Wednesday 30 May 2018

This has turned into the spring that keeps giving, so it was perhaps inevitable that the radio call would go out at 06:00 this morning of a singing Greenish Warbler at Nant. It's the classic late spring scarcity that we were hoping would come off the back of these easterly winds. Following the spectacular occurrence of four birds in the spring of 2016, this becomes the 15th record for Bardsey.

The warbler showed fantastically well as the sun slowly rose above the top of the mountain, feeding in a circuit that covered Ty Capel, the gardens around Nant and the Plantation. We lost it on several occasions but the frequent blasts of song it was giving would quickly allow us to relocate it. As the morning wore on the bird became more elusive, but it showed itself again this evening much to the delight of North Wales birder Reg Thorpe who'd make the trip over specially to see it. He now finds himself on this magical Welsh island until Saturday. The horror! The horror!




It was a very picturesque twitch.

Billy, Mark and Ephraim spent the majority of the day continuing seabird monitoring on the nearby Gwylan islands. Puffin burrow counts were the priority, along with ringing any Shag chicks that we may have missed on our previous visit. Half way through the afternoon we were lucky enough to have Raymond come over to transfer us from Ynys Gwylan-fawr to its rarely visited smaller cousin Ynys Gwylan-bach. In the past, most of the seabird counts on the latter island have been made by looking across from Ynys Gwylan-fawr, so to actually set foot on this tiny rock was a bit of a treat. We counted 168 Herring Gull nests (most on eggs), 11 Great Black-backed Gull nests, 12 Cormorant nests (with contents ranging from full-grown fledgelings to eggs) and 22 Shag nests, as well as 122 apparently occupied Puffin burrows.

Back on Bardsey it was down to the two Steves (Steve Obs and Iccy Steve) to do the majority of today's census work and potentially dish out some serious damage with another rarity whilst the guys were off the island. Luckily they did no such thing, and today's supporting cast came to a Fulmar, 23 Manx Shearwaters, nine Gannets, a Sparrowhawk, a Buzzard, two Dunlins, two Bar-tailed Godwits (a bit of an island scarcity), a Whimbrel, a Turnstone, 35 Kittiwakes, three Collared Doves, a Little Owl, a Swift, six Stonechats, eight Wheatears, three Sedge Warblers, two Blackcaps, seven Chiffchaffs, two Willow Warblers, seven Spotted Flycatchers, three Chaffinches, two Goldfinches, 15 Linnets and the two Lesser Redpolls that have been kicking around for a while now.


Puffins really are just the most fantastical looking things aren't they?

Cormorant nest on Ynys Gwylan-bach.

Looking out to Ynys Gwylan-fawr (big) from Ynys Gwylan-bach (little). A rare view!

Wasp Beetles breed in decaying wood of trees, but there are no trees on the Gwylans! This one landed on my arm as we ate our lunch, presumably having a quick wander over from the nearby mainland.

Looking out across the Sea Campion towards the tip of the Llyn Peninsula, and the faint outline of Bardsey rising from the mist in the far distance.

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