Steve and Emma Stansfield arrived back on Bardsey for the season and were joined two days later by our new Assistant Wardens, Ed and Ollie. They were also joined by Lynda and Mike, who were volunteering for a week to help the Obs cleaned down and ready for use; as usual they did an amazing job. Fiona Bithell then joined the team for a whole month, throwing herself wholeheartedly at the task of improving the Obs. Andy Lawrence also joined us as a volunteer for a good week, helping us with lime mortar plastering, painting, staff meetings etc. The Lodge had stood up fairly well to the winter, but there was still a good amount of cleaning, decorating, etc. to be done.
The Office was reinstated after two years of being a ‘snug’ for guests, and the Assistants were once more working in there.
The library had a makeover and became the new ‘snug’; this was conveniently the best place to get internet, which had recently been completely re-vamped and upgraded for all the residents on the island. Our thanks to Gareth for this initiative. Guests can now use Wifi for a small charge to help cover costs. The Common room was given a face lift; Ed and Ollie painted the ceilings in there and in the library, and Steve practised his plastering and taught everyone about pointing.
Our long awaited, and twice cancelled, University Week finally happened in April, and required advertising, planning, organisation, recruitment, sponsorship, T-shirt design and printing, production of welcome packs etc. Judging by the reactions of the students both in person and on social media, it was once again a real success.
One objective of our five-year strategic plan was to _“_ Engage with higher and further educational institutes.” Following Steve’s trip to the international Bird Observatories Conference, he was keen to get a tracking project underway for our Manx Shearwaters. Joe Brownlie, one our trustees, suggested approaching a university for partnership because of the huge costs involved.
Over the past few years, Steve has been engaging with Bangor University, resulting in a preliminary study in 2021. Early June we began ‘SHEAR’, an £800,000 NERC funded project, which created a large amount of extra work for the staff. For Steve, it meant dealing with emails, attending meetings, advising Bangor University on the project plans, applying for licences to undertake the work and completing additional reports for the special methods licences committee in the run up to the project’s start. It was exhausting and at times exceptionally stressful, but the results were extremely rewarding.
For this project the Observatory was paid £2,500 to cover staff time and expertise in 2022 and the same is planned for 2023. In addition, at least £2,000 was gained in additional visitor fees for both years. Steph Harris spent 6 weeks at the Obs in 2022 as the Post Doc researcher for the project and was joined by Dr Line Cordes, the project’s PI.
The lawn mower continued to fail and required considerable attention.
We took delivery of 30,000 litres of water storage tanks in order to alleviate water shortages.
We fitted a new ceiling in the solar room to stop lime mortar from the roof falling onto the solar gear.
We bought a Thrift Clearwing lure this year which was immensely successful. The Lunar Hornet lure was not successful, but they have a two-year life cycle so 2023 may be better!
New bedding was purchased for the Obs.
Mike Archer, one of our Vice Presidents, was presented with his Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Work of the Observatory.
Bethany Wilson came to the Observatory in July for her Year 10 work experience (along with her mother, Dawn Balmer who is head of research and projects at the BTO as her supervisor).
Avian Influenza became an issue during the summer. NRW suspended all ringing at seabird colonies across Wales. Steve spent two days preparing a proposal to get BBFO a derogation to be allowed to continue ringing. Fortunately, this was accepted, and we were allowed almost carry on ringing as normal, with the exception of seabirds.
We had a meeting with someone from RSPB/Birdlife about mammalian Bio-security. We were supplied with bait boxes to look out for the presence of rats on the island.
It was a very dry summer and we really struggled for water. We did manage to get through, but were down to our last 500 litres before autumn rains set in. We hope this will be resolved by the new tanks.
We had a very successful and busy visitor season, with over 200 visitor weeks. Lovely letters of thanks were received from the guests.
Moth trapping was very successful in 2022. Ed Betteridge did a great job, holding more moth mornings than required to engage with guests.
Kate Fox came as an intern for a month and Dot Tyne came as a volunteer. She began scraping paint from courtyard doors in preparation for painting them for our 70th party.
Record numbers of house martins were ringed and there were many dolphin sightings during the year – the best in at least 25 years.
North East Norfolk bird club came for a week and despite the lack of birds, there was very positive feedback from some members.
Connor Stansfield left the island to go to University. We are grateful to Connor for all his input into the Observatory for the past ten years, especially in the areas of IT and solar power.
Solar power continued to be a success, with a further £4,000 in funding for new batteries, which will give us more storage in the latter part of the year. We rarely
needed to run the generator and only when there were several days of cloudy and stormy weather. We used about 75% less gas than normal in the Observatory and about 80% less in the warden’s accommodation. An induction hob fitted there made a huge difference to our gas consumption.
As usual, thanks go to all our staff, interns and volunteers for all the hard work and commitment shown over the year, as well as to our friends on and off the island. A successful and fulfilling season such as we had in 2022 simply would not be possible without them.
