-throated Divers, six Fulmars, a Common Scoter, 31 Oystercatchers, three Black-headed Gulls, 174 Kittiwakes, 12 Guillemots and a Razorbill.

The rather smart adult Glaucous Gull. This is only the 23rd record for Bardsey, with no records at all last year. This is also the first adult Glaucous Gull on Bardsey since February 2006- a bird which, although taken into care, died a few days after its finding.

The Glaucous Gull alongside a Herring Gull

January 6th
Once again, a huge low pressure system rolled in from the Atlantic, producing winds of 45 mph throughout the day, which in turn amounted in huge seas. The Narrows received yet another heavy battering, and the poor waders were again forced to shelter behind earth banks during the heavy squalls. A lovely adult Little Gull joined a small feeding flock of 45 Herring Gulls and 24 Kittiwakes in Henllwyn at high tide; a Shelduck continued to fly around with the local Oystercatchers, whilst 19 Purple Sandpipers and 26 Turnstones were feeding amongst the debris that has been hurled onto the top of The Narrows. A single Song Thrush in Cristin garden was amongst about four species of passerine which were seen inland!

Many Purple Sandpipers were forced onto the grassy top of The Narrows at high tide, sheltering behind banks during the very heavy squalls

The same Purple Sandpipers after the shower had passed and the sun came out!

Kittiwakes over the high seas

The adult Little Gull

January 7th

Another atmospheric day with high seas and strong winds saw the usual gathering of 60 Herring Gulls, 10 Great Black-backed Gulls and 50 Kittiwakes around The Narrows, although there was nothing different amongst them today! A Water Rail was heard in Ty Pellaf Reed Bed, and a Sparrowhawk hunted prey along the mountainside.

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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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Tuesday 7 January 2014

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