Bardsey's Wildlife

Sunday 19 September 2021

Dawn broke to a brisk west north west wind and the promise of a few seabirds. Very little wa moving however from the Obs, but it was clear that there were some new passerines arrived by the ticking of Robins from about the place...

Seapassge from the Narrows and South End later did produce a few odds and sods; the first Red-throated Diver of the Autumn made it way south past Solfach, along with a brace of Fulmars and 20 Gannets, a further 11 were of the South later. Five Common Scoter zipped past Carreg yr Honwy mid morning, two Snipes and two Knots flew past the South End at sea. Four Arctic Skuas were off the South along with two Bonxies, and another Bonxie off the North End later. Single Med Gulls was seen at either end of the island, with other Gulls including 14 Great Black-backed and 60 Kittiwakes. Six Guiliimots and 25 Razorbills were counted passing by.

Arctic Skua chasing Kittiwake

Four Grey Herons were on the Narrows and 20 Mallards were again in Solfach along with another new seal pup!

A Sparrowhawk, a Buzzard and two Peregrines were over the mountain, some of them having a tussle over the rights to the airspace at lunchtime!

Early morning wader roost produced 24 Oystercatchers, 15 Ringed Plovers, the Grey Plover, 12 Purple Sandpipers and four Dunlins two Snipes were also in the Wetlands. Back in the roost two Whimbrels were seen with 57 Curlews, nine Redshanks and 43 Turnstones.

Grey Plover and Turnstone

Redshanks and a Purple Sandpiper

Heron, Dunlin and Turnstones

The pigeon flock of 12 Collared Doves is still between the farm and Ty Nessaf, and the lone woodpecker was seen in Cristin Withy.

During the morning there was a good passage of hirundines, with 116 Swallows counted heading mostly north, along with 15 House Martins. Meadow Pipits numbered 54, with Rock Pipits reaching 29. Five Pied and four White Wagtails were on the Narrows, with five albas heading off the South End.

Rock Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Wren, Dunnock and Robin all numbered 17 in a bizarre coincidence when numbered were tallied at Log time! A Whinchat was at Ty Pellaf and 14 Stonechats were counted.

A mid-morning arrival of Wheatears was noted, with 32 counted between the south hide and the narrows.

Wheatear

Possibly the first arrival of thrushes of the autumn took place with six Blackbirds and four Song Thrushes noted, though these could be elusive residents and their offspring!

There were six Whitethroats and four Blackcaps scattered across the island, along with 29 Chiffchaffs and just three Willow Warblers. Ty Bach and Ty Pellaf both her Spotted Flycatchers. Choughs reached 33 over the Mountain and the usual two Ravens.

Raven

Linnets numbered 120 on the Narrows (The Ty Pellaf flock has disappeared), and 11 Goldfinches and a Redpoll were seen in the north of the island.

Bore da... the moon setting over the South End at 4am just before the sun rose

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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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Sunday 19 September 2021

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