2010 Report gets Excellent review

Just opened BirdGuides this morning and saw this fantastic review of the last report.

At 170 pages, the Bardsey Bird and Field Observatory Report 2010 is an incredibly detailed and impeccably produced title for such a small expanse of land: occupying just 440 acres off the Lleyn Peninsula, the island is no more than a mile in length. Compare this to the Norfolk Bird and Mammal Report for the same year, which weighs in at 240 pages and covers the entirety of one of Britain's most dynamic and 'birdy' counties! Any fears that 170 pages could equate to low quality and extensive waffle were quickly swept aside on the first flick-through: the content looked fascinating and well presented, and there were plenty of gripping photos to boot. I couldn't wait to get started.

Following the introductory warden's report, a 23-page seasonal summary takes us on a journey from March through to December, discussing the arrival and occurrence of birds on the island, as well as giving an overall summary of breeding success in the summer section. Essentially, this is a condensed annual review that allows the reader to apply chronological order to the following, more detailed, species accounts. Unsurprisingly, September and October are the most detailed months, and give an almost daily breakdown of ornithological events and occurrences on Bardsey, while accompanying photos and extracts from finders' accounts make the entire section a fascinating read.
If the summary was impressive, the main body of the publication — the species accounts — are simply excellent. Concise (yet complete) text is illustrated by a plethora of graphs, tables and images that portray each species recorded with an intricate level of detail. The statuses of many of the commoner species are expressed in tables containing maximum counts and 'bird-days', while migrant counts are often represented by graphs illustrating the fluctuation of maximum counts throughout the migration season. Many of the more notable migrants (e.g. Grey Phalarope, Black Redstart) are illustrated with photographs taken on the island during the year. Following this is a section detailing Bardsey's breeding birds, providing information on the number of pairs and young produced, productivity, and trends in comparison to recent years. Towards the end of the report, a similar section is dedicated to the butterflies and moths of the island, successfully fulfilling the wider 'Field Observatory' status given in the report's title. While it is easy to marvel at the depth and quality of content, it must be remembered that such data has to be obtained via fieldwork in the first place and, for that, full credit must go to the Bardsey crew — what an observant, enthusiastic and patient bunch they must be!

For me, one of the highlights was the appealing collection of colour photo-collages following the species accounts, which depict some of the many highlights of Bardsey's birding year over seven pages. In contrast to many bird reports that simply list images in a taxonomic order, the report's collages are produced with both thought and taste: themes such as "Rarities", "Ringing" and "Autumn Sea Passage" are each given a one-page spread, and help to give a feel for birding on the island. For completeness, an eighth collage is dedicated to some of the non-avian highlights of the year.
Next up are several features; these are more extensive articles which discuss the Manx Shearwater breeding census, migrant dates, ringing totals and recoveries, and accounts of some of the rarest birds seen during the year among other topics. Once again, these provide a fascinating insight into the birds of the island as well as the day-to-day efforts of the observatory to monitor migration. I found the ringing total table of significant interest: it was amazing to learn that almost 38,000 Manxies have been ringed on the island in the observatory's history. I also particularly enjoyed the finder's account of the White-throated Sparrow, which occurred on the island the same day as a Greenish Warbler — a true definition of east meets west!

To summarise, this really is a fantastic piece of work, which has evidently had a great deal of focus and effort poured into its production; let that be a lesson to those annual reports that are assembled half-heartedly and lack any sort of attention to detail! It conveys the quality of bird and wildlife-watching on Bardsey throughout the seasons in colourful and enthusiastic manner, while also proving informative and educational. When combining a read of this report with a quick look at the bird news from the fantastically productive spring that Bardsey has just enjoyed, the temptation to book a visit the island becomes almost irresistible, particularly during the peak migration seasons. Priced at a very reasonable £10 (iPad version available for £5), this is a great publication from a great team on a great little island — congratulations all round!

Josh Jones
Wednesday 20th June 2012

170pp, 8 colour plates, £10 inc. p&p.
iPad version available as PDF for £5
To order, contact warden@bbfo.org.uk.

Aside from a Greenshank (spotted by Richard Brown assistant warden) it was another quiet day bird wise, with mostly the resident birds keeping us company on Bardsey. Not being use to having my camera out everyday and posting daily pictures on the blog im going to cheat and put up some pictures taken by me but ones from previous days here (shhhhhhh don't tell anyone).

