Saturday 16 May 2020

Dawn broke on another beautifully calm and clear day on the island - though it was a little chilly to start, it really did get quite warm as the day went on.

George was up just after first light to head out and complete his second Breeding Bird Census, today's section was the West Side of the Mountain. The day started well, as in the Observatory garden there was both a male Cuckoo singing and a female calling back in reply - a real treat, the male has been around for a little while now, so it is encouraging to see he has managed to find a female too. It was then time to head up the Mountain to do the breeding census. As in other parts of the island, this area was alive with Wren song, with some Blackbirds, Stonechats, Meadow Pipits and Wheatears also joining in.

Sam headed out to do his daily census walk and went to the South End. There were more Wheatears present down here, though they were all the resident race 'oenanthe' - it would seem the passage of Greenland birds has once again come to a stop, we may not get any more until Autumn now. The South End Chough pair were still busy feeding their chicks, and encouragingly, most pairs on the island are now at the same stage. Solfach held few waders, presumably because it was low tide, however the Knot was still present and 34 Oystercatchers were roosting higher up the beach.

the Knot is showing well at the moment on Solfach, a really stunning bird too

Early Afternoon saw a boat trip around the East Side with Gareth Roberts, the island's farmer, he very generously offered to take George and Sam round to have a look at what the island's breeding seabirds were getting up to. There were a good number of Auks, both on the ledges and on the sea just below, a count of 793 Guillemots was reasonable and similar to last year; Razorbills are more difficult to count on here, as they nest in boulder scree at the base of the East Side and can therefore only be counted reliably when they are flushed. Fulmar numbers were low though, and only 12 birds on ledges were noted, it could just be that we were a little early getting around there and that not all of the Fulmar pairs have yet started nesting.

Guillemots are most easily separated from Razorbills by their much browner plumage and more dainty heads with a finer, more pointy beak.

around 125 pairs of Kittiwakes breed on the East Side of the island

Razorbills are the most plentiful breeding seabird after Manxies on Bardsey, with around 2000 pairs breeding on the East Side

The bill patterning, and much more powerful bill compared with guillemots are a good way to tell them apart.

150 pairs of Puffins breed on Bardsey too, and as one of the UK's most iconic seabirds, these are always a pleasure to see.

Once back, both George and Sam headed over to the West Coast to start this year's Manx Shearwater Census. Steve came over with them to get them started and explain what needed to be done. They continued for just over four hours this afternoon and counted 307 burrows of which 272 were recorded as 'Apparently Occupied Burrows' or 'AOB's' for short - these are burrows which have signs of use (fresh scrapings, guano, etc.). Four years ago, in the same areas as what were counted today, there were 212 burrows counted and 198 were AOB's. That means that 95 new burrows have been made since then, that's about a 45% increase, and although this is a relatively tiny sample size, it's certainly encouraging as a starting point.


Other birds of note today were: 11 Whimbrels, two Curlews, 20 Puffins, two Collared Doves, six Sand Martins, 20 Swallows, eight House Martins, one Robin, two Song Thrushes, six Sedge Warblers, four Whitethroats, two Blackcaps, two Chiffchaffs, three Willow Warblers, two Goldcrests and nine Jackdaws.

Ringing produced one Chiffchaff when nets were opened for a couple of hours late morning.

The moth trap was very productive: 7 Shears, 2 Bright-line Brown-eye, 5 Heart and Dart, 1 Currant Pug, 1 Brimstone moth, 1 Brown-silver line, 1 Flame Shoulder, 2 Spectacle, 1 Common Pug, 1 Hebrew Character, 1 Common marbled carpet, 1 White ermine, 1 Brown Rustic, 1 Shark, 1 Depressaria radiella and 2 Coleophora sp.

No comments:

Post a Comment