Unfortunately, the wind picked up today which ruled out ringing as a possibility. It was also a northerly which brought the temperature down, it really was quite a biting wind. Looking northwards through binoculars had eyes streaming all over the show..! You didn't have to go far to see odd Bardsey birds though as a Great Tit could be seen from the kitchen window first thing in the morning!

A big tidy up has been going on around the obs in the last couple of days, which is a little odd as we're some of the only people in the UK not confined to our houses. Never-the-less the office and the ringing hut have been fully cleaned! Emma did the office and George and Sam did the ringing hut.

George sorting the ringing hut, while I [Sam] helpfully take photos

The ringing hut looking as good as it ever has

A tidy office!!

Some new birds for the year were had today, despite the conditions, these include Black-headed Gull and Grey Heron, maybe not the most inspiring of bird species, and many more of each will be had in the year to come, but we'll take them for now, they bring the year list to 76!

Four Black-headed Gulls flying past North End

Up at the Plantation, five Coal Tits and a Blue Tit were recorded, these are likely to be birds that have remained from yesterday. Very peculiar to hear and see these birds on Bardsey, but in the last couple of days we've become almost blasé about them. The movement of Coal Tits has been noticed on other Welsh sites, including islands such as Skokholm.

The Herring Gulls at the North End are busy building nests at the moment, we'll be out ringing the chicks come summertime! 

Herring Gull with a beak full of nest material at the North End

A lone male Shelduck also at North End looking a bit lost

Over the mountain, a pair of Peregrines could be seen, in this species the markings are the same between the sexes, but the females are significantly larger and it's usually easy to tell which is which from a distance when a pair is together. Hopefully, they will nest on the East Side this year as they do in most years and we'll have streaky plumaged juveniles flying over the Mountain.

Peregrine flying over the Mountain

Seeing as many of our usual guests can't make it to the island this year, we'll post a few landscape photos of familiar views around the island in a few blog posts. Here is the view from the track as you make your way to Cristin.

A familiar sight to many, the walk up to the 'obs'

As the day drew to a close, we were treated once again to one of those Bardsey sunsets that are all to easy to take for granted when living here. But viewing it from Solfach means that it sets just behind Carreg yr Henwy, which brings a nice change. 

Sunset from Solfach, with Carreg yr Henwy to the right of the image

We've been having amazingly clear nights since arriving back a week and a half ago, the moon was a beautiful crescent tonight. A double-edged sword of course, because the larger it gets over the coming days, the less the Manxies will be coming ashore each night!

Other sightings today include: 32 Oystercatchers, one Snipe (on Henllwyn!?), one Common Gull, one Stock Dove, one Collared Dove, seven Rock Pipits, three Black Redstarts, six Wheatears, 10 Chiffchaffs, 15 Goldcrests and two Starlings.

Unfortunately, no ringing took place today due to wind. 

Moths today: 12 Common Quakers, two Hebrew Characters, one Dark Swordgrass.