The first few are from the east side of the island, when I was fortunate enough to be helping out with the ringing and counting of sea birds.

In other news the moth trap run by 'Icky' Steve produced the first lackey moth of the year, other moths including buff tip and dark arches were also caught.

Again not related to this week but a week or so back a small elephant hawk moth was caught, here is Connor admiring this beautiful creature.

With Ben being away on his summer holiday Mark and I will be trying to keep the log up to date, though migration is all but over now and our attention has turned to the breeding birds of the island. That said a fine adult Pomarine Skua was seen on the Narrows this morning. Rich B got some fantastic pictures of the bird and are viewable on his blog. (www.bardsey.blogspot.com)

This massive Shelduck brood is actually three broods that have been amassed from kidnapping! It all began with a pair who had a brood of 8 young, they then stole a brood of four and then another brood of seven. The female is rather manic and protective now of her super-brood of 19 young. You can see in the shot above that the remaining 18 youngsters are of three different sizes.

wrens are having a good season too with over 100 singing males recorded on the common bird census.

 Guillemots are on ledges and in the boulders, and numbers appear to be reasonable.

 There were over 200 Shags on the east side during a boat count earlier in the week.

 Several were still in nests...

 ...but many, like this one, had fledged

 Fulmar numbers were low, with fewer than 10 pairs on the cliffs

 Puffins are doing very well again, with many birds coming ashore in the small colony that appears to be growing on the east side.

 Herring Gulls are doing well, with many young being found in the colonies

Whimbrels are still present in small numbers, though there are no signs of breeding. They did nest within the BBFO recording area in 1999 and 2000, but although they are regular in both summer and winter there have been no further signs of breeding.

Up to 80 pairs of Otstercatchers are regular breeders on the island, but numbers this year appear a little lower than normal.

This rather stunning wagtail was found on the Narrows this morning. It was initially thought that it may be a dombrowskii Wagtail, a hybrid between the nominate flava and Black-headed Wagtail feldegg. It is very striking, no matter what it is. There is also Eastern Yellow Wagtail M.f.tschutschensis to consider that appears indistinguishable from dombrowskii.


Unfortunately the call of this bird to my ears sounded fairly like a normal flava wagtail, and not very buzzy.

The next four images show typical Blue-headed Wagtails M.f.flava 

Two Storm Petrels off the South end of the island in the morning were the highlights of another windy day. Two Golden Plovers also flew past with good numbers of common birds, although passerines inland were extremely thin on the ground.

The strong Westerly wind pushed large numbers of seabirds close to the island's shores, although most were just the usual breeders

This Grey Seal was observed in front of the North hide as it tore a Pollock apart, and even managed to skin it!

The pairs of Stonechats above the Schoolhouse and Cristin seem to have fledged a second brood recently

The moth traps have been catching very little of late, although a few day-flying 'micros' have been recorded: 

Diamond-back Moths are migratory moths, despite their small size. Thousands can appear overnight at coastal migration points- here on the island, around 15 have been recorded so far this year

 Cocksfoot Moth- this tiny species is just over 6mm in length, and had only been seen on the island once before 2011. It was then seen in small numbers of up to 13 in the New Plantation. However, this year has shown that this species is very common on the island, with several counts of over 500 moths in the New Plantation recorded over the last few weeks

Three Celypha cespitana were seen on the mountain midday, representing the first records of this relatively common species this year

Very wet and miserable weather did not stop Ben from venturing out this morning and finding this singing male Greenish Warbler in his garden. It eventually made its way into the Obs garden where it was trapped and ringed.

In other news, a Cuckoo at Nant and a Spotted Flycatcher at Ty Pellaf were the only new arrivals, although over 1000 Manx Shearwaters passed the coast.

There have been eight previous records of Greenish Warblers on the island, although only one since 1997

The utterly miserable weather was back today, with hardly a break between rainstorms, and so very few birds were around. A single Swift passed overhead in the morning, joining a flock of 26 House Martins above Nant. On Solfach, a summer-plumaged Sandelring was seen with six Dunlins and three Ringed Plovers, and a Black-headed Gull flew in briefly.

