Bird Sightings
March 11th sightings - Migration kicking off
Some late news from yesterday by the first 4 Manx Shearwater and the first Wheatear of the year were both seen by members of the public!
Green-winged Teal on Pondsbury this morning. ©Thomas Weston
This morning was lovely and sunny with a little to no wind at all. Millcombe was busy this morning with a noticeable arrival of 7 Chiffchaff and 3 Goldcrest, all unringed, feeding in the trees. The first Siskin of the year flew up and down the valley calling, and a pair of Goldfinches were showing well in the trees. Out in the Landing Bay, a flock of 100 Razorbills, 6 Shag, small flocks of Herring Gull and Lesser-black Backed Gulls, as well as 4 piping Oystercatchers were seen.
Walking round to Benjamin’s Chair, a flock of Ravens were on the Church – these almost certainly The Village flock. At Benjamin’s Chair, it was nice to see a flock of 186 Razorbills and 30+ Guillemot rafting offshore, as well as another pair of Oystercatchers here. Nearby, at Rocket Pole Pond, the usual 4 Mallard were present. This area was particularly good for both Skylark and Meadow Pipits and throughout the whole census, a total of 17 Skylark (8 singing males) and 72 Meadow Pipits (4 singing males) were seen. Moving over the style to Old Light and a small flock of Starlings were defending territories on the building. The numbers of this species have decreased the least few days as overwintering birds leave the island for breeding grounds further afield. Onto Ackland’s Moor and The Airfield, this section was quite birdy, with a pair of Linnet on the fence, a Carrion Crow flew NW out to sea, and a female Kestrel (possibly the overwintering individual) was seen hunting along Quarter Wall.
A non-census check of The Terraces resulted in great views of a pair of male Stonechat chasing a female along the cliffs, a single Oystercatcher and an additional 4 Skylarks singing at the top of the cliffs. Due to the weather, it was decided to check out Pondsbury. It was great to see a flock of 4 Mallard (1M+3F) on the pool as well as 4 Eurasian Teal (1M+3F) and the appearance of the male American Green-winged Teal. The latter has not been seen since March 1st and so this was a very welcome sight (see photo above).
Back to the census and the Highstreet Field, Brick Field and Tillage were all quite quiet today with a small flock of Carrion Crows and Herring Gulls the only birds of note.
Puffin flock off JennysCove. ©Ester Spears
WE HAVE PUFFINS???.... Yes, 4 photographed off Jenny's Cove today!!!
Ringing
Male Goldcrest caught and ringed in Millcombe ©Thomas Weston
An afternoon ringing session in Millcombe resulted in 13 birds being caught. This included 4 new Chiffchaff, 8 new male Goldcrest and a retrap female Goldcrest ringed last Autumn. It was incredible as we have only been catching retrap birds the last couple of weeks. A nocturnal session resulted in a new Snipe, a new Skylark and a retrap Jack Snipe too! Plus, we heard 7 Manx Shearwaters which was a great success, including the first couple calling from burrows.
Ringing Totals
March 10th sightings – A Calmer day...
A cloudy start to the day but a lot calmer than recent days.
A Raven in The Village © Thomas Weston
Census was really enjoyable today with the majority of the island’s inhabitants all showing at the same time which makes counting a lot easier. In Millcombe, the Robins, Dunnocks and Wrens were all singing their hearts out whilst the Blackbirds and Song thrushes stealthily hid amongst the gorse bushes. A Goldcrest flitted between the tops of the trees whilst the first of three Peregrines seen today was ‘meowing’ as it flew up and down the valley. We don’t have cats on the island, so this was a nice surprise and a call I’ve been lucky to hear at breeding sites elsewhere but not for a long time. In the thick Bracken, 2 Water rails were squeaking as they made their way through the undergrowth and the pair of Goldfinches were present above the Casbar. Meanwhile, out in the Landing Bay (viewed from Ugly), a Great-northern Diver made a reappearance and was slowly drifting out, a Black-headed Gull flew North, a higher-than-normal count of Shag were made here, and the pair of Oystercatchers were busy defending territories again.
Walking around Benjamin’s Chair and the South-west fields, it was great to have the auks rafting off the coast after a couple of days absence. There were about 279 Razorbills and a small flock of 6 Guillemots present today. Overhead, an ‘alba’ wagtail and a small flock of Meadow Pipits came in-off the south coast heading high inland. A total of 5 Skylarks were heard singing here and the Airfield and the Stonechats have also started singing today too which is great to hear.
The Airfield was quite quiet but quarter wall was a bit livelier. A Meadow Pipit was singing just a metre or so above my head and parachuting to the nearest bush to attract a nearby female. He was oblivious of me! The Fieldfare was still present, though is still quite elusive, popping up on the fence posts every so often. An out-of-census walk to the Terraces led to another flock of rafting Razorbills, a pair of Stonechat, a ‘new in migrant’ Goldfinch, a Song Thrush and a couple of Chaffinches feeding in the Quarry. On the way back to The Village, Brick Field and Tillage Field held a flock of 14 Pied Wagtails (new arrivals) and one of the summer plumaged Black-headed Gulls who has been present for the last few days remained feeding on worms.
