Bird Sightings
April 4th Sightings - Hampered Birding
Another day of westerly winds and dropping cloud base led to a low fog over the island that was not the most inspiring weather for anything. However, 3 Mallards, 2 Woodpigeons, single Oystercatcher, 3 of the 4 Golden Plover in Brick Field with an additional one seen further North by members of the public, 84 Herring Gulls, 8 Lesser Black-backed gulls, 5 Great Black-backed Gulls, 2 Razorbills, 3 Shag, a single Cormorant flew North, single Kestrel, 19 Carrion Crows, 7 Ravens, 11 Skylarks, 2 Sand Martins, single Swallows, 4 Blackcaps, 9 Willow Warblers, 2 Chiffchaffs, 5 Goldcrest, 15 Wren, 34 Starling, 9 Blackbirds, 5 Redwing (11 seen later in St Helen’s Field), single singing Song Thrush, 7 Robins, 6 Stonechat, 9 Dunnocks, 14 House Sparrows, single Pied Wagtail, 12 Meadow Pipit, 5 Chaffinches, 14 Linnet and 15 Goldfinches.
A Ring Ouzel female at North End, a couple of Eurasian Teal on Pondsbury, a passage of hirundines and a flock of 120 Puffins were the highlights by allcomers today.
Ringing
A very short session this morning was soon hampered by drizzle that seemed to just be falling in Millcombe as the top of the valley was very humid and close. However, some lunch and a post-rain session resulted in another hour in Millcombe but absolutely no birds were caught and to make matters worse, the rain came back again.
April 3rd Sightings - You're so Golden
A really nice day with Swallows, Sand Martins, Willow Warblers and Wheatears seen.
A change from the migrant inspiring southernly winds quickly changed to a westerly wind overnight. This seemed to have sturred a little displacement of some of our long distance, high Arctic waders leading to a small arrival on the island. This was noted when a Eurasian Curlew was heard in flight and a Golden Plover was seen flying over the Village heading South, both the first of the year. This latter was in summer plumage and presumably dropped in on the south coast, but it was uncertain where this bird ended up. However, later in the morning, when Lucy and Thomas were tasked to chase the Goats out of ¼ Wall, a brief interlude occurred when Lucy stumbled across a presumably new Golden Plover on the path just in front of Quarry Cottages. This was very peculiar. The bird was unfazed by the presence of the duo and continued feeding around the building. After talking to a few passersby, the team went to complete a Fulmar survey at Gannet’s Rock and found 67 on their usual ledges, as well as a female Merlin and a couple of nearby Peregrines too. On the way back, a check of the plover did not yield any success, but Lucy did it again and found a new flock of 4 Golden Plover in Brick Field including three in summer plumage and a different individual to the one photographed above. This was very exciting, and it was great to inform the guests of these waders. Their plumage being so immaculate and black extending from the head to lower belly indicated these were most likely heading to the Icelandic/Faeroes population and were of the northern race P.a. altifrons.
A Golden Plover at Quarry Cottages. ©Thomas Weston
Alongside the flyover waders, census was productive with 3 Woodpigeons, 115 Herring Gulls, 20 Lesser Black-backed gulls, 11 Great Black-backed Gulls, 2 Razorbills, single Fulmar, single gannet, 3 Shag, Kestrel, 28 Carrion Crows, 6 Ravens, 3 Skylarks, 3 Swallows, 2 Blackcaps, 2 Chiffchaffs, 7 Goldcrest, 5 Wren, 63 Starling, 4 Blackbirds, 5 Redwing, single singing Song Thrush, 5 Robins, single Stonechat, 5 Dunnocks, 12 House Sparrows, Meadow Pipit, 5 Chaffinches, single flyover Linnet and 3 Goldfinches.
Ringing
An nocturnal session resulted in 32 Snipe (2 caught and ringed), 2 Jack Snipe, a Meadow Pipit, 2 Skylarks (both caught and ringed) and 4 Golden Plover (all caught and ringed) seen. We also heard at least 4 Manx Shearwaters and a single Redwing.
April 2nd Sightings - A Flurry of Migrants
Remaining with a southernly wind resulted in another little arrival of migrants to the island that were nicely picked up on census today.
New in migrants:
- A Short-eared Owl flew over Millcombe being mobbed by Herring Gulls as it slowly went North up the island but was unfortunately lost behind the Ugly around 08:45.
