Bardsey's Wildlife

Friday, 17 April 2020

The weather (finally) took a turn today, and we woke up to 25mph winds from the East, it wasn't an icy wind, but it would definitely be a stretch to call it warm... Because of the wind, ringing was not an option during the morning.

Looking to the lighthouse from Cristin this morning

The sun just breaking through over Pen Cristin

The day started quiet, there was not much in the garden first thing, so it didn't look as though much was on the move. A walk to the South End via Pen Cristin yielded 26 Wheatears, some were perhaps fresh-in, but they were just as likely to be birds that have stayed since yesterday's influx. Other birds of note include a Grey Plover, Common Sandpiper and oddly enough, a Song Thrush on the rocks at Solfach. Over in the North End Hide, George was seawatching and brought the year list to 100 with the addition of an Osprey!

Song Thrush on Solfach, its pale, greyish colouration hints that it's of the nominate 'philomelos' subspecies which breed on the continent

Grey Plover on Henllwyn

One job that has gone unaddressed for some time at Cristin is sorting out the Common Room walls. Much of the plaster has been peeling off the walls for several years, and this year, seeing as there are no guests, is a good time to see to this problem. We began scraping the plaster off the walls after moving the furniture and books out to avoid them getting covered in dust.
If you have stayed at the Obs in the past few decades, you will be aware of the large Chough painting on one wall of the Common Room which was painted in 1982! Unfortunately, earlier this season it fell off the wall, it has been damp for a while so this was a long time coming. It has now been moved into the boot room whilst we decide what to do with it...

In the early afternoon, birds such as Willow Warblers and Blackcaps seemed to suddenly appear in the garden, along with a rather nice male Pied Flycatcher, the first of the year. First, it sat on the Heligoland trap, then on one of the furled nets! George decided he was going to see if he could catch some of the Blackcaps, and so raised one of the sheltered nets. Luck was on his side, and the Pied Flycatcher found its way into a net, too.

Male Pied Flycatcher in its 2nd calendar year of life

Close-up of the same bird, the white marks on the forehead are quite variable between individuals

The Pied Flycatcher was a good addition to the year list, but yet another year first was had when a Reed Warbler was heard singing and then seen in Ty Pellaf withy. Unfortunately, it did not oblige and went without being photographed, mainly just skulking in the thick coppiced willows. A Snipe was flushed from the wetlands on the way to the withies, too, slightly late in the year for them here.

Marsh Marigolds are in full bloom in the withies, they add a touch of bright colour as they carpet the floor.

A Collared Dove was seen repeatedly today as it bombed around the island, they never bred last year, but that's not to say they won't this year! It was flushed from the Cristin Withy today before heading straight for the North End where it sang (if you can call it that?) from the top of Nant house.

Collared Dove on Nant chimney

...

As I was just finishing this blog, Emma came into the office holding a male Wheatear that she had just caught, and it was a Greenland breeding bird at that! It was an absolute cracker and was promptly ringed...

'Greenland' Wheatear, more mottled ear coverts and brownish hue to the back and crown are (occasionally) other ways to recognise these longer distance migrants. Besides the fact, they are usually very ochre-coloured underneath.

This subspecies also has a longer wing and is roughly 10% larger than the Wheatears that breed in Britain!

Other sightings today include: 9 Blackbirds, 63 Willow Warblers, 92 Blackcaps, 6 Chaffinches, 16 Chaffinches, 35 Goldfinches, three Siskins, 81 Oystercatchers, 2 Whimbrels, 1 Curlew, 18 Magpies, 12 Crows and 1 Buzzard.

Ringing totals: Blackcap 11, Goldfinch 7, Willow Warbler 1, Pied Flycatcher 1, Wheatear 1
5 species, 21 new, no re-traps

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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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Friday, 17 April 2020

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