Bardsey's Wildlife

Monday, 11 September 2017

Today saw Bardsey engaged in an inter-island bird race against Bird Observatories from across Britain and Ireland. We'll need to finalise our counts (and are still hoping for a calling Little Owl!), but will update with our final total once we've sorted it out tomorrow. However, it just so happened to coincide with one of the most remarkable days seawatching in the Observatory's long history. Two records were broken, with some other fantastic counts being recorded.

The commonest species of the day were 8462 Kittiwakes, 1526 Manx Shearwaters 1162 Gannets, the latter being the fourth highest day total in the history of Bardsey. However perhaps the most remarkable totals from today were 70 Arctic Skuas and 57 Great Skuas, both of which smashed their previous island records of 50 and 39. Six Pomarine Skuas and two Long-tailed Skuas were also logged, the latter being an addition to the year-list. In addition, the island was graced by a magnificent 38 Leach's Petrels, giving all obs staff and volunteers, and several guests, the chance to catch up with one of our most elusive seabirds. Many passed close inshore, giving lucky observers brilliant views, and today was undoubtedly one of the ornithological highlights of the year so far. A selection of photos or some of the petrels is below.

One of the 1162 Gannet seen today

The other highlights of the day show an excellent range of diversity and quality. Quality came from our first Black-throated Diver of the year, a Sooty Shearwater, a Storm Petrel, the first Grey Phalarope of the year and five Sabine's Gulls. Razorbill numbers continue to grow, with 711 logged today, and 10 Guillemots amongst them. Terns on the move included 63 Sandwich Terns, 18 Arctic Terns, four Common Terns and a single Commic Tern, while other species logged included 61 Fulmars, 38 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, three Black-headed Gulls and five Common Scoters. Four Harbour Porpoises and a single Risso's Dolphin were also offshore.

Amongst an excellent selection of waders were several recorded only on seawatching, namely four Ruffs, six Golden Plovers and four Bar-tailed Godwits. Otherwise 58 Curlews, 45 Oystercatchers, 43 Turnstones and 16 Redshanks were good counts, with six Ringed Plovers, five Dunlins, three Whimbrels and singles of Purple Sandpiper and Snipe.

On such a day, landbirds were relegated to the bottom of the pecking order. 33 Goldcrests were around, while warblers featured just nine Chiffchaffs, two Blackcaps, one Whitethroat and one Willow Warbler. 39 Rock Pipits and 18 White Wagtails were around the coast, and in the bushes there were also 13 Robins, two Wheatears and a Spotted Flycatcher. A Skylark on the North End was also the first record of the autumn.

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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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Monday, 11 September 2017

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