Bardsey's Wildlife

Friday 21 October 2016

Although plenty of common migrants kept the day fresh and exciting the star of the show was a showy Barred Warbler discovered in Ty Capel garden, strangely an area that seems to be attractive to Barred Warblers and where a fair few records of this species have been. The last record of this species on the island was during the 2014 season.

Barred Warbler

Often quite a skulky species, this individual happily fed and gave great views

A pair of new Yellow-browed Warblers were new in and were trapped and ringed during the morning, one occurring at the Plantation, one in the Observatory Garden. A late Garden Warbler was at Nant amongst other warblers counted today that included four Chiffchaffs, a long staying Willow Warbler in the Withies and 47 Goldcrests. With no breeding tit species on the island this season two Blue Tits were obvious migrants new in, one was trapped and ringed on its right leg at the Plantation, later a second bird was discovered in the Observatory garden with a ring on its left leg! Being the only Blue Tit ringed this autumn this other bird was clearly a "control" bird, a bird ringed elsewhere, using Bardsey as a stop over on migration. Overhead 149 Skylarks moved through, as did a Swallow and good numbers of finches amounting to 60 Chaffinches, 13 Brambling, eight Greenfinches, 12 Siskins, 19 Goldfinches, 14 Linnets and three Lesser Repolls. Other passerines of note included 18 Dunnocks, an excellent count of 53 Robins, eight Stonechats, a single Wheatear, 138 Starlings and four Reed Buntings

Four stunning Bramblings caught during a ringing session in the Observatory garden

A decent arrival of Blackbirds totalled 51 by the end of the day whilst other thrushes were not so numerous but new migrants passed through the island, ten Fieldfare, 22 Song Thrushes, 36 Redwings, and a Mistle Thrush were logged. Corvids were present in reasonable numbers and variety, 14 Magpies, 14 Choughs, 52 Jackdaws, 37 Rooks, 18 Carrion Crows and two Ravens were the final counts. Meanwhile a male and female Sparrowhawk hunted around Nant, a Common Buzzard soared over the mountain ridge and a Kestrel and two Merlins were seen.

A juvenile Sabines Gull was the pick of the bunch off the coast with very little other migration visible. It moved north off the West Coast where two Mediterranean Gulls, 172 Black-headed Gulls, 27 Common Gulls, 49 Herring Gulls, six Greater Black-backed Gulls and 156 Kittiwakes were other gulls spotted. Gannets trickled passed with 15 counted, two Common Scoters and 97 Razorbills were the only other real movements. Non avian highlights however included seven Risso's Dolphins, one of them a calf, and two Harbour Porpoise.

Good Redshank numbers continued as 20 individuals were present around the Narrows along wth a Ringed Plover, a Whimbrel, 41 Curlews, 23 Turnstones and 48 Oystercatchers. Elsewhere a Jack Snipe and eight Common Snipes hid amongst the tussocks of grass through the Wetlands and Lowlands.

A couple of Small Coppers were seen on the mountainside, two Red Admirals a Silver Y and four Diamond Back Moths were the Lepidoptera present today.

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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 21 October 2016

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