The Village Raven’s were showing well and deserved a photo today as it’s not too often you get super close to this species (See above). Meanwhile, the Starlings and House Sparrows are busy singing and getting nesting material respectively so it will not be long before these species start thinking about nesting.
Ringing
This afternoon the weather was too good not to be outside. With all tasks complete Thomas opened some of the Millcombe nets for a few hours. This resulted in 6 birds caught including the first 2 Chiffchaff of the year ringed on the island. One of the birds had a lot of featehr mites, poor quality feathers and was almost certainly born last year. This individual probably overwintered in the UK. However, the second individual has a pronounced pollen horn, three generations of greater coverts and was looking incredible, almost certainly a freshly arrived adult to the UK.
Ringing data
March 9th sightings – Our First Chiffchaff of the Spring!
One of two Black-headed gull on Tillage (taken yesterday) © T Weston
The wind remained a strong easterly throughout the morning resulting in most passerines sticking low in the vegetation again during census counts.
In Millcombe, 3 Woodpigeons remain in Smelly Gully, a single male Goldcrest was calling in the bushes near Millcombe House, 2 Wrens were the only ones of the species seen the whole morning, 5 Blackbirds fed in the more sheltered areas, 4 Robins half-heartedly sang, and 3 Dunnocks were feeding in the gorse. Moving along the south coast, Benjamin’s Chair was quite quiet, though it was nice to hear Rock Pipit calling and a small movement of Gannet heading NE into the wind. Nearby, on Rocket Pole Pond, the pair of Mallard remained, and look set to breed here. Moving across the fields on the west coast, 27 Meadow Pipits, 2 Pied Wagtails, 136 Starlings, a single Linnet and 2 Skylark were sighted. Quarter Wall was quiet and there was no sign of any Snipe in the rushes. Furthermore, lower numbers of both Herring Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gull were seen in Brick Field. However, the 2 Black-headed Gulls (out of the three seen yesterday) were still present in Tillage. Back in the village, the flock of non-breeding Ravens and our resident House Sparrow population were both noteworthy.
A lunchtime errand down to Millcombe resulted in 2 Goldfinches on the fence above Government and the first two Chiffchaffs seen feeding in the Lower Garden area. The Chiffchaffs had presumably arrived within the last few hours were both actively feeding on insects! This is a sure sign that Spring is here, and it won’t be long before the first couple of Wheatears arrive. The drizzle has since set in so it will be interesting to see if any other migrants arrive this afternoon.
Ringing
No ringing today due to the weather, but we did recieve a ringing recovery today of a male Siskin ringed on the island in October 2021 and recaptured in Suffolk today!!! The details of this record can be found below...
March 8th sightings – A bit of gull movement
A hazy start to the day as shown by Old Light © T Weston
The hoped for Little Gull never really appeared on the island but it was a busy day for the Bird Obs Team so a couple passing by undetected could have been the case. With it being a travel day for the island visitors, a split census was undertaken with Joe taking the Millcombe section whilst Thomas took the Southwest Field, Airfield and all the fields back to the village. Both of the team were busy throughout the day, so today’s counts were limited to morning census and members of the public observations.
However, what was really apparent was the wind! The easterly winds continued; in fact, the gusts were considerably stronger than yesterday, and this seemed to affect the counts, with passerines few and far between and rafting auks being non-existent. In total, during the census only 2 Skylark half-heartedly sang on the Airfield and only a single Wren, Blackbird, Dunnock, and Robin was spotted in Millcombe! Even though the small birds hid for the morning, an impressive count of 223 Herring Gulls were feeing in Brick Field with 10 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a slight increase in Starlings to 193 birds was noted, a Snipe was flushed from the main track across the Airfield, the 7 rowdy Ravens continued to perform throughout the village, two pairs of Stonechat were back on territory and a couple of Rock Pipits flew from Benjamin’s Chair.
Alongside the species noted above, to our surprise, migrants were apparent with a single Goldfinch in Millcombe which was possibly one of the birds from yesterday. Also in the valley, there was a ‘new in’ Fieldfare. Amazingly, this was the first record for a few months and therefore the first of the year! Another surprise was a Redwing that flew in-off the coast over the SouthWest Field and dropped into the bushes around Old Light. This is the first of the species for a few days probably indicating this was probably not one of the overwintering birds we have seen.
An evening walk to Pondsbury resulted in some gull movement being noted. This morning’s Herring Gull flocks had departed leaving just 20 birds in Tillage and Brick fields with a few flocks on the cliffs relating to island breeding birds. However, an impressive flock of 83 Lesser-black backed gulls were roosting in Brick Field. This is the highest count of the spring so far, and probably consisted of island breeders and migrant birds using the island as a stop-over site. Moreover, the arrival of 3 Black-headed Gulls spotted on Tillage wouldn’t sound super exciting on the mainland, but they are an unusual species out here and were feeding on earthworms. This is actually the first sighting of the year for this species! The Fieldfare from this morning was on the Airfield this evening but was rather flighty amongst the flock of sheep.
Ringing
No ringing was undertaken today due to the strong winds.