Monday, December 27, 2010

Bardsey has a fantastic reputation as one of the best birding sites in Wales and there's always a good chance that it'll be us finding the rares.

The second White-throated Sparrow for Bardsey and Wales found by Rich (c) Richard Brown

The second Grey Phalarope of 2010 on Bardsey found by Gis (c) Richard Brown

Friday, December 24, 2010

The lighthouse is on the south end of Bardsey Island, separated by a narrow stretch of land called...the narrows.

Lighthouse in the fog (c) Richard Brown

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Another example of birds attracted to the lighthouse. Over a hundred Manx Shearwater were attracted to the lighthouse in a single night in the autumn of 2009. We kept them in this corridor over night to stop them taking off and flying again at the light which kills many birds each year. (c) Richard Brown
So the reason we live beneath the lighthouse is to monitor attracted birds. A lot of different species of bird move long distances at night, using the stars to help them navigate. If the weather turns bad during these movements then the birds can orientate themselves towards the big flashing light coming from Bardsey. When this happens it is possible that thousands of birds may arrive in the area around our house.

Giselle with a Leach's Petrel which was attracted to the lighthouse last September (c) Richard Brown
We have decided to create this blog now to save a bit of time when we return to Bardsey in February. When we're back we hope that one of us will commit the events of the day to blog format most days. Hopefully we'll be encountering all sorts of wildlife along with finding a few rares along the way. And before our return, in between festive/new year events and hopefully a holiday, we'll post some tantalising stories, images and info from our previous time on the island, hopefully a taste of things to come...

Giselle with a Chough that decided to explore the porch to the Obs. It has apparently been feeding in cow pat (c) Richard Brown
Rich had this good idea that we should do a 'Lighthouse Journal' in the form of a blog. I didn't quite get it when he told me three weeks ago and still don't fully understand it. But there's only so many times you can ask someone to explain their good idea before it becomes a bad idea.
So, it's still a good idea and this is what I think it's going to be about (based on the way Rich described it the first seven times before I stopped asking): A place where we're going to put photos and accounts of all of the brilliant things that are happening on the island. Rich will be armed with his Canon Big Camera snapping beautiful shots of the avians that pass us by, and I will be armed with a modest Leica Small Camera, snapping shots of Rich snapping shots, and other things.

Gis