Bardsey's Wildlife

Tuesday 2 June 2020

Today didn't start with as much sun as recently, however it soon brightened up and turned into yet another special day on the island.

The temperature had dropped below dew point overnight, so all of the long grasses were soaked to start the day, which meant some very wet feet for George who was out doing his second breeding bird census of the third set. It was very productive with a number of new Meadow Pipit and Wren territories recorded, and, notably, Willow Warbler and Blackcap.

George's filled in CBC map from this morning

the first Magpie young fledged a few days ago and the adults are taking very good care of them, getting angry if you get anywhere near them!

He was back at the Obs for just after 7am and then him and Sam headed out to do the day's census. It was a relatively quiet morning, as is to be expected at this time of year with most passage having almost completely died off. However, Nant held a Garden Warbler and two Spotted Flycatchers and there were still a few Willow Warblers around too. Otherwise, two Collared Doves were still around Ty Bach and it looks as though a pair of Blackcaps here could breed this year! On the way back down the West Coast, the warm sunshine was providing good conditions for spotting Thrift Clearwings and ten were seen.

a Thrift Clearwing... on some thrift!

Sam headed South and Solach held a few wader again today - there were 6 Sanderlings feeding on the tideline with two Whimbrels and a Curlew across the Narrows in Henllwyn. Back at the Obs, a Cuckoo had started singing, it'll be interesting to see if later in any juveniles appear around the island later in the year, fingers crossed that they do.

Stonechats are becoming a very common sight across the island, with at least 14 pairs this year

George headed out with Sam to begin working out a correction factor for this year's Manx Shearwater Census. The Correction factor is calculated by playing the call down a select number of occupied burrows, waiting to see if there is a response, and if there is, checking the contents of the burrows and the same if there isn't. This is done in each of the areas where this year's census is being carried out and this allows us to work out what percentage of birds call back to the playback, and by extension, just how many burrows are actually occupied, by adding to the amount of responses recorded in the census, and giving a more reliable figure.

Sam recording the contents of one of the burrows.

While out searching for the shrike, a large raft of Manx Shearwaters was seen off the South End containing at least 2000 birds, with another 1000 dotted off the West Coast - these birds will have been waiting for darkness to fall so that they can come ashore to their burrows, it never gets old seeing them in such numbers.

Dramatic skies to end the day this evening...

Other highlights included: 12 Gannets, one Peregrine, two Sand Martins, 24 Swallows, 10 House Martins, one Robin, two Song Thrushes, six Whitethroats, one Garden Warbler, six Blackcaps, one Chiffchaff, five Willow Warblers, two Spotted Flycatchers, four Great Tits and 11 Goldfinches.

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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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Tuesday 2 June 2020

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