Busy week on Bardsey and a record Puffin count on The Skerries

Melodious Warbler (Ewan Turner)

While spring migration in mainland North Wales is over, early June can bring scarce visitors to Ynys Enlli, and the team at Bardsey Bird Observatory had a busy week recording the visitors.
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First up was potentially the rarest, a probable Audouin’s Gull that alighted briefly onshore, but flew off and was not seen again. This globally-threatened species breeds no closer than the Mediterranean coast of Spain and has not been confirmed in Wales previously. Next came a smart male Red-backed Shrike, joined the following day by a singing male Common Rosefinch. On Thursday a Blyth’s Reed Warbler mimicked a suite of birds that it’s used to hearing in eastern Europe, central Asia and India, where it wintered. Observatory staff recognised at least 30 different species in its repertoire including Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Yellow-browed Warbler and Olive-backed Pipit.

Red-backed Shrike (Steve Stansfield)

It's a reminder of how special Ynys Enlli can be during migration; the Bird Observatory still has spaces to stay in September and October.

Last Friday a Melodious Warbler sang in the Observatory garden. It is something of a Bardsey speciality, with 120 records being almost half of the Welsh total. But while some spring migrants were arriving, a Cuckoo ringed on the island was almost certainly making its way south for the autumn! Other scarce visitors in the region last week included Quails at Doddleston and Cors Bodgynydd nature reserve, deep in Coed Gwydyr, and a Black Tern at Cemlyn lagoon.
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RSPB Cymru wardens on The Skerries, the islets off northwest Anglesey that host Britain’s largest Arctic Tern colony, counted 1212 burrows occupied by Puffins recently. This is more than twice the total in 2019, and the highest ever count – although no records exist from before the late 18th century, prior to the temporary occurrence of rats on the islands. The count makes it the most important site for Puffins in North Wales, and the third most important in the country.