Yesterday saw the first guests of the season arrive to stay in the Bardsey Island Trust cottages, and combined with today's day visitors the island was bustling. It was a fine Sunday to be out and about; there was a light easterly breeze and it actually felt quite warm when the sun decided to poke through the clouds.

Two female Bullfinches and a Great tit found early on at Nant, both scarcely annual birds on the island and the first seen this year, were presumably dispersing from the nearby mainland, whilst the House Sparrow resurfaced again at Carreg. With birds obviously on the move, there was an air of excitement around the observatory as to what the next good find of the day would be. It didn't take long before a call came through on the radio from Billy and Ephraim of a male Dartford Warbler skulking in the scrub behind Carreg Bach. A first for the island! Or so it seemed. But something didn't quite seem right to warden Steve who'd just run half the length of the island from his desk and was now enjoying binocular views of this incredible island rarity. The bird was lifeless, perched motionless amongst the gorse. Not the kind of behaviour you'd expect from a Dartford Warbler. Suddenly things clocked. It was a laminated paper cut out! A carefully planned April Fool's prank by his assistant wardens, and it had worked perfectly. It was a long walk back to the observatory. The assistants were very amused. Steve swore revenge. 

The wait goes on for a genuine Dartford Warbler on Ynys Enlli, but in the meantime there was a fine avian supporting cast to see us through to the end of the week. Three Red-throated Divers, nine Manx Shearwaters and 11 Common Scoters passed by out at sea as well as 17 Kittiwakes and a single Puffin. Two Sparrowhawks were in the lowlands whilst two female Merlins hunted at opposite ends of the island throughout the day. 94 Oystercatchers, 25 Purple Sandpipers, six Snipes, three Whimbrels, five Curlews, 19 Redshanks and five Turnstones made up today's waders. Other sightings included 72 Meadow Pipits, 22 Rock Pipits, two Stonechats, four Wheatears, one Song Thrush, four Chiffchaffs, 19 Goldcrests, nine Chaffinches, one Brambling, one Greenfinch, three Siskins, nine Goldfinches, one Linnet and two Reed Buntings. 

A pod of around ten Bottlenose Dolphins performed well off the east coast late in the afternoon. Photos emerging on social media later that evening suggested that several other people had enjoyed views from the mainland of what is one of the less regular cetaceans seen off the Llyn Peninsula.

April Fool's! This would never have caught me out. No way.

Ephraim has worked hard over the past couple of days measuring, cutting and fitting the new desk in the assistant warden's office. It looks fantastic!