Once again, it was too windy to ring this morning, with a 20mph Westerly. However, the weather had undoubtedly improved since yesterday and the sun was out for most of the day, meaning that the morning bird census' were a bit more pleasant... A Black Redstart was once again hanging around in the Obs courtyard which was nice. George headed to the North End as he has been for the last few days and had a Mediterranean Gull from the hide, which is the second he's had this spring. Not bad for what is a very scarce bird at this time of year. What's more, a rather late White Wagtail landed just in front of him after coming in off the sea as he was sitting at the North End, the first record since the 22nd April.

At this time of year, migrant passage is expected to slow down, and this is indeed the case at the moment as we reach the summer months. Compared to a few weeks ago, the difference in Willow Warbler numbers is dramatic, we'd get around 150 on an average day, but recently there are practically just a few recorded. It's the same story for Blackcaps and Goldcrests, which pour through the island early on in the year, but only a couple, if any, actually stay to breed.

So, although the bulk of passage migrants is past us now, we have the breeding birds to look out for. At the moment, all of the breeding songbirds on the island are at least on eggs, but many are feeding chicks by this point. Many species such as Chaffinches, which usually have a diet of seeds, will switch to being fervent invertebrate hunters during the spring and summer. This is mostly in order to feed their chicks, but also themselves, largely because of the protein that invertebrates carry.

Male Chaffinch carrying food

We have some of the resident Swallows back, there are consistently four individuals flying around Nant, in and out of some of the buildings in which they usually nest. So they will be prospecting nest sites before they either start building nests or 'refurbishing' one from last year. Thanks to ringing studies, we know that Swallows (as with many bird species) can use the same nest sites for many years, which is remarkable, especially when you think about how far they have travelled.

A Swallow at Nant

More news on the breeding bird front, the Ravens at the South end of the mountain have fledged two chicks that were seen today hopping around the general nest area. There are two pairs this year, the second is not possible to view, let alone get to, so we'll have to wait for the juveniles to become more mobile before we know how many there are.

A fledgeling Raven, you can see soft parts in the corner of the mouth

In the afternoon, both George and Sam went to relocate more Manx Shearwater burrows, this time at the North End Stream. It went quite smoothly, with all the posts (eventually) being found more-or-less where they should be. Halfway through they were stopped by the rain and took shelter in one of the houses that aren't being used this year as a curtain of rain swept over the island!

Rain  clouds kept falling over Bardsey from the West today

The Lapland Bunting has remained present for yet another day, day ten now! Chirping away and more-or-less keeping firmly to the South End track.

Other sightings today include: 46 Manx Shearwaters, 27 Gannets, 131 Oystercatchers, 29 Whimbrels, four Turnstones, one Sand Martin, 16 Swallows, two Sedge Warblers, three Blackcaps, eight Willow Warblers, two Goldcrests, two Great Tits and 6 Chaffinches.