Bardsey's Wildlife

Saturday, 9 May 2020

The calm weather meant another early start for Sam and George. George began the second part of his Breeding Bird Census (BBC) today, so he was off to the South End bright and early whilst Sam opened the nets in the garden.

Territorial, singing and young-feeding birds are all mapped during the BBC

Early on in the morning, there was a Lesser Whitethroat singing in the garden, as well as a Common Whitethroat and a couple of Blackcaps. On his way to the South End, George heard two Grasshoppers Warblers and three Sedge Warblers singing in the reedbed at Ty Pellaf, not a bad start to the day at all. Unfortunately, the garden ringing session proved to be (almost impressively) quiet, it just never really picked up for whatever reason, and in contrast to yesterday's 49 birds, only eight birds were ringed in the eight-hour session, every little helps though!

One of two Sedge Warblers caught in the garden today

At the South End, George had four pairs House Martins nest building around the lighthouse compound, quite usual, but still good to see and there is always the potential for them to nest against other buildings on the island. What's more, a Grey Plover was also recorded, increasing this year's already impressive tally for this species. He also had three Grey Wagtails flying north, we can expect more of these flying over as the year progresses, but for now, these have swelled the 2020 year list by another species.

The Narrows produced some good birds once again, three Ringed Plovers on Solfach with one Sanderling and seven Dunlins, with a further two Grey Plovers on Henllwyn, bringing the day count three.

Sanderling

The South End Choughs were seen carry faecal sacs out of the nest, and chicks were heard calling from within the nest site, this is the first sign we've had of Chough chicks, which is great news and hopefully, there will be more to come!

A South End Chough carrying a faecal sac, many birds carry the chick's faeces away from the nest to keep it clean, so we know from seeing this that this bird has chicks

Steve went out in the morning and headed up to Nant where he had the only two Spotted Flycatchers of the day. He also had a variety of Warblers, including Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. He then headed through the centre of the island and met George at the Withies. Almost as soon as they met, a Tufted Duck flew south and landed in the pool at Ty Pellaf, a great island bird with only 34 previous records, the rarest bird of the day!

Tufted Duck

Very odd looking Common Whitethroat (possibly) its small size, stubby beak and dark mask were not dissimilar to Lesser Whitethroat, but its body was that of a common Whitethroat...

Sedge Warbler song appeared omni-present in the lowlands and withies

Wheatears are still passing through on their way to colder climes

Spotted Flycatcher

The first Yellow Flag Iris have begun to flower

Hirundine passage was fairly slow today, throughout the day a total of 69 Swallows, ten House Martins and six Sand Martins was recorded. When compared to a couple of days ago when there were double that sitting on one fence, this total is rather on the low side! Still, three brilliant species that help make a sunny day like today that little bit better!

Green-veined Whites were out in larger numbers today, 27 in total were recorded, which is the year high count, making the most of the calm, sunny weather no doubt. Lovely butterflies that appear plain until you take a closer look...

25 Green-veined Whites were recorded in the Wetlands today

...and Common Blues seem to be having a good start to the season

Common (Harbour) Seals are quite rare on Bardsey, with only about four or five records So this cute fella was a pleasant surprise...

A peculiar sight occurred towards the end of the day when Steve and George were stood at the tip of the South End and watched as 27 Turnstones came flying in high over the sea. These may well be waiting on Solfach for tomorrow's census. They also encountered a large number of feeding gulls out to sea, of them were 250 Kittiwakes, 240 Herring Gulls, 35 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and six Great Black-backed Gulls.

So that wraps up another sunny day on this glorious island, but we might be getting the jumpers back on for the coming days, as the weather is due to take a slight turn to the northerly side... This might put a stop to the movement of species such as Spotted Flycatchers, but its always hard to predict these things, and no one can know when something rare might hop out into view!

Other sightings today include: Two Canada geese, one Greylag Goose, four Cormorants, one Grey Heron, one Kestrel, 116 Oystercatchers, 17 Whimbrels, two Curlews, two Black-headed Gulls, 200 Guillemots, 476 Razorbills, 22 Puffins, one Little Owl, 64 Meadow Pipits, one Yellow Wagtail, two Robins, 22 Wheatears, 17 Stonechats, one Song Thrush, two Goldcrests, 17 Goldfinches and 27 Linnets.

Canada Goose

Heron

Several pairs of stonechats are now feeding young in nests, with one pair having fledged young already

Ringing totals include: Willow Warbler 2, Chiffchaff 2, Sedge Warbler 2, Goldcrest 1, Wren 1

5 species, 8 new, 0 re-traps

This Rock Pipit was ringed on 24 September 2009!!!

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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, 9 May 2020

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