Bardsey's Wildlife

Thursday, 2 May 2019

The day started with a light SW wind, low cloud covering the top of the mountain and some drizzle. This seemed like good conditions for bringing in some new birds and with 5 species of warbler seen from the kitchen window it was clear some birds had dropped in.

There were several highlights today, we had our first two Spotted Flycatchers of the year at nant, our first Whinchat of the year in the wetlands and a male Shoveler found on the beach and then on Pwll cain being only the 28th island record. Not a bad morning.

The morning also provided the start to a good day of Swallow movement heading north through the island. A total of 579 birds were counted with 22 Sand Martins and a years high count of 54 House Martins moving with them.

There was an increase in warblers around the island, year high counts of Sedge Warblers and Common Whitethroats came in at 17 and 24 respectively. Other Sylvia warblers were also present with 39 Blackcaps, one Garden Warbler at nant and one Lesser Whitethroat trapped at the observatory. Phylosc warblers seemed to come in more in the evening. Nant and the observatory garden were the main places for these and total counts came in at 47 Chiffchaffs and 163 Willow Warblers. At this time the nets were opened in the observatory garden and over 30 birds were caught in a short space of time with an added bonus of a Crossbill heard flying south whilst a net round was being done.

Today was all about Swallow Passage, with over 500 counted it is the largest movement of the year so far

Dunlin on Solfach are all looking rather dapper in their summer dress

Many of our Rock Pipits are colour-ringed. This one has unfortunately lost one ring from its left leg, but we can still tell it was ringed in either 2014 or 2015 on Solfach

The Sparrowhawks are being seen regularly at Nant and are probably nesting in the Plantation again

There are several pairs of stonechats 'chacking' around the island

Female Stonechat

We have colour ringed quite a few Whimbrel over the past few years, here is one of the birds trapped a few nights ago. Bardsey is one of the few places in the UK where Whimbrels can be seen year-round. A small number spend the winter here and the few which don't migrate further north to Iceland to breed are probably first-summer birds

Additional counts included one Grey Heron, two Sparrowhawks, four Buzzards, one Kestrel, one Peregrine, 164 Oystercatchers, six Dunlins, 23 Whimbrels, three Common Sandpipers, one Tree Pipit and one Grasshopper Warbler.

No comments:

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

Pages

Thursday, 2 May 2019

No comments:

Post a Comment

Pages