Bardsey's Wildlife

Friday 16 September 2016

A quick change in the weather saw the wind swinging round to a north westerly bringing with it a stiff cold breeze and an end to the high temperatures and calm winds of the past days.

Inland there wasn't much change, however a good selection of birds were on show. The Icterine Warbler was still present at the plantation, now into its sixth day on the island, the long staying Melodious Warbler also still resided in the Observatory Garden. Robins featured heavily again as a small passage continues, numbers amounted to 22 individuals today. A Whitethroat was seen in the Withies along with one of the two Spotted Flycatchers counted today, a single Blackcap, 13 Chiffchaffs, two Willow Warblers and 16 Goldcrests were also seen around the gardens, plantation and densely vegetated areas. Elsewhere on the island 15 Stonechats perched up on fence lines and 15 Wheatears dotted the fields and coast along with small flocks of Meadow Pipits, 89 today, 29 Rock Pipits, four Pied Wagtails, 19 White Wagtails and 24 Linnets. Very little was seen migrating overhead throughout the day except for 14 Swallow, 21 House Martins, two Grey Wagtails and seven Ravens. A Sparrowhawk was spotted in the Lowlands, presumably the same Common Buzzard was also present here, a Kestrel moved over the north end where a pair of Peregrines were also seen, two Little Owls called to each other and a Sklylark were the only other additions.

One of two Spotted Flycatchers seen today

An excellent variety of waders were again on show today, continuing a good passage over the past few weeks. Solfach and the Narrow were particularly busy and where a large proportion of wader sightings today occurred. Oystercatchers fed on the short grassy fields and roosted on the low tide rocks, Ringed Plovers increased by a couple and now numbered 11, Dunlin numbers had also risen with 30 seen, a Golden Plover was seen on the South End, 68 Curlew, seven Redshanks, 49 Turnstones and singles of Purple Sandpiper, Common Snipe, Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel and Common Sandpiper were logged.

Passage past the island was slow but steady and by the end of the day a nice assortment of species had been seen. A couple of species made up the bulk of the passage with 132 Gannets, 451 Razorbills and 16 Guillemots seen, most heading in a southerly direction. Small movements of ducks were seen as four Wigeon, a Teal and 21 Common Scoter passed. Fulmars and Manx Shearwaters trickled through in small numbers with 21 and 12 respectively, and two Arctic Skuas, six Great Skuas, an adult Mediterranean Gull, 346 Kittiwakes, two Arctic Terns and two Common Terns made up the numbers.

With the stronger and colder winds it wasn't a surprise that only a small numbers of Lepidoptera were seen on the island, but there were some interesting sightings none the less. Best of all was a fantastic count of 11 Speckled Woods seen around the Plantation, the highest count of the year and until this season not a regularly seen Butterfly on Bardsey. Red Admiral, Painted Lady and Small Tortoiseshell numbers had fallen after the high counts of the last couple of days but handfuls of each of these were seen today. A Hummingbird Hawk Moth fed around the Chapel garden with a Large White, three Green-veined Whites and two Silver Y's.

A Canary Shouldered Thorn from one of the moth 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 16 September 2016

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