- A White Wagtail was feeding with the sheep in St Helen’s Field and was sometimes associating with the Redwing flock that has been hanging out in this area too.
- A Black-headed Gull was found in the Herring Gull flocks on Tillage Field and looked very stunning in its summer plumage – all other species are stunning too, but they really do look special here on the island possibly due to their scarcity.
Other species seen on census included 67 Starlings mostly in the Village; 19 Carrion Crows with the sheep around Old Light; 23 Redwings split into their two flocks still with the largest just outside the Tavern; our singing male Song Thrush; 19 Linnets arriving back to their breeding grounds; 10 Robins filling Millcombe with song; 2 Woodpigeon above Smelly Gully; our four main migrant passerines consisting of 9 Goldcrests, 2 Willow Warblers, female Blackcap and 6 Chiffchaffs; 5 Blackbirds in the valley; 10 Dunnocks with one bird found outside Millcombe at ¼ Wall Copse; 5 Chaffinches with a pair feeding in the Village; 8 Ravens including the rowdy Village mob; 13 Wrens mostly in Millcombe; a high count of 248 Razorbills off Benjamin’s Chair/Ugly associated with 6 Guillemots and 9 Shags; 10 Meadow Pipits and 12 Skylarks mostly in the Airfield; 3 Great Black-backed Gulls, 22 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, ‘alba wagtail’ and 3 Pied Wagtails feeding in Highstreet Field; single male Kestrel around ¼ Wall; a single Goldfinch and 2 Swallows flew North; 3 Oystercatchers were in the Landing Bay; 3 Stonechats and a Rock pipit were on territory; a single Gannet flew South; a juvenile female Peregrine was hunting Southwest Field; and a good count of 37 House Sparrows were in the Village.
Meadow Pipit on a Gorse Bush around Pondsbury. ©Thomas Weston
Sightings north of ¼ Wall included a single Blackbird, Stonechats, Meadow pipits, Skylarks, Linnets, migrant Goldcrests, 2 Eurasian Teal and a pair of Ravens.
Ringing
A short session in Millcombe resulted in a small catch of warblers this afternoon.
April 1st Sightings - A New Month
A shift in wind direction to the south is always interesting and it seems most of the time brings new migrants to the island from the mainland.
Most unusual species on census:
- A single Rook came in off the sea at the South Coast and circled the Church twice calling around 08:15 before it headed North up the island and was not seen again. Amazingly this bird was seen flying off of Bull Point, Devon around 07:30 by a local birder and was seen heading to Lundy meaning it took about 45mins for the bird to cross the Bristol Channel.
- A Cormorant came in off the sea at Benjamin’s Chair around 08:30, circled the Southwest Fields and headed high North up the island.
The Redwing flocks remain in their two locations today with a flock of 19 in St Helen’s Field and a separate flock of 3 around ¼ Wall. These birds are presumably fattening up and waiting for the weather to be in their favour before heading North to Iceland as the numbers have remained consistent for the past two days. Finch movement was apparent today with 6 Goldfinches, 5 Linnet and 3 Chaffinches noted flying North. Our resident breeding species were out in force today with 10 Blackbirds (6M+4F), 9 Robins, 16 Wrens, 8 Dunnocks, 77 Starlings, the singing male Song Thrush, 23 House Sparrows, 8 Ravens and 15 Carrion Crows. Migrants noted in Millcombe in particularly included 9 Goldcrest, 7 Blackcaps, 9 Chiffchaffs and a single Willow Warbler. Out on our rocky coasts sightings included 2 Great Black-backed gulls, 2 Oystercatchers, 135 Razorbills, 3 Guillemots, 3 Rock Pipits, 2 Shags, Gannet, and single Kittiwake. In the fields, 4 Stonechats, 9 Skylarks, 4 Pied Wagtails and 18 Meadow Pipits.
At the Terraces a Firecrest was found in the willows before moving up to Quarry Pond where a Blackcap, 2 Willow Warblers and a Redwing were seen. On the slopes, 6 Meadow Pipits were flushed by a female Sparrowhawk flew South whilst a Dunnock, 3 Wrens, Blackbird and 2 Robins were spotted, and 104 Razorbills were offshore.
Lucy had a great count of Puffins, Guillemots, and Razorbills off Jenny’s Cove.
Ringing
A check of the heligoland trap resulted in two birds being caught this morning. Totals here: