Cretzschmar's Bunting, Bardsey Island 18th June 2015

The sixth record for the UK (the first outside northern Scottish islands) & first record for Wales, of Cretzschmar's Bunting was found on Bardsey Island, Gwynedd by visiting birder Elfyn Lewis on 10th June 2015.

The initial twitch failed to locate the bird. Since four of the previous five records remained only a few days, the exception being the first record on Fair Isle in June 1967 which stayed 11 days, it was a surprise when the first summer male Cretzschmar's Bunting was relocated on Sunday. This eastern Mediterranean vagrant was not only still present, but was repeatedly coming to seed in the Lighthouse compound. Since I was in Norfolk over the weekend, a bit knackered from my travels & no boats on Wednesday due to weather conditions, I didn't make my first trip to Bardsey Island at the end of the Llŷn Peninsular in North Wales until Thursday.

My deliberations before the weekend & dithering after were also due to the uncertainties over being able to make it over to the island with only one boat, skippered by Colin Evans of Bardsey Island Boat Trips, licensed to land & a capacity of twelve passengers. Images of birders camped out through the night on the quay at Porth Meudwy like queuing overnight for Zeppelin tickets in the 70's, sprung to mind. However, the situation improved considerably when booking became possible from the comfort of one's armchair by phone via Lee Evans. One call later, from aforementioned armchair, I was booked on the second boat at 6.30am Thursday morning. It's always fun visiting islands & especially new ones.

It was still dark when I departed from home to make the 2hrs 20mins drive. As we set off from the quay at Porth Meudwy Colin informed us the bird was still present.

Upon landing about 30mins later we were guided by Bardsey Bird Observatory staff around to the lighthouse where a group of birders were gathered, poised with 'scopes & cameras at the ready.

We waited for an hour until just before 8am for the bird to drop in from the left. The grey (concrete) area in the centre, level with the drainpipe, was the area seeded & this is where the bird landed & spent a few minutes feeding before flying away the same way it arrived. A further wait of 1hr 30mins until the bird returned at about 9.30am, landing on the wall & perching for a short while, giving excellent views, before again briefly feeding on the seed & exit stage left. I exited stage right & sauntered down to the quay to catch the 10am return boat.

Many thanks to the Observatory staff for being so helpful, Colin Evans for working so hard to get us all over to Bardsey & Lee Evans for making it easier.

A couple of great photos by Ben Porter: Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3 

Video by Pete Hines

Previous records:

1967 Fair Isle, male, 10th to 20th June, trapped on 14th (G. J. Barnes, R. H. Dennis, W. N. Landells et al.).

1979 Fair Isle, male, 9th to 10th June (N. R. Jones, W. E. Oddie, I. S. Robertson et al).

1998 Stronsay, male, 14th to 18th May (W. Barkley, J. F. Holloway, S. J. Williams et al.).

2008 Sangar, North Ronaldsay, first-winter male, 19th to 21st September (P. J. Donnelly et al.).

2014 Fair Isle, 27th April to 2nd May (D. Shaw et al.).