The Dirty Dozen

We did eventually let everyone else have a drink!

(c) Liz James

On a cool St Patrick’s Day evening, the island’s residents met to formally open the re-vamped ringing hut for business. We are all very busy cleaning, decorating, lambing ‘live’, settling in the newly arrived goats and generally getting Bardsey ready for the coming season – hence the soubriquet Dirty Dozen, but once the ribbon had been cut by Steve we were able to find the time to raise a toast to ‘all who ring in her’!

We started the ringing hut back in the autumn by removing the old ceiling and shelving and storing the ringing equipment in one of the adjacent barns, for use should Jim catch any birds over the winter. Once again Jim had measured up what was needed in the way of ply and hardware back on a previous visit in the summer, so he had all the necessary to hand once he got going and Screwfix helped with the rest.

The first job was to refit the ceiling and in doing so create a new storage area in the roof space; to ensure this stayed fairly clean the roof was lined with plywood and then a ladder built to access the space. Once all this was in place the walls were painted, several times, and the floor given a new coat of red paint. Then the ringing equipment, cupboards and table were returned to their new home.

Jim decided he would like to mark the occasion with a traditional ‘topping out’ ceremony so an evergreen branch has been suspended in the hut and a few glasses of bubbly were enjoyed too.

This project has been close to Jim’s heart for a variety of reasons; as he has already said his ringing career started on Bardsey more than twenty years ago and the ringing hut has been a special place for him since then. I too ringed my first bird there, a Brambling.

Elaine

Early bird

Last night, while walking up to turn off the generator, I had the good luck to hear my first Manx Shearwater of the year as it flew along the mountain. It'll be a while before they come down to their burrows on the island, but here's an old pic to keep you going.

They're a special bird for me as it was the first species of bird I ever ringed and that was on Bardsey. Also, I caught the 50 year old Manxie on the island a couple of years ago.

Jim

We're no longer alone . . . .

Connor, Emma, Liz & Steve

It had to happen, the dream could not continue; the Observatory staff are back! On yet another fabulous sunny day Benlli III crossed the Sound bringing back Steve, Emma and Connor for the new season. Accompanying them was Liz James, on her second tour of duty as a volunteer to get Cristin ready for the summer.

The Stanfields did not travel lightly and were laden with food and equipment for the nine months ahead of them on the island. We spent the remainder of the day and the following one squirreling the stocks away in their food storage area and trying to find homes for all the new books and Christmas pressies they have brought back with them.

Now it is all hands to the deck as we spring clean and decorate, where required, the Observatory building in readiness for the arrival of the first visitors in a few weeks time.

Yep, Jim’s still in the ringing hut.

Elaine

Anticipation . . .

A strange feeling has settled over the island to my mind; we are waiting. Bardsey has been truly beautiful over the last few days; the sky could not be bluer, the sun has not stopped shining and the sea has been so calm. But it feels as if we are waiting for the party to begin.

In about a week’s time the lambs will start to be born, the migratory birds are probably already on their way, following ancient routes back to their breeding grounds, certainly the Manx Shearwaters must by now be on their way from the South Atlantic to find their old burrows on the mountain and in the banks, and the human visitors will soon be arriving for a day trip or a week’s stay.

The island will change; maybe it could be described as coming alive, Jim and I have been very privileged to have seen at its most secret time.

Elaine

Death in Solfach

Steve Porter found a dead Chough on his morning sheep check a few days ago in Solfach. It had been hanging around for a few days on the beach, looking bedraggled with missing seconadries and bare patches. It's hard to say whether it was poorly because of fighting with other Choughs or being attacked by a predator, or if it just succumbed to the winter, but it was very thin. The bird had been ringed as a nestling about 20 km at Cilan on the Llyn, which is a pretty typical recovery distance for a first winter Chough.

Jim

St David’s day

Happy St David's day to everyone.

Bagsy I don't do any more bags!

130 bags; bring on the birds.

They have been turned inside out and shaken to get rid of the feathers, sorted into saveable and beyond hope, washed and hung out to dry. Once clean we then set about identifying the requirements of each bag; did it need any sewing and or did it require re-stringing. When that was finished all that was needed was to make up any gaps in the sets, then put them together into bags of tens to be stored in the ringing hut waiting for the night when there is a lighthouse attraction and the bags are put into use to safely calm the birds that succumb to the light and drop to the ground on their migration.

Bag Lady signing off; I wish well to all who roost in them.

Elaine

Bird catch up – part 3

Market day at Cristin

Avid followers of the bird sightings on Bardsey will no doubt be following Ben Porter’s weekly accounts on the Bardsey Wildlife blog. However, I thought I’d jot down some thoughts on how the birds reacted to the harsh weather over Christmas and the New Year and my experience of it. The temperature during this spell hardly went below freezing here, which must have made the island attractive to the displaced waders & thrushes who were seeking refuge from the bad weather on the mainland.

Leading up to New Year it was really noticeable that the Stonechats and Dunnocks were much more confiding as they risk assessed feeding versus predation. Then around New Year there was a significant build up of birds. Ben noted Lapwing arriving from the west, and there were 100 plus of them and Golden Plover on the island, together with good numbers of Snipe and Woodcock. The Woodcock, in particular, were in the gardens and around the farm buildings and one(?) was hanging around the Obs generator shed. On any walk you’d be regularly flushing the Woodcock & Snipe, and getting within 50 metres of solitary Lapwing & Golden Plover. With the Lapwing arriving from the west one sensed they were in real trouble, as the milder climes of Ireland are usually a bad weather refuge for them. This concern proved to be justified as soon the Lapwing and odd Golden Plover were being picked up dead. Some headless birds had obviously been predated, but others had simply crawled under garden bushes to die and then the Wood Mice set about recycling them! We found c15 Lapwing corpses, but feel there was more than this as we are still finding them.

There was also a build up of thrushes. It was a little strange making phone calls on Pen Cristin with small flocks of Mistle Thrush going over, and tame Redwing and Songthrush all over the mountain. The back garden scrub at Cristin was alive for two days with 50 plus Redwing that fed voraciously on the unfrozen leaf litter, and then they were gone.

Since then, there have been precious few Stonechat about Bardsey, but as there’re partial migrants it’ll be interesting to see how they fare on the island and after this hard winter.

Jim

Bird catch up -part 2

A couple of weeks ago Ben Porter had noted several Jack & Common Snipe in the wetter lowland fields, and as it was calm for once I put up some nets to try and catch them at dusk and dawn. Nothing at dusk and nothing just before dawn, but as I walked up to the nets at dawn I flushed a Common Snipe in to the mist net. Just the one bird, but a real pleasure to look at in the hand and the first ringed on the island for a couple of years.

Jim

Bird catch up – part 1

I’ve not blogged much about birds on the island lately, so this is a bit of a catch up. For better information on species and numbers see Ben Porter’s excellent updates on the Bardsey Wildlife blog.

Ringing here at Cristin has been pretty slow on account of the weather, few birds being about and those that are here being already ringed and knowing their way around the heligoland. However, I netted this interesting Chaffinch on 23 December. It has Knemidocoptic mange or ‘canker’. Chaffinch, Sedge Warbler and Dunnock are occasionally caught with it. We do not ring them in case the disease spreads and envelopes the ring. Bar extreme cases, the birds do not seem unduly bothered by it.

Jim