During the year we were sad to hear of the death of Dafydd Thomas. His life-long association with both the island and the Observatory began in 1951 When he visited, often in the company of Peter Hope Jones and Richard Arnold, he would stay at Cristin. He was always interested in wildlife and took many journeys abroad with Tony Bianchi and John Love seeking out new species of birds and their habitats. In the 1970s he founded a youth nature club from his farm and took them on field trips and made many visits to the island staying in Cristin. He was one of the first group of people who came together to form the Bardsey Island Trust and visited Lord Michael Pearson in London when discussions were under way to buy the island. He then worked voluntarily for the Trust until he was employed as Trust Officer and later as the boatman taking visitors to and from the island. He was also a member of the Observatory council and took on the role of supply officer.
Some years later he helped George Povey, bringing Observatory visitors over on Tony Bianchi’s boat. He was a great supporter of Observatory in so many ways and will be greatly missed.
## _**BARDSEY BIRD AND FIELD OBSERVATORY**_
## **BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31ST DECEMBER 2022**
|**CURRENT ASSETS**
Debtors
Stock
National Savings Investment Account
Bank Balance
High Interest Business Account
Bardsey Flora Account
PayPal Account
Current Account
**LESS : CURRENT LIABILITIES**
Creditors
**NET CURRENT ASSETS**
**NET ASSETS**
**REPRESENTED BY:**
**ACCUMULATED FUND**
Balance at 31st December 2021
Excess of Expenditure over Income for the Year
Balance at 31st December 2022
**RESERVE ACCOUNT**
**AW ACCOUNT**
**BARDSEY FLORA FUND**
**HELIGOLAND FUND**
**TONY CHARLES MEMORIAL FUND**
**BIRDS OF BARDSEY FUND**|**Note**
1
2
3|50,611.61
1,031.49
4,182.36
85,651.43
10,741.07
227.57
28,913.79
181,359.32
27,700.63
**153,658.69**
**153,658.69**
68,995.69
2,830.66
-
66,165.03
60,000.00
10,500.00
10,741.07
1,421.67
830.92
4,000.00
**153,658.69**
**2022**||**2021**
28,403.50
1,070.00
4,178.47
85,568.74
10,730.69
1,505.38
41,719.68
173,176.46
16,697.49
**156,478.97**
**156,478.97**
27,521.00
41,474.59
68,995.69
60,000.00
10,500.00
10,730.69
1,421.67
830.92
4,000.00
**156,478.97**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
Page 1
## _**BARDSEY BIRD AND FIELD OBSERVATORY**_
## **INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER 2022**
|**INCOME**
Subscriptions
Donations and Miscellaneous Receipts
Income Tax Recoverable
Grant from NRW
Other Grants
Sales
Visitors Fees
Bank Interest
National Savings Investment Account Interest
**EXPENDITURE**
Cristin - Rent Expenses
- Running Expenses
Equipment
Bank Charges
Report
Sales Expenses
Salaries and National Insurance
Petty Cash and Sundries including Postage and Telephone
Professional Services
Projects
Insurance
**EXCESS OF EXPENDITURE OVER INCOME FOR THE YEAR**||**2022**
3,605.54
4,234.23
623.74
16,325.00
-
4,062.49
49,604.15
82.69
3.89
**78,541.73**
1,492.50
22,941.82
318.60
17.81
4,130.00
636.09
40,236.54
2,574.78
5,000.00
2,982.80
1,041.45
**81,372.39**
**2,830.66**
**-**|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||
Page 2
## _**BARDSEY BIRD AND FIELD OBSERVATORY**_
## **NOTES TO THE BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31ST DECEMBER 2022**
|**1. DEBTORS AND PAYMENTS IN ADVANCE**
Accommodation
Donations
Grant from NRW
Income Tax Recoverable
Petty Cash, Postage and Sundries
Running Expenses
Sales
Subscriptions
**2. STOCK**
Promotional Merchandise for Resale
Stock is stated at the lower of cost or estimated net realisable value
**3. CREDITORS**
Accommodation
Annual Report
Equipment
Petty Cash, Postage and Sundries
Professional Charges
Running Expenses
Salaries
Sales Expenses
Treasurer Account|**£**
100.00
2,025.07
41,966.00
1,300.00
123.00
1,005.00
4,054.00
38.54
**50,611.61**|
|---|---|
||1,031.49
**1,031.49**|
||3,844.00
4,130.00
101.98
786.80
2,500.00
13,458.40
2,709.22
64.09
106.14
**27,700.63**|
Page 3
## **EXAMINER’S REPORT ON THE ACCOUNTS**
## **OF BARDSEY BIRD AND FIELD OBSERVATORY**
I have examined the Balance Sheet at 31st December 2022 and the Income and Expenditure Account for the year ended on that date as shown on the attached pages 1 to 3 and certify that they are in accordance with the books and records of Bardsey Bird and Field Observatory.
J.S. Craig
16th June 2023
19 The Coppice Mancetter Atherstone Warwickshire