Bardsey Wildlife: 1st January

Tuesday, 1 January 2013

1st January

It was a very windy start to 2013, although thankfully clear skies presided throughout the day. A movement of over 2000 auks took place in the morning, almost all of which were Razorbills. A Mediterranean Gull, seven Common Gulls and a steady stream of Kittiwakes also passed by. Six Snipe were flushed from the Lighthouse pond, whilst two Song Thrushes remained inland.

Three Purple Sandpipers were present on the wave-battered rocks near Solfach

Turnstone

Kittiwake

Curlews

3 comments:

The Hairy Birder1 January 2013 20:00
Hello Ben,

It would be great if you could keep an eye out for any of our leg-flagged Turnstones on Bardsey. We are leg-flagging Turnstones at Fleetwood Marine Lakes and they have a green colour ring on teh right tarsus, BTO metal on right tibia and black leg flag with two white letters on the left tibia. Any sightings can be reported to nwturnstones@gmail.com.

Cheers,

Seumus
ReplyDelete
Ben Porter1 January 2013 20:09
Will do Seumus- I have never actually seen any leg-flagged Turnstones here, but will keep an eye out and let you know if its the appropriate combination
ReplyDelete
The Hairy Birder2 January 2013 10:30
Thanks Ben.
ReplyDelete

Add comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Bird Observatories of Britain and Ireland. Click the book to see inside!!

Edited by Mike Archer, Mark Grantham, Peter Howlett and Steve Stansfield and published by T & AD Poyser, this new book describes how much has changed since the first edition of Bird Observatories in Britain and Ireland was published in 1976. Detailed account 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, 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, 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.

Breeding birds

Bardsey is home to some 16, 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. Two pairs of Peregrines breed on the island, and a single pair of Ravens also nest in 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 one or two pairs of Skylarks, and 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 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 250, 000 birds of 191 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 403 species of moths have been recorded on the island: 263 species of macro and 140 species of micro-lepidoptera. 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 65 new species for Bardsey since 2009. 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 Wildlife

Pages

Tuesday, 1 January 2013

1st January

3 comments:

twitter

Latest additions to the 2013 list:

Followers

****OUT NOW* 2011 BBFO Annual Report** Click the report for a preview

Bird Observatories of Britain and Ireland. Click the book to see inside!!

About Bardsey Wildlife

Links to Bird Observatory websites

Links to other sites

Birding Blogs

Photography Blogs

Search This Blog

Blog Archive

A bit about BBFO and Bardsey's wildlife

Bardsey Wildlife

Pages

Tuesday, 1 January 2013

1st January

3 comments:

twitter

Latest additions to the 2013 list:

Followers

********OUT NOW******* *******2011 BBFO******* ****Annual Report**** Click the report for a preview

Bird Observatories of Britain and Ireland. Click the book to see inside!!

About Bardsey Wildlife

Links to Bird Observatory websites

Links to other sites

Birding Blogs

Photography Blogs

Search This Blog

Blog Archive

A bit about BBFO and Bardsey's wildlife

****OUT NOW* 2011 BBFO Annual Report** Click the report for a preview