Bardsey's Wildlife

Saturday 16 October 2021

As ever, when the wind is calm and its Saturday we see our off-going guests leave the island and a new bunch arrive. With Stuart and Megan away at the moment, this left Emma and I to do the changeover ourselves.

South Double

South Quad

the 'snug'

Dining room - ready for Curry Night!

Clean Kitchen

Flowers by Fiona

However, Fiona arrived yesterday to do another spell of volunteering (Gorse chopping this time around the PV array), and Jeff along with William and Martha were staying on, and all offered to help 'man the pumps'. So at about 0900hrs we all dived into getting the place put back to 'factory settings'. It was great team-work it was great fun and lots of banter. Thanks to all of them for helping.

So after the new guests arrived and were treated to the obligatory tea/coffee and biscuits (and introduction talk), it was time to see what birds had arrived.

A Red-throated Diver was seen in the Sound from the incoming boat. The usual two Herons were seen, but Mallard numbers increased slightly to 27. There were coincidentally the same number of Common Scoters flying past the island too!

Singles of Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Merlin still chased the migrant passerines and resident mice for dinner, whilst a Water Rail was sharming from Cristin Withy.

On the wader front there were 46 Oystercatchers, 12 Purple Sandpipers, 59 Curlews, nine Redshanks and 77 Turnstones in the roost along with the regular wintering colour-ringed Whimbrel, which was first ringed here in autumn 2016. Three Snipes were in the lowlands.

Curlews at sunset

After some time with either none or very small numbers of Woodpigeons, today's movement of 42 birds was different.

Only two Great Spotted Woodpeckers were seen, though Seven Skylarks passed overhead. A Wheatear was again on the South End, and ten Blackbirds were seen. No Redwings were grounded today, however in a two minute period after dark 11 Redwings were heard 'steeping' overhead as they headed south. A Mistle Thrush was seen at Nant - pity it was not all scaled with a zebra underwing! Ten Robins were counted and just two Stonechats.

Robin

A Blackcap was at Nant, and three Chiffchaffs were seen. Only three Goldgrest were counted too. 27 Jackdaws flew south and 19 Starlings were scattered about the island. Just 11 Chaffinches were counted, with two siskin, seven and Goldfinches.

However, bird(s) of the day award went clearly to the two Mute Swans that flew past Richard whilst he was on the phone to his family from Pen Cristin late in the evening. Fortunately Rich had to phone home to let them know he had arrived here safe and well as the two Swans flew past heading towards the mainland. This is only the 11th record for the island and the first since 2016!

There are still plenty of seal pups around and this week Anjie and Penny are going to be helping record any new pups.

Grey Seals

As it was a bit of a manic day, moth o' Clock did not happen until darkness had almost fallen, but there were some nice moths again, including three Red-green Carpets and three Turnip Moths.

Pearly Underwing and Turnip

Red-green Carpet

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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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Saturday 16 October 2021

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