Bardsey's Wildlife

Friday 29 May 2020

Today was very warm right from the beginning, and started with clear blue skies which remained throughout the whole day.

early morning at the Abbey Ruins

Sam was out early to head up to the plantation and see what was around. Hopes were high as clear skies overnight coupled with south easterly winds held great promise for today's birding. However, first thing there was not too much about with only a few Spotted Flycatchers, Whitethroats and Sedge Warblers. It was then time to head back to the Obs for some breakfast before heading back out later on.

Whilst in the kitchen, George heard a Greenish Warbler singing from the back garden, he ran and got Steve and we all stood and listened to it for about 10 minutes. A net was opened in the garden and it was quickly trapped and ringed before being released back into the garden, it was not heard again until late evening.

Greenish Warbler, the 20th for the island, and the 10th spring record in the last ten years.

Sam and George both then headed out to do their daily census walks, George headed to Nant and Sam went to do the Withies and Wetlands. Steve also headed out and went down to the Narrows via Ty Pellaf - another nice bird today was present in the crop field here, the first Turtle Dove of the year; these birds are becoming an increasingly scarce sight as their numbers dwindle further, so it is always a privilege to see one.

Nant appeared to be very quiet, a few laps of the Plantation yielded only a few Spotted Flycatchers and a family party of Stonechats. George sat down to call his parents and during the phone-call, a small-ish bird hopped up onto the barbed wire fence opposite him and was immediately mobbed by the Stonechats. He put the phone down as it seemed potentially interesting, and he couldn't have been more right, it was a stonking female Woodchat Shrike! The other Obs staff were quickly notified and they arrived soon after - the bird had disappeared while George had gone to call the Obs phone, but it was soon re-found down in the North West Fields.

initial photos from when the bird was found...

it showed superbly as the day went on, giving views down to 5m at times!

what a corker!!

The rest of the morning and Early Afternoon was spent watching the bird feeding constantly along the fence lines from the North End and back towards Nant. It was having no difficulty in finding food, picking off bees as they flew past and finding multiple huge Cranefly larvae in the grasses. This is the 28th record of Woodchat Shrike for Bardsey, with the last one having been recorded eight years ago; a very nice bird to see indeed, and combined with today's scorching weather, it did feel like you could have been birding the Mediterranean.

the Shrike with one of its many catches, this time a bee (I think).

The Withies were quiet today with a Garden Warbler being the highlight, there were two more also, with one at Nant and the other at the Obs first thing.

Other sightings of note today were: one Buzzard, two Black-headed Gulls, six Spotted Flycatchers, four Whitethroats, four Willow Warblers, three Blackcaps, three Sedge Warblers and two Chiffchaffs.

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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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Friday 29 May 2020

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