By Simon Parker
It's the pre amble before storm Austen, our first named storm of the season which is likely to land Friday. Wednesday saw gusts of 55mph overnight and the morning was up around 45, being a westerly the East was still fairly sheltered and the were a few birds bunkered down there. Chaffinch still in good number, Blackcap, Goldcrest, Woodpigeon were all keeping their heads down but still moving around the valley. A lone Woodcock was camped around the government house area.
Out on the plateau, things became difficult as the wind shot across from the west. The sea watch team spotted a passage of birds moving South from Castles Manx Shearwater, Gannet, Kittiwake, Lesser Black Backed and a Mediterranean Gull. There was also another Tuna seen off the East coast adding to the various other sightings have been reported this week.
Census was tricky with the high winds and not much else was seen but it did begin to brighten up towards 9.30. Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Redwing and a Fieldfare were spotted along the main track/village area. Other notable mentions included a possible Eastern Lesser Whitethroat in the quarry area.
The rest of the day was spend tending to some Biosecurity jobs, monthly checks of the monitoring stations and preparing new chew blocks. There's over 60 stations spread across the island, mostly in properties and around the village all with a wax chew block inside. We look for signs of Rat chew marks, the majority of the stations have signs of Pygmy shrew nibblings but they are tiny compared to a rats marks.
These checks are vital to ensure that Lundy remains free from invasive predators and we're grateful to all the support we receive from the RSPB Biosecurity for Life team who you can check out here - Biosecurity for LIFE - keeping the UK's seabirds safe. We'll be looking into more visible interpretation for visitors next season including some boards around the Ilfracombe/Bideford harbours and on the Oldenburg along with our new on island wildlife cameras, keep your eyes peeled for those and for any sneaky rodents!