Bardsey's Wildlife

Sunday, 27 May 2018

Last night's moon was so bright that I could clearly watch the thunderstorm moving west over Snowdonia towards us as I walked back to the Lighthouse at midnight, but luckily by the time it reached us I was tucked up in bed. The worst of the weather had all but cleared by dawn, leaving behind another nice wave of migrants for us to enjoy over the course of the day. A Red-breasted Flycatcher found at Ty Nesaf mid-morning was the first since 8th October 2016 and a really nice way to start the day following an unsuccessful attempt by half the wardening team to pin down a warbler in the Withies that gave a very brief burst of song reminiscent of Melodious Warbler.

There was a fine supporting cast of common migrants during the day, with a male Common Redstart kicking about by the Lighthouse, three Whinchats in the Wetlands, a Yellow Wagtail on the South End and a fair number of Spotted Flycatchers remaining after yesterday's influx. An Osprey flided over the mountain in the afternoon and a Pomarine Skua flew north up the West Coast. The day was rounded off when the Blyth's Reed Warbler reappeared in the garden, giving brief bursts of song (but remaining hidden) as we ate dinner!

Other birds logged today included a Red-throated Diver off the South End, 865 Manx Shearwaters, ten Gannets, a Grey Heron, a Sparrowhawk, two Peregrines, a Ringed Plover, six Dunlins, a Whimbrel, two Turnstones, three Black-headed Gulls, 156 Kittiwakes, a Sandwich Tern, two Arctic Terns, three Collared Doves, a Little Owl, ten Swifts, a flava Wagtail, five Stonechats, six Wheatears, ten Sedge Warblers, ten Whitethroats, two Garden Warblers, four Blackcaps, seven Chiffchaffs, 16 Willow Warblers, 38 Spotted Flycatchers, nine Chaffinches, six Goldfinches, 23 Linnets and two Lesser Redpolls.

Red-breasted Flycatcher is one of those scarce birds that can almost be expected annually on Bardsey. Surprisingly, 2017 was a completely blank year for the species, so everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief when Mark radioed out to say he'd found one just outside his garden this morning.

The second Osprey of the year flew over the mountain.

Perhaps the most significant record of the day was a moth. A very tatty looking Light Knot Grass found on the South End cliffs is the first record for the island of what is usually a species of moorland and bogs. It had without a doubt been blown over from the mainland (perhaps as far as Snowdonia) during last night's strong easterly gales.

It was a day of humid and unsettled weather with huge clouds, thunderstorms and a little bit of blue sky to end with.

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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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Sunday, 27 May 2018

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