Bardsey's Wildlife

Wednesday, 1 April 2026

A blustery day with a steady westerly wind force four, a slight sea state and generally good visibility, although showers developed later in the afternoon. Temperatures reached 11°C.

Being April fools day, Ela and I cooked up a plan to trick Joel. With the help of Ai we produced a semi-realistic photo of a White Stork in the fields below Cristin. Ela then came to the Obs and said to Joel that she had seen a large Black and white Heron, with orange legs and beak and proceeded to show him this photo! We could not make the photo look really good or he would smell a rat, so we produced this awful image, for Ela to show him on her phone. The stork was a bit big, but it did the job. We had Joel for s short while anyway! Sorry Joel...

April Fool! White Stork - It's Massive! © Steven Stansfield and Nanno Bannana AI

Away from the tomfoolery, butterfly activity increased slightly with three Small Tortoiseshells and one Peacock seen, while moth interest included two Early Thorns at the Observatory.

The sea produced two Gannets passed the South End and nine Shags were scattered around the island. Five Cormorants were also logged.

A single Grey Heron remained at Pwll Gareth, beside an imaginary black and white 'heron'!

Wildfowl included six Shelducks divided between Henllwyn and Solfach and nine Mallards across Pwll Cristin, Pwll Gareth, the Wetlands and Solfach whilst the pair of Gadwall were still on Pwll Cain. Raptors were represented by two Sparrowhawks and a single Peregrine hunting around Nant.

Moorhens totalled five across the freshwater pools. Wader numbers were steady with Oystercatchers totalling 135. Two Snipes were at the Wetlands and two Whimbrels passed along the West Coast, with a single Curlew also there. A Green Sandpiper was another good record, in the Wetlands.

Gulls remained widespread with 88 Herring Gulls across the island and four Great Black‑backed Gulls. Two Kittiwakes passed the South End. Auks included one Guillemot, 21 Razorbills and a Puffin was also seen moving past the South End.

Woodpigeons were present in good numbers with 25 across the island.

Passerine movement continued at a steady pace. Meadow Pipits totalled 64 and Rock Pipits seven. Alba wagtails reached eight with birds dotted around Nant, the Wetlands, the Observatory and the South End. Pied Wagtails numbered just three.

Wrens were very evident with 34 across the island, while Dunnocks reached ten and two Robins were noted. Stonechats totalled ten including several pairs holding territory. Wheatears increased again to 11, and five Blackbirds were logged. A Blue Tit at Nant was the first of the year.

Warblers showed a marked increase. Chiffchaff numbers rose sharply to 32 with birds widely spread. Willow Warblers reached 15. Blackcaps numbered five and Goldcrests reached 14 and a single Firecrest remained at the Observatory.

Corvids were prominent with 38 Magpies and 28 Carrion Crows recorded. Chough numbers were strong again with 19 across the Mountain. Two Ravens were also seen.

Finches were well represented, with nine Chaffinches, Goldfinches reached 50, Linnets numbered 45, again showing active passage. A single Reed Bunting was recorded at the Wetlands.

Work continued on the Lodge, with and electric fan heater being used to dry out the very wet wall!

Trying to dry out the very wet wall before Dry rot treatment is applied

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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, 1 April 2026

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