By Thomas Weston
The day started a little breezier than ideal, plus very foggy. The Birders Week team were going to join me in Millcombe for some ringing but alas it was not suitable at any of the nets. In fact, it turned out today was more of a relaxing day for the team after a couple of busier days gone by. No worries, because Lundy is full of adventures wherever you go and there is never a time when there is not a new place to explore.
However, Greg was up early and checked the moth trap. He caught 70 species caught including Dark Swordgrass, Diamondback, and Devonshire Wainscot for example, plus many many more not beginning with the letter ‘D’! Greg then went round to complete census with a couple of the birders, which was good, and included a nice range of migrants with Willow Warblers in fine form again. The change in wind direction to SW slightly halted some proceedings, but it is looking calmer and more suitable in the coming days, so we shall see!
Planned snorkelling did not happen due to the boat day proceedings, and as a result I ended up going to the meeting and having a look from the Ugly whilst the breeze was slightly stronger than recently, and very southernly too! The totals from an hour's watch from the Ugly between 08:00-09:00 involved 47 Manx Shearwaters, 24 Gannets, 36 Shags, 3 Kittiwakes, single Rock Pipit, Kestrel, and 4 Wheatears. Amazingly, the predicted rain was not apparent, and the clouds dispersed so much that there was bright sun again and excellent visibility. The seabirds started to fly further away from the Lundy coast, and so I packed up and headed to the Village. On my arrival, two of the Birders Week participants had just opened the traps and within a short period of time had already caught a House Sparrow. More amazingly, it was unringed! Excited at their discovery, it was equally more exciting to go and get Lucile who was actually leaving today from the island – but coming back in November. The sparrow was named James Joyce and released with some new bling. It has been incredible working with Lucile and we wish her a great autumn ahead of her, wherever she decides to go!
Adult male Wheatear - aging criteria shown by the super dark black greater coverts. Sex based on dark lore. By Thomas Weston
Meanwhile, the Birders Week participants were exploring the island. A highlight for the day was a Curlew seen by three participants as it came in at Jenny’s Cove, then flew east to Quarries, and then south out towards Rat Island. At the same time, I completed some blogs, data input, and helping with House Sparrow boxes was the last few things before the end of the official workday. Though this was a bird day in amongst Birders Week, so the fun continued post-work too. I saw 3 Swifts whilst walking to the Barn this afternoon, and in the evening, Simon gave a great Warden's Talk to the team. The idea to have a quieter one quickly changed when Wheatear dazzling was mentioned, and before we knew it, we had caught 9 out of 12 Wheatears seen this evening with the whole team. It was amazing! New birds coming through the island, mixed in with Lundy juveniles, and even more amazingly was a bird originally ringed two years ago. The bird was caught at North End plateau during fieldwork and seen in the car headlights around 1:40am. The bird was ringed, processed and released, but as a juvenile it is pretty difficult sexing them when they are still quite fluffy. Amazingly, two years and two days later this bird was recaught as an adult male, in Tent Field near the Tavern. Back by midnight and we hope the weather improves for more ringing in the morning tomorrow…