Bardsey's Wildlife

Wednesday 22 September 2021

Slightly windier than of late and a tiny bit of drizzle greeted us at dawn but not enough to bother the water table! The rain tanks are still very low and we are struggling to see when more water will come our way!

Looking north from the South End

More seal pups were born today - at least two tiny babies were seen in Henllwyn, with totals of eight on the West Coast seven on the Narrows and eight on the South End

about 1 day old pup

Newborn pup - about 1-2 hours old

and a Herring Gull making the most of the placenta... eeew

A leopard-skin seal

There were 26 Gannets seen offshore, with five Cormorants and 28 Shags on the usual roosting rocks. Three Grey Herons wandered the island and the Mallard flock of 20 had a Teal with them, and the regular two were seen in the Lowlands. Five Common Scoter passed at sea.

A single Sparrowhawk was seen and two Buzzards were being playful over the mountain for much of the day.

Buzzard hanging in the wind

Wader roost time is early morning now and 40 Oystercatchers made up the bulk, with the Grey Plover still in residence. A Lapwing wandered the west and southern parts of the island in the morning and six Snipes were seen in the Wetlands. Ten Purple Sandpipers were on the roost rocks along with nine Redshanks, 23 Curlew and 29 Turnstones. A Common Sandpiper was seen at the north end of the island too.

Curlew and Oyc

Curlew

Three Arctic Skuas passed the South End in the morning along with 200 Kittiwakes, and 600 Razorbills.

No prizes for guessing how many Collared Doves were seen today... yes it was the usual 13(!), but only six Woodpigeons. The Woodpecker is still as elusive as ever in the withies, tap tap tapping away at the old rotting stumps.

Swallow passage was very light with only 12 birds seen all day. Meadow Pipit numbers were higher with 135 seen, with Rock Pipit numbers were status quo at 40.

Wagtails on the Narrows remain in small numbers for the time of year, with six alba, 16 Whites and two Pieds. A Grey Wagtail flew over Nant.

Robin numbers further increased overnight with 25 autumnal songsters brightening the drizzly dawn. The Whinchat was still with the Stonechats at Ty Pellaf, the latter's total from across the island being 11 again.

Stonechat

Wheatear passage on the island seems to happen later in the day for some strange reason. Early morning none were seen at all on the Narrows and South End, by mid-morning four were present, and by mid-afternoon 21 were counted from the Boathouse to the South hide... a further five were elsewhere on the island. Again all were of the big bright northern race O.o.leucorrhoa.

Greenland Wheatear

Warblers were agin in short supply: one Whitethroat, a Blackcap, four Chiffchaffs and a Willow Warbler, with ten Goldcrests were the totals... Lets hope this improves soon! A single Spotted Flycatcher was being blown about in the afternoon wind at Tŷ Pellaf.

Spotted Flycatcher

Choughs descended into the fields below the Obs in the morning... a strange sight these days, with a flock of 24 wandering around the fields.

Chough

Linnets increased from yesterday with 203 counted, mostly on the West Coast, Narrows and South End.

Linnet flock

Fiona is still clearing net rides; today saw the turn of Cristin Withy making it much easier to get the nets opened. All we need now is some birdies in there!

Cristin Withy net ride after its hair cut!

Silent night - a cloudy full moon at the Obs, with lights and no generator!

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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 22 September 2021

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