By Thomas Weston.
After a very quiet session yesterday in Millcombe with just a single Linnet caught in 1hr and 15mins, I awoke to a nice red sunrise and high cloud. Cloud is something we have not seen on the island the last few days so it was maybe a sign of things to come. Or a warning to those who listen to sheperds.
Anyway, getting ready, clothed and fed (in the morning light as it has got to the stage where the ringing o'clock is before generator turn on), I looked out again to see that a thick sea fog had rolled in. Undeterred, I walked down to Millcombe. The fog was not damp, in fact it was incredibly dry plus still! Also something that until yesterday evening was not something we have seen on Lundy at all.
Nets open and we started catching some new migrants. The fog lifted a bit and a Whitethroat came into the net. The two Collared Doves were displaying in Millcombe, having only arrived the other day, and there was a sense of movement with Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, and Blackcap bouncing around. A female Pied Flycatcher was near the Battlements and we [Eleanor, Greg, Ben and Emma] continued ringing. The next net round was slightly quieter, the fog came down again and we caught a new Sedge Warbler. Slope net had been checked but had nothing in, but then as me and Ben walked down I saw a bird fly in. I asked Ben to go and extract it and he toddled on up and extracted, not saying too much to begin until he came down. Topics of conversation had included overshoots and potential rarities. Ben then asks "How easy would it be to tell a Western and Eastern Subalpine Warbler at this time of year?" Not knowing what was in the bag, he then followed by saying "because I have one in here!"
A slight surprise came over me so I quickly had a look at the bird in the bag and very quickly confirmed it to be a Eastern Subalpine Warbler the first of the year, and looking at records within the South West and Ireland, seemingly the first Eastern recorded!? Much excitement and many phonecalls to the local (within a few mins walk) birdwatchers, plus those in Millcombe already led to about 10 birders seeing the bird. Amazing! The session continued well with a great diversity of species. Other Lundy scarcities included a Reed Warbler, a few new Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Whitethroat, Linnet, Goldfinches plus retrap Blackbirds and Robins.
We packed up at 12:00 and helped set nets with the Sparrow Team in the Village. A few warblers later and we managed to complete some house tasks. Being our day off, it was nice to be able to do some indoor bits we have been meaning to do for a while! Not in the highest number of hours as the Tims found the 10th Nightingale for the island this century and we were sooo close to going to see it but decided to head back down the Millcombe for some more migrant ringing. We passed a couple of Pied Flycatchers, a Spotted Flycatcher, a few Chiffchaff, Willow Warblers and Blackcap before opening the nets for a short while. More migrants trickled through until dinner and log were called.
What a day and one to remember!!!
Until tomorrow.....