Bardsey's Wildlife

Sunday, 26 April 2020

The early hours of today saw Sam and George head to the Narrows to try and dazzle the year's first Whimbrels and whatever else may be on offer down there. They were successful and returned to the Observatory with two Whimbrels, two Dunlins and a female 'Greenland' Wheatear.

Whimbrels are colour ringed on Bardsey as part of an ongoing project, here is one colour ring combination

colour rings increase the chance that these birds will be re-sighted and therefore increasing the recovery rate of these birds - here is the other combination

Dunlin, their short beaks mean they are adapted to feed on foods at different depths, allowing them to access a different niche to that of Whimbrels and Redshanks for example, therefore reducing competition between the wader species.

Today's weather was rather grim, when we got up there was thick fog surrounding the Obs, making it feel very damp and cold, we couldn't see past the end of the garden!

looking down to the track below the Obs from the garden, rather grim!

The fog only started to shift late morning, at around 10:30am, and as the fog began to lift, it seemed like there had been a small arrival of birds in the garden, with Phylloscopus warblers fly-catching in the open areas and a few Blackcaps feeding on the lawn. George decided to open the nets at the Obs, it turned out to be a case of quality over quantity, but still, it is not to be sniffed at! (Totals at bottom).

this Willow Warbler was the 200th to be ringed so far this season!

Sam headed out once the fog had lifted, away from the Obs, totals of warblers were poor with only a few Sedge Warblers, Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers noted across the island. However, a new species for the year was added when a Cuckoo started singing in the Lowlands. For many people, these are a traditional herald of spring and for me this is no different, their evocative call takes me back to the first time I heard one quite a few years back.

Other than that, today was very quiet until George headed out dazzling again in the evening. It started pretty normally, after catching a single Dunlin on Solfach, he then then headed over to Henllwyn. A Whimbrel was seen at first, but attention was then diverted to a Grey Plover which it walked past in the torchlight, mega! The Grey Plover was then caught and brought up to the Observatory with the Dunlin to be ringed and processed.

this is only the fourth Grey Plover to be ringed on bardsey, and the first since 2008, making it all the more special, beautiful birds.

the black auxiliary feathers are one of the easiest ways to identify this species in flight, giving them the look of a 'black armpit'.

The Grey Plover and the Dunlin were then taken back down to the Narrows to be released. On the way though, George caught another 'Greenland' Wheatear, a male this time, and managed to catch another Whimbrel near the South End. Again, both were brought back to the Obs and duly ringed and processed, then released. What a great night's work!

another Whimbrel caught last night complete with its set of colour rings, keep an eye out on an estuary near you!

a male 'Greenland' Wheatear, this bird had a fat score of 5, probably suggesting it won't be around for much longer before continuing on its migration.

Other birds of note today were: eight Shelducks, 83 Oystercatchers, one Purple Sandpiper, five Dunlins, one Snipe, one Bar-tailed Godwit, two Curlews, one Robin, three Sedge Warblers, two Whitethroats, seven Chiffchaffs, 18 Willow Warblers, three Goldcrests and two Great Tits.

Ringing today produced: Blackcap 3, Whitethroat 2, Goldfinch 2, Willow Warbler 7, Chiffchaff 3, Whimbrel 3, Dunlin 3, Wheatear 2, Grey Plover 1. Total 26 birds of 9 species.

The moth trap last night was productive after being empty for a few consecutive nights. 2 Double-striped Pug, 4 Common Quaker, 3 Hebrew Characters, 1 Angle Shades, 1 White Ermine and 1 PUSS MOTH!

a rather tatty individual, with absolutely shot wings, but this represents only the second record of this stunning moth for the island - mega record.

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

Sunday, 26 April 2020

No comments:

Post a Comment

Pages