The 1st
of June isn’t normally a date you associate with sea-watching on Bardsey, and
neither is the phrase ‘spring tern passage’. This is what made this morning
quite extraordinary as a massive 224 Arctic
Terns, 40 Common Terns, 56 ‘Commic’ Terns, 18 Sandwich Terns, and best of all, four Little
Terns headed northward offshore! The
previous maximum count for Arctic Tern was 182 recorded on 4 September 2008, whilst
the highest bird-day total in BBFO history is 256 recorded in 2011. Thus today’s
movement was truly unprecedented for spring. The four Little Terns are the
first recorded since 2010, and the highest number since way back in 1960 when
ten were attracted to the Lighthouse.
Joining
these dainty seabirds northwards were 18 Fulmars,
1180 Manx Shearwaters, 41 Gannets,
two Black-headed Gulls, 338 Herring Gulls, 584 Kittiwakes, 411
Guillemots, 192 Razorbills, and nine Puffins.
A fairly quiet day inland in the scheme of things with just one Collared Dove, five Spotted Flycatchers, and two Lesser Redpolls of note.
More and more Oystercatcher chicks are hatching out around the coast, eliciting fiercer responses from protective adult birds!
Puffin
this Lead Belle is amongst the highlights from a good number of moths being attracted to heath traps being deployed around the island
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