By Thomas Weston
A short blog post today highlighting a fee of the bits and bobs completed on my bird day.
The day started at 6am and I was getting ready for some ringing as the weather was supposed to be calm and cloudy. Alas, we did not have the cloud, but we did have the calm, so I headed down to Millcombe to open a few nets. Before anyone else arrived, I saw the Great-spotted Woodpecker, a ‘rare bird’ for the island due to the scarcity and uncommonness, however this bird has been hanging around for over a week now which is nice. The individual was heard calling in the trees above the Gas Store, where our Spotted Flycatcher family were still residing, before flying out and up the valley to the trees above the Casbah. I lost view of the bird thereafter, but I did have nice views of Stonechats, Linnets, Goldfinches, and the singing Song Thrush. I opened the nets, but within two hours a new juvenile Blackbird and one of our breeding female Chiffchaffs were the only birds caught. However, a single House Martin and 2 Swifts were the only noticeable migrants. Meanwhile, Greg and Emma opened the moth trap, and a few new species for the year were recorded which was nice. Names to be sent soon!
Lucile, Eleanor, and I decided to open the traps for a while and we ended up catching just shy of 20 Starlings and a new House Sparrow juvenile. This was only one of two unringed Sparrows on the island and it was great to catch this wild born bird, aptly known as Austin.
Up island, Chloe’s disturbance survey resulted in a pair of Grey Herons flying around Gannets and seen/videoed. Emma and Greg later went up there to do some seabird monitoring, and at the time of writing the outcome is unknown.
The rest of my day was full of data input, checking our Swallow broods before running log and having a relaxing evening enjoying a bit of the summer sunshine.