Bardsey's Wildlife

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.

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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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Saturday, 16 May 2020

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