Bardsey's Wildlife: Ringing recoveries for 2014

Sunday 15 March 2015

Ringing recoveries for 2014

It's that time of year again, when we receive a (hopefully) thick wad of recovery ringing sheets from the BTO, outlining some exciting details of where some of our 'controlled' birds have been ringed, and where 'our' birds have turned up in the country or further afield. Last year was a great year for recoveries and controls, and a few are outlined below. It is these recoveries that illustrate part of the value of ringing, although of course the use of ringing in an island context is not illustrated below (in terms of ages, and returning breeders etc.).

Guillemot
A Guillemot ringed on the island on 25 June 2013 as a pullus was found on a beach in Landes, France on 22 February 2014. After being taken in sick due to very stormy weather, the bird was released.

Manx Shearwater
We have had a handful of Manx Shearwater recoveries- here are a couple of them: we re-trapped birds on the island which had been ringed in Porth Ysgaden, Lleyn Peninsula (ringed in August 2010 and found here in August 2014) and at Point Lynas, Anglesey (ringed in June 2012 and found here in May 2014).

Barn Swallow
An adult Swallow was ringed at Ty Newydd Farm, not far from Aberdaron, at 1240 on the 7 August. That very same day, we trapped the bird in a reed bed roost at 2150!

Chiffchaffs
An impressive longevity record concerns that of a Chiffchaff which was ringed in Les Boulins, Yonne (France) on 29 September 2010 as a juvenile. Four years later (that's four trips to Africa), we trapped the bird on both the 19 and 24 May.

One Chiffchaff was ringed at Portland Bird Observatory at 0800 on 30 April. Nine days later on 09 May, the bird turned up in a mist net on the island at 1810. In short, it managed to fly 297km in at least nine days, having gained 0.7 grams from 7.7g in Portland.

Another Chiffchaff recovery concerns one ringed in Bridford, Devon on 25 September 2013, that was then trapped here on the island after it had returned from its winter grounds, on 25 May 2014.

Willow Warblers
One Willow Warbler recovery involved the following: on 2 April 2012, one was ringed on Skokholm as an age 4. Two years later (having been to Africa and back twice), we trapped the same bird on 10 April 2014.

A Willow Warbler was ringed in Dorset on 07 September 2013, and was found on Bardsey on 4 May the following year.

Another Willow Warbler was ringed in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, on 26 July 2014 (weighing 9.1 grams). On 24 August (just under a month later), we trapped it on the island, after it had flown 417 km and lost just 0.5 grams.

Sedge Warbler
A Sedge Warbler was ringed on the island as a '3J' (juvenile not long out of the nest) on 24 July 2014. 17 days later on the 10 August, the same bird was trapped in Asturias, Spain!! That's a total of 1033 km, a journey taken not long after the bird had left the nest!

Lesser Redpolls
A Lesser Redpoll which was ringed on the island on 24 May 2014 turned up in Surrey a few months later, on 31 December.

A Lesser Redpoll ringed in Kent on 17 November 2013 was trapped here 156 days later on 22 April 2014.

Another Lesser Redpoll was ringed on 8 November 2013, in Avion, France. After flying 588 km, the bird turned up in a mist net on the island on 11 April 2014.

Yet another Lesser Redpoll recovery involved a bird ringed in Leigh, Dorset, on 28 April 2013. A year later, we trapped the bird on 25 May 2014- a distance of 261 km.

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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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Sunday 15 March 2015

Ringing recoveries for 2014

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