 At least four territorial male Sedge Warblers are singing in the withies at the moment 

 Sanderlings undertake an extremely long migration, one of the longest known in birds, although it is fairly poorly understood. Birds wintering in Southern Africa are known to migrate both to Siberia and Greenland (these are the ones that pass through Western Europe and Iceland), and some even beyond to Arctic Canada. Through an extensive colour-ringing scheme, the majority of the Canadian breeding population have been found to winter in South America. 

Black-headed Gull

It was another very good day bird-wise, with a nice selection of scarcities on the island. The day started well, when a Red-breasted Flycatcher was discovered in Nant garden. This bird remained here for the rest of the morning, although could not be relocated in the afternoon. This is around the 76th record for the island, although there have only ever been nine previous spring records. An unringed Common Rosefinch was seen briefly at Cristin mid-morning, although was not seen again after flying North along the mountainside. The third decent bird of the day was a Golden Oriole that made a fleeting appearance in the bottom end of Cristin garden, although once again attempts to relocate the bird failed. 

Red-breasted Flycatcher at Nant this morning

Another rather grim day of fine drizzle and showers saw very few birds of note on the island. The Melodious  Warbler was present for its third day in Cristin garden, and a female Yellow Wagtail was seen on Solfach.

 Meadow Pipit

The Yellow Wagtail on Solfach was an interesting-looking bird, with some features similar to M.flava (Blue-headed Wagtail), such as the very pale supercilium evident in this image

A Common Rosefinch found at Plas mid-morning was the best find of the day, and was later seen at Nant Withy. The Melodious Warbler was found in Cristin early morning, before it moved into the green lane where it began singing. In other news, eight Spotted Flycatchers were scattered around the island, whilst three Sanderlings joined the flock of Dunlins in Solfach and a Whimbrel was in Henllwyn.

 For over a week now, a single pair of Shelducks have been raising 12 ducklings in Solfach. On the opposite side of the beach, another pair of Shelducks were raising seven youngsters. However, by yesterday morning, the brood of 12 ducklings had been joined by the seven others, representing a small creche of 19 ducklings with the one greedy parents. The second pair of Shelducks have now left Solfach, leaving their young in the care of the highly protective pair. 

 Robins chicks seem to be all over the island at the moment, with five alone along the back of the observatory

Six-spot Burnet larva and cacoons are all along the track fenceline at the moment-some posts have as many as seven cacoons on them

Clouded-bordered Brindle-a few have been trapped so far this year

As I was just heading back from the obs this morning, having had coffee with our guests, I saw movement in the Heligoland trap. Thinking that I should make sure it was not a Subalp (with there being two on Lundy in the week!), I made my way through the soaking wet grass in the pouring rain. On approaching, I heard baby blue tits calling. I assumed that the parents were outside the trap (they know what it is all about and don't go in there), and the youngsters were inside. When I got to the catching box end of the trap I was correct, there were two baby Blue Tits... and a flash of Black, white and chestnut! and this little beauty. 

Male Woodchat Shrike

For the second time in the day, Steve ventured out into the garden and wandered towards the Schoolhouse late in the afternoon. Here, without his bins, he saw a large warbler that he thought was a Melodious Warbler having only seen it very briefly as he had just popped out to the loo! When other observers arrived, the bird was re-found near the back of the heligoland trap and showed briefly, although well enough for all to see that it was indeed the first Melodious Warbler of the year! It then found its way into the trap and was caught and ringed.

Melodious Warbler is another one of those species which Bardsey seems to be particularly good for, with 14 birds since 2007. Indeed, up until the end of 2006, there had been 186 accepted records of Melodious Warblers in Wales, with almost 100 of these coming from Bardsey!

In other news, a Great Northern Diver flew past the North end of the island in the morning, along with a 'Commic Tern'. A good gathering of waders on Solfach at high tide saw 18 Ringed Plovers, 30 Dunlins, two Sanderlings and a Turnstone. Passerine-wise, three Willow Warblers, five Chiffchaffs and around 10 Spotted Flycatchers were in the gardens, withies and on the coast.

Here is a shot of a poor little Sand Martin that was sheltering on the beach in Henllwyn, just illustrating how awful the weather was!