By Thomas Weston
The rain had come through last night, not much but enough to clear the sky of fog and mist.
Swapping census with Greg so he could go ringing with the visiting ringers, it was nice be able to see more than 20m ahead. The clearer skies led to the start of the autumn's Meadow Pipit migration with 86 birds seen throughout the census route, as well as the first 81 Linnets. There was a small increase in Goldfinches, and it was presumed some of these were using the skies to migrate through – a lack of records for this species recently has been a tad odd. However, the count of 7 Blackbirds was good for the residents, and the reappearance of a ringed Song Thrush was interesting. Maybe it is not our funky singing male who sings all spring and summer, but the second bird caught post-breeding? The latter, amazingly, was caught again last week still moulting so it could be sticking around still, and perhaps in slightly poor condition having now been moulting for over a month, hidden for sure. Moreover, there were definitely some Robin migrants on the island as the census count of 18 was particularly high for the route. If it remains mild then this count is likely to increase further. True migrant species were low, and so were the numbers in the nets too, though 2 Spotted Flycatchers, 2 Goldcrests, 2 Willow Warblers, 3 Blackcaps, 2 Chiffchaffs and a single Whitethroat were the best in the bushes. The Village Swallows were loitering around the top of Millcombe, though with some migrants coming through already it is not unlikely some of these could be joined by more soon. Looking out from Battlements Corner, 2 Water Rail in Smelly Gully were the best, though 2 flyby Rock Pipits were excellent to see. With most bird species on the island being migratory to some extent, our 'more' resident species resulted in 3 Chaffinches, 2 Woodpigeons, 14 Wrens, 46 Carrion Crows, 6 Ravens, 17 House Sparrows, 106 Starlings, and 10 Mallards. It seemed that seabird numbers were low on the east, with only 14 Shags of note, though with the cold front having come from the west, seabird numbers were higher with a single Gannet, 8 Kittiwakes, and 5 auk spp, noted. On the Plauteau, a single Ringed Plover migrating over south was not too unexpected, as Greg had 3 earlier in the day, though the 2 Dunlin and 2 Grey Herons with at least one of the former coming in off the sea at Old Light were very unexepected. The Airfield was quiet, though 7 Skylarks, and a single (potentially one of our last?) Wheatear was nice to record. Alongside the expected birds in the Village, Kirsty handed me a box. This was the first of 5 Manx Shearwaters ringed/processed just from the Village including a bird we had ringed from outside the Tavern two days ago, released on the cliffs, and then back again outside the Tavern. No clue what this bird was doing.