Bardsey's Wildlife

Tuesday, 28 October 2025

A lively and blustery day brought strong westerlies and excellent visibility, setting the stage for some impressive movement.

Offshore, two Great Northern Divers were seen off the West Coast, one of them an adult in summer plumage. Gannets trickled through in small numbers, with 14 noted, and 16 Shags were logged, 14 at Henllwyn and two on Solfach. Henllwyn also held 12 Cormorants and a lone Grey Heron.

Grey Heron, Grey Seals and waders © Steven Stansfield

Wildfowl were scattered across the Narrows, where the regular five Wigeons joined 26 Mallards. A Peregrine powered over Tŷ Pellaf, while Water Rails called from both the Withies and Nant. Three Moorhens lingered around the Observatory.

Waders were well represented. The Narrows held 46 Oystercatchers and 14 Turnstones, and eight Purple Sandpipers appeared, the first for some time.

Purple Sandpipers © Steven Stansfield

Solfach produced a Bar-tailed Godwit and two Whimbrels (one of which was colour-ringed from September 2024) while Henllwyn added 22 Curlews and two Redshanks.

This Whimbrel was ringed here on 28 September 2024 © Steven Stansfield

Curlew over the sea © Steven Stansfield

Gull passage saw 65 Mediterranean Gulls moved off the West Coast, accompanied by an adult Little Gull, four Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 27 Herring Gulls, and 25 Great Black-backed Gulls on the Narrows. Offshore counts also included 75 Kittiwakes and 224 Razorbills.

Overhead passage was strong, with 36 Skylarks and 34 Meadow Pipits moving south, plus a single Swallow over the Narrows. On Solfach, 20 Rock Pipits were joined by nine more at Henllwyn, including 12 presumed Scandinavian Rock Pipits and a the regular Water Pipit among them. Two Pied Wagtails were also noted on Solfach.

Water Pipit © Steven Stansfield

Wrens were ever present, with 28 logged across the island, with 15 Dunnocks and 15 Blackbirds scattered across the usual haunts, while two Song Thrushes and two Redwings were seen along with a single Blackcap.

Warblers were thin on the ground, with just two Chiffchaffs and four Goldcrests. The tit 'flock' comprised 12 Long-tailed Tits today, plus the Blue Tit and Great Tit.

Corvids were busy, with 32 Magpies spread across Tŷ Pellaf, the Lowlands, the Narrows, and Nant. 28 Choughs fed on Solfach, three Carrion Crows were on the Narrows, and 18 Ravens flew over the Observatory and the Mountain.

Lammergier Raven (!!) © Steven Stansfield

Carrion Crow © Steven Stansfield

Starling passage was dramatic, with 2,556 sweeping across the West Coast and Narrows.

Flocks of up to 200 strong Starlings were moving through © Steven Stansfield

All congregations on the Narrows © Steven Stansfield

and looking smart in the morning sun © Steven Stansfield

Finch movement was equally impressive, with 2,243 Chaffinches heading south in large flocks over the Observatory and West Coast. These were accompanied by 16 Bramblings, 46 Goldfinches, 287 Siskins, 24 Lesser Redpolls, six Linnets, and two Greenfinches.

One of hundreds of Chaffinches that dropped into the garden © Steven Stansfield

Goldfinches were on the feeders all day © Steven Stansfield

A new seal pup was seen on the Narrows, the first for some time, with 124 adults in Henllwyn and 88 more on Solfach, plus six hauled out on the South End.

New pup © Steven Stansfield

New mum! © Steven Stansfield

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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, 28 October 2025

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