Bardsey week 3 (10-16/09/16)

Week three started again with quite a surprise. I was climbing out of bed when Steffan charged into the hut and shouted he had a Great Shearwater cruising past the west coast! Of course I scrambled about and ran outside to the scope. I was instantly put on the bird and I was able to make out a few features before the bird disappeared behind a building. A great start to the week! I don’t envy him for finding it, since I hear they can be an absolute pain to get accepted by the Welsh Records Panel.
The second surprise of the day came in the evening, when a Wryneck was found at Pen Cristin, on the south east side of the island. A quick dash over there and some searching eventually produced my first Wryneck of the autumn! The bird stayed at a fair distance, but still allowed me to enjoy reasonable views through my binoculars.

Wryneck

The week continued to hold a reasonable number of migrants and a new Icterine Warbler at Nant, provided a helpful comparison with the long-staying Melodious Warbler in the observatory garden and my first fly over Lapland Bunting of the autumn was a pleasant surprise.

Wednesday was where it got slightly more hectic. In the morning of the 14th the sun broke through the mist which had fallen over the island overnight, and revealed a beautiful day. Following my morning census of the Withies and Lowlands it was clear there were new birds in. I made my way shortly after to Nant, in hope of something new dropping in and maybe getting some photographs of the Icterine Warbler, which was still present at Nant. It wasn’t long before a new Wryneck was discovered, a small group of us observed the bird before it flew off, being chased by a second Wryneck! After some thorough searching, it became clear there were around three Wrynecks at Nant alone! At the end of the day Wrynecks stood at a grand total of 4 birds, and a single Ortolan Bunting only seen by Steve unfortunately. The next day, Wrynecks continued to parade around the island with some new individuals and others which began to take up grounds for a longer stay.

Ringed Plover

Bar-tailed Godwit

Bar-tailed Godwit

Turnstone

Gold Spot

Canary-shouldered Thorn