Bardsey's Wildlife

Thursday, 7 May 2020

In the hope of ringing this morning, Sam was up bright and early and there were two Spotted Flycatchers visible through the kitchen window which was a good sign. However, on stepping outside he was met with unexpected drizzle and more wind than was forecast, which put a stop to any ringing plans!

Because of the gusty conditions, there was a bit more of a relaxed start to the day. But Steve got a report of a Black Kite over the mainland that was potentially heading for Bardsey. This got Sam and George out of the office and walking around the island at 08:30.

Off the bat, there was one Whitethroat and two Sedge Warblers singing at Cristin, both of which are becoming more and more common as the season progresses. Sam Headed south and George headed north as usual. Solfach was once again heaving with waders, the impressive totals include 47 Dunlins, one Grey Plover, seven Ringed Plovers and a Common Sandpiper. It's easy to spend hours sitting in a hidden spot, watching these birds feeding on the tide line. As an added note, the Grey Plover was un-ringed, so obviously a different bird to the one that George Caught earlier in the year...

Dunlins feeding on Solfich

Oystercatcher on the rocks south of Solfach

George was having a decent morning at Nant with Goldcrests and Spotted Flycatchers in the Plantation. Also present were two Bullfinches, likely to be the same ones as yesterday, and a Whitethroat.

More Bullfinch records for the year today, a female is pictured here

'Greenland' Wheatears are still trickling through in small numbers, too

A little later in the morning, at around 10:00, it started to pour with rain, which caught both George and Sam off guard, so George took shelter in the Plantation and Sam ducked into the South End hide until the rain stopped slightly. As he was there, he had a spontaneous seawatch session for half an hour and had 200 Manx Shearwaters fly past in that time. Razorbills, Guillemots, Puffins, Gannets and Fulmars made up the other species.

In the afternoon, it was time for more Manx Shearwater burrow checking, today it was time to find the burrows at Ty Pellaf, North West Fields and behind Cristin. It all went smoothly, apart from some confusion behind Cristin which was eventually sorted out! Rather excitingly, the first Manx Shearwater egg of the year was recorded during one of the burrow checks behind Cristin!

Between checking the Ty Pellaf burrows and Cristin Burrows Sam went to the Wetlands to take down the Snipe nets as they will not be used again this year! By this point in the day, butterflies had started to appear, Common Blues were seen on Pen Cristin, Red Admirals at the North End and Green-veined Whites around the Wetlands.

Steve went out in the afternoon and was quickly surrounded by Sand Martins and Swallows and comparatively few House Martins, there were so many that Sam joined him in an attempt to flick net some, but naturally, they all disappeared moments after Sam arrived... Typical.

Steve also took the Common Sandpiper count to three for the day, and had the first Garden Warbler of the year in Cristin Withy, too. That's all the common migrant warblers ticked off now!

As night fell, the last Supermoon of 2020, a Milk moon, shone over the island

Other sightings today include: two Fulmars, 28 Gannets, two Shags, five Shelducks, 80 Oystercatchers, ten Whimbrels, 11 Turnstones, 40 Puffins, 80 Razorbills, 20 Guillemots, 1 Little Owl, 130 Sand Martins, 100 Swallows, 16 House Martins, six Sedge Warblers, seven Blackcaps, 10 Spotted Flycatchers, five Chaffinches and 22 Linnets.

No comments:

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

Pages

Thursday, 7 May 2020

No comments:

Post a Comment

Pages