Bardsey's Wildlife

Tuesday, 31 March 2026

A drop in the harsh Westerlies at force four, with excellent visibility and temperature remaining high at 13°C. Making for a very pleasant day of birding.

A warm and sunny day © Steven Stansfield

Joel and Ezra began working on the garden, getting it tamed before the guests arrived. Ezra on the mower and Joel on the strimmer, they began to hack back at the miniature jungle which had grown up over Winter. Steve continued the task of dressing bedrooms and cleaning, whilst Emma followed around getting all the beds pulled straight, polishing and dusting.

The south quad being dressed, more painting is still required around the door, a top coat for the whole wall once the stain block is dry © Steven Stansfield

Beds made, awaiting Emma's final touch © Steven Stansfield

The two Small Tortoiseshells remained hibernating in the LSA hut and two more were seen on the wing at Cristin, along with a Peacock. Inside Cristin, a Common Quaker was seen.

Seabirds were limited, with one Manx Shearwater off the South End and three Gannets were recorded. Three Cormorants and seven Shags were scattered around the coast. Two Sandwich Terns flew between Carreg yn Honwy and Solfach, fishing between the two and resting on the rocks. These were the first living Sandwich Terns recorded here this year.

Four Shelducks were present, with a pair on each beach. Mallards reached twelve and the Gadwall pair were at Pwll Cain.

Raptors included a Red Kite, a Peregrine and two Sparrowhawks seen at Cristin. A Merlin at the South End and another on the West Coast meant it was possible the Icelandic bird was seen today.

A Curlew and two Whimbrels were seen along the West Coast, two Redshanks at Solfach, and five Snipe were flushed in the Wetlands. Oystercatchers totalled 167.

An increase in Auks returning to the cliffs were seen today, with six Guillemots, 12 Razorbills and five Puffins seen flying up past Pencristin towards the colonies, along with 40 ‘auk sp.’.

The first House Martins were seen today with two seen flying north through the Wetlands from Crisitin.

Meadow Pipits totalled 56, with 23 being seen at the South End, and six Rock Pipits were seen between several sites. Pied Wagtails reached seven, and 19 ‘alba’ wagtails moved over the island throughout the day..

The warm and calm weather meant a high Dunnock count was achieved, with 18 seen across the island, the same was true with Robins with seven detected. Stonechats totalled eleven and Wheatears numbers remained consistent at seven. A female Blackbird was seen carrying nesting material at Ty Pellaf with four males seen elsewhere.

Dunnock © Joel Tragen

Warblers included two Blackcaps, twelve Chiffchaffs and four Willow Warblers, a noticeable increase compared with the rest of the week. Goldcrests numbered four, and the two Firecrests remained.

High numbers of corvids were seen today with 32 Magpies and 30 Carrion Crows. A large flock of 16 Choughs were seen over Crisitin.

Finches included seven Chaffinches, 42 Goldfinches, two Siskins and 35 Linnets. Included grounded Chaffinch and good Goldfinch passage.

This was the first day nets could be opened for the first time in a while. A total of 11 birds were trapped, including a Firecrest, one each of all the other warblers present and six finches (four Goldfinches and two Chaffinches).

Firecrest © Steven Stansfield

No comments:

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

Pages

Tuesday, 31 March 2026

No comments:

Post a Comment

Pages