Bird Sightings

By Greg Lee

The westerly wind remained quite breezy this morning, but census certainly had activity. Spotted Flycatchers are a staple of May migration, so it was pleasing to see at least five birds around Millcombe, sallying from prominent perches and generally showing very nicely. On occasion, the loud bill-snapping was heard indicating that another winged insect had met its fate. A Reed Warbler was perhaps less accommodating, but the warm, brown colouration contrasted nicely to the greener Chiffchaff sharing the same Sallow bush with a Sedge Warbler snatching briefly into song. A different migration was happening at the same time as the island welcomed a large cruise ship full of visitors, who were working their way up the beach road as I walked about on census. On the upper plateau of the island, House Martins and Swallows were pulsing through with 33 and 28 counted respectively this morning, although this seemed to tail off further into the patrol. On the other hand, the Meadow Pipits and Skylarks seemed to be quite quiet today, preferring to hunker quite low in the breeze. A Siskin over the Quarry Cottages seemed a little unseasonable but was something quite different on census. The male Kestrel drifted along the coast as well; the first time I had seen him for a week.

Cuckoo by Thomas Weston

Heading back into the Village, there appeared to be lots of Starling and House Sparrow activity with chicks of the former heard squeaking from various cavities and the Sparrow Team reporting the first hatched chicks of the year. A Cuckoo was seen by multiple observers across the island during the day, with this particular bird occasionally singing away and decimating the large caterpillars. However, top prizes go to the summer-plumaged Turnstone down near Rat Island, a good record of this surprisingly scarce species on the island and a small tidbit of that lovely May passage of arctic-bound waders that the rest of the country enjoys. In addition, a first for the year arrived in the form of a Quail, which was flushed along the East Side.

Turnstone by Thomas Weston

By Emma Abel

The morning started with a successful moth trapping session in Milcombe with 81 moths of 14 species waiting to be identified in the trap. The most abundant moth species was Bright-line Brown-eye with 24 individuals. Some of the most exciting species included a Buff Tip, with its twig-like camouflage, and a Pale Tussock with its signature positioning of the front legs, presenting its fluffy legs to the world.

Buff Tip Moth By Tara

Pale Tussock Moth By Tara

I walked to Jenny's Cove early this morning and was greeted by a Cuckoo's song echoing across Acklands Moor from the direction of Old Light. After scanning Pondsbury for any sign of the Teal duckings (no such luck...), I sat and monitored Puffin burrows for the morning. Although numbers are not what they ususally are this time of year, breeding adults are still back and using burrows and I'm up to 185 potential burrows mapped at the Jenny's Cove monitored colony. As Puffins lay their eggs in burrows we cannot be sure when eggs are laid and hatched, but judging by the birds bringing back nesting material we can assume that eggs are being laid at this month. Other birds that are laying eggs less secretively are the Guillemots, with their bare rock ledges to call a nest. My estimation of Jenny's colony was 2887, many of which will hopefully be laying their bright blue pear shaped eggs at the moment.

After finishing my monitoring, I was joined by Jacob who has been helping out around the island with the LFS work party. Together we ran the Seabird Station, chatting to visitors about the seabirds and bringing the Puffins closer using our scope. It is always rewarding to share the joy of seabirds with people and share in their excitement at seeing Puffins up close, often for the first time. Maddie was also running a Seabird Station at the Battery and together we spoke to over 100 people, despite the grey and windy conditions.

A grey but beautiful Jenny's Cove

Elsewhere on the island a Reed Bunting was seen over at Quarry pond, while Millcombe had 3 Sedge Warblers, a Whitethroat and a juvenile Stonechat. 2 Collared Doves were also hanging around after a few days hunkering down in the South.

By Greg Lee

Heavy rain lashing down on our bedroom windows is never the most auspicious start to the day, but the island is definitely thankful for it. Thomas still braved census and managed a couple of late migration highlights including two Redpolls and a Sedge Warbler. Perhaps more exciting were the sightings of the first newly fledged juvenile birds, with a speckly young Blackbird chasing its rather tired looking mother around Millcombe and some very squeaky young Dunnocks sticking to the undergrowth. The male Channel Wagtail was also on his normal perch, we’ve managed to narrow down this bird to three individuals ringed in 2024 of the brood, though we are trying to nail down that last number on his ring.

With the rain still coming through in stages, a bit of office-work was done to keep up to date with census counts and descriptions of some of the interesting bird sightings we’ve collated so far this spring. Once it had passed though, Thomas and I decided to take a look at the sea from the Ugly, where a small stream of auks and Kittiwakes was noted, though nothing seemed to be moving ahead of the intermittent squalls moving up the Bristol Channel. We also checked one of the Swallow nests on the island, where, we noted that the neat cup had been lined with feathers, likely from the six Feral Pigeons currently taking up residence on the island.

Lundy Cabbage in flower

The final act of the day was heading up to the North End to check on the seabird colonies, notably the Shags, as further up the Irish Sea, Bardsey has been reporting chicks already. Heading down the area, it felt very reminiscent of my season spent on Bardsey last year, with the steep grassy slopes bringing back the excitement of the seabird work I did there, particularly with the pastel-pink Thrift now carpeting certain areas of the cliffs and the distinctive, but not necessarily unpleasant, smell wafting from cliffs of busy seabirds. With multiple Shag nests found, we were pleased to see that some eggs had been laid but also the Gulls had also started laying as well. Over the next month or so, the team will be doing a lot of work with our cliff/colony-nesting seabirds.