Bardsey's Wildlife

Wednesday 27 May 2020

Very gentle north-easterlies and plenty of sunshine just about sums up the weather today. George had the garden nets open before the sun was up and it turned out to be a fairly successful session, with Spotted Flycatchers and Lesser Redpolls in the mix (details at the bottom of the post).

Lesser Redpoll

Spotted Flycatcher

Sedge Warbler

Juvenile Song Thrush

Whilst George was ringing, Steve and Sam headed out, Steve went north and Sam went south. Up at Nant there was a decent arrival of Spotted Flycatchers, at least 26 flitting around the trees along with a Lesser Whitethroat. The bird of the day, however, was easily a Black Guillemot which was sitting on the sea between Bardsey and the mainland, looking brilliant in summer finery. There was one seen last year, so not an easy bird to see from the island.

After lunch both George and Sam headed out to continue the Manxie census, before Steve and Sam headed to the East side of the island to ring the Seal Cave Chough chicks. Last time the nest was checked (about one week ago) there was one chick and three eggs, this week just one chick remained. Perhaps the chick that hatched first got all the food? Who knows? Either way, it was taken and ringed with three colour rings, before being placed back in the nest, not worse for wear.

However, before arriving at the Chough nest, a Fulmar was re-trapped whilst sitting on its nest. These are birds that are best viewed from a distance..! As they have a powerful, heavily built head and beak, with a large hook-tip. On top of that, they produce an oily, acidic fluid that is stored in a muscular part of their digestive system called the proventriculus. They launch this fluid with considerable force from their mouths at any potential threats... Such as us!

Catching a Fulmar with a noose-pole

If you were an avian predator after an easy meal, you certainly wouldn't choose a Fulmar or its chick, as this fluid would matt your feathers and handicap your ability to insulate, keep dry or possibly even fly. That's why you rarely, if ever, see anything mess with a Fulmar. But to watch them soar along the cliffs is a different story... They have one of the most mesmerising flight styles of any seabird, stiff wings and subtle movements to use the breeze to full effect. Perhaps its the mixture of brutish strength and stunning grace that makes them so likeable...

Fulmar in flight

After having a check for Razorbill chicks, Steve and Sam headed back up the slope. Whilst walking along the track, two Oystercatcher chicks were caught and ringed, they were crouched just at the side of the track in almost perfect camouflage.

Oystercatcher chick

Other sightings today include: one Garden Warbler, 42 Shags, eight Shelducks, nine Mallards, 102 Herring Gulls, 34 `Swallows, 15 Stonechats, 14 Wheatears, six Sedge Warblers, four Whitethroats, four Willow Warblers, 30 Spotted Flycatchers, one Great Tits, six Ravens, eight Chaffinches, 19 Linnets and four Lesser Redpolls.

Ringing totals: Chiffchaff 3, Song Thrush 1, Dunnock 2, Lesser Redpoll 1, Blackcap 2, Spotted Flycatcher 2, Sedge Warbler 2, Goldfinch 2, Robin 1
9 species, 16 new, no re-traps

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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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Wednesday 27 May 2020

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