Bardsey's Wildlife

Friday 5 August 2016

Calm and warm weather and a small arrival of new birds coupled with some visible migration made for a pleasant days census. Hirundines came through the island in small clusters throughout the day, with most of them heading in a southerly direction. Together with the resident population, Swallows numbered 86, seven House Martins were also intermingled in this movement. Willow Warblers again had a strong presence with 67 counted today and a handful trapped and ringed. Two Spotted Flycatchers were new in and spent the morning flycatching around the edges of the Plantation, whilst a single Goldfinch toured the north end, a Blackcap "tacked" deep within dense cover, a Chiffchaff and Goldcrest fed close by and a couple of Chaffinches moved from garden to garden. Some of the commoner and quite often overlooked birds were on show in fairly decent numbers around the island with six Robins, 29 Wrens, ten Blackbirds and six Pied Wagtails seen. Wheatears were scattered around and numberd seven, whilst Linnet numbers rose to 99. A Whitethroat skulked in the withies, a Sedge Warbler sang in one of the reedbeds, nine Stonechats and 39 Meadow and Rock Pipits were counted.

One of 67 Willow Warblers seen today

Adult Willow Warbler, yellow not so concentrated, forming more streak like yellow lines and mainly restricted to throat, upper breast and vent, more white

A good variety of species were seen around the coasts today, one of the highlights being a Little Egret which flew south along down the west side of the island and disappeared off the South End. A fantastic turn out of Common Sandpipers with 13 seen dotted around on various parts of the coastline, often buzzing off with their whirring flight and sweet "swee swee swee" call. Turnstones also were out in force with a high count of 66 around the Narrows, seven Ringed Plovers, six Whimbrel, two Curlews, four Redshanks and a fly over Dunlin made up the rest of the wader numbers today.

Counts from the sea were down on the last few days but still represented good numbers. Most notable were the passage of two Common Terns and a single juvenile Arctic Tern which settled on the rock just out from Solfach. Manx Shearwaters passed and 1,545 were seen, 21 Gannets, 13 Fulmars, two Common Scoters, 21 Shags, a Cormorant and a small passage of gulls ended the day with counts of 141 Herring Gulls, 36 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 25 Greater Black-backed Gulls, 19 Black-headed Gulls, 290 Kittiwakes, one Razorbill and one Puffin. Harbour Porpoise were also spotted early on moving passed the island.

A nice variety of Butterflies were also present today. Green-veined Whites numbered 221 mostly through the grassy lowlands, two Large Whites, a Small Copper and two Common Blues, four Red Admirals, four Painted Ladies and 27 Meadow Browns were active throughout the island.

Over night 23 Storm Petrels were trapped and ringed around the Pen Cristin area, continuing and adding to a fantastic tally of this delightful seabird being ringed this season.

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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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Friday 5 August 2016

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