Bardsey's Wildlife

Thursday 16 August 2018

In contrast to yesterday's wash out, today dawned bright and sunny and remained that way for the majority of the day. The winds were still gusting from the south-west which whipped another wild swell off the west coast, and once again that's were the majority of the day's spectacular seawatching counts were made. It started early with a Sooty Shearwater moving south just offshore, conveniently associating with a very obvious flock of Common Scoters to act as a point of reference for various observers across the island. At 09:30am, with Manx Shearwaters streaming past, the radio call went out "there's a large shearwater heading south!", quickly corrected to "it's a Great Shearwater!". The bird moved past at pace, but prolonged views were enjoyed by the lucky observers - Warden Steve, Icky Steve and Ephraim - watching from up at the observatory. Billy was collecting a moth trap from within Ty Pellaf reedbed when the news broke, and despite sprinting over to Solfach, had missed it. He returned to the observatory to empty the moth trap with a couple of guests and before he could lift out the first egg box a second Great Shearwater was picked up. Views of this individual were more prolonged as it flew low over the waves several 100 metres offshore, banking often to reveal grey-brown upperparts and a white collar and dark cap that were distinctly visible even at distance. 20 minutes later things got ridiculous when another (!) individual passed by. These three birds represent the eighth, ninth and tenth records for Bardsey, following on from single confirmed records in 2016 and 2017.

The morning flurry of Great Shearwater induced excitement ensured that the sea was well watched for the rest of the day, and the supporting cast was nothing to turn your nose up to. Another Sooty and two Balearic Shearwaters moved through with 29868 Manx Shearwaters, as well as a Storm Petrel, 20 Golden Plovers, two Bar-tailed Godwits, a Great Skua, and impressive numbers of 1769 Kittiwakes and 247 Arctic Terns.

Other birds logged today included 41 Fulmars, three Grey Herons, 16 Common Scoters, a Kestrel, a Peregrine, seven Ringed Plovers, two Sanderlings, six Dunlins, three Turnstones, 12 Mediterranean Gulls, 48 Black-headed Gulls, 1769 Kittiwakes, nine Sandwich Terns, a Common Tern, 78 'Commic' Terns, three Guillemots, four Razorbills, a Puffin, 34 Swallows, 42 House Martins, a Robin, two Stonechats, ten Wheatears, two Sedge Warblers, a Blackcap, four Chiffchaffs, 31 Willow Warblers, a Spotted Flycatcher, three Chaffinches and 65 Linnets.

Ephraim's field notes for the first Great Shearwater.

The balcony out front of the obs is perfect for prolonged viewing of seabirds moving past the west coast. Fuel these guys with a couple of mugs of coffee and the promise of an interesting Shearwater (and the spare time!), and they'll happily stare out to sea all day.

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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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Thursday 16 August 2018

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