by Greg Lee
Wow! It was nice to wake up to a day with cloud and coolness in the air, following a very brief dosing of rain during the night, the first for many, many weeks. As it was still windy, census was understandably quieter with Willow Warblers just edging into double-figures across the entire duration of the patrol. However, the overcast skies made seawatching quite tempting with Manx Shearwaters clearly skimming over the waves, though I was desperately hoping some of the larger Shearwaters being reported off the Cornish coast would come into view. As I walked down the Beach road, I noted a few young gulls in the water, mostly Herring Gulls, but one particular bird seemed to be enjoying doing aerobatics, flying up and rapidly diving down. As I quite enjoy a bit of Gull photography, particularly young gulls with all the patterning to their plumage, I decided to snap some photographs when I became acutely aware of this bird having a striking white upper tail with a neat black tailband, quite unlike any Herring Gull at this age. Looking at the head, there was also a distinctive shawl along with a clean belly and axillaries on the underwing. Realising as many photos as possible was a good thing, I identified that this bird was a Caspian Gull, just the 2nd record on Lundy, after Thomas and Eleanor spotting the first in early spring, of this increasing species in the UK. As it was still quite fresh moulting to 1st-winter plumage, the head wasn’t as pale and standout as it will be over winter, but certainly it was still distinctive enough to catch the eye. All that time spent looking and sifting through winter gull flocks on various estuaries, rubbish dumps and even freshwater areas has certainly paid off this time.
Caspian Gull underside by G.Lee
Caspian Gull by G.Lee
The rest of the walk was quite quiet with the low cloud making for quite a different feeling compared to the glorious sunny weather the island had experienced over the past month or so. Butterflies were much reduced with Painted Ladies leading the charge with just seven individuals during my walk. The Linnet flocks remain impressive, whilst like clockwork, every time I reach Quarter Wall gate on census, my warm mammalian blood seems to always attract the attention of Horseflies. Fortunately, as they are used to biting large livestock such as Cows and Horses, they aren’t quite used to their victims being armed with hands that can cover almost the entirety of their body, therefore they can be swatted away very easily. I believe this particular species of Horsefly is Notch-horned Cleg (Haematopota pluvialis), however I’m open to suggestions of other species. Although they are trying to saw at my flesh, I do find the striking pattern of the eyes quite beautiful, though this is appreciated only quickly before my blood is drawn.
The rest of the day was spent in a horsefly free environment with lots of seabird data needing compiling and entering now the season has finished. Notably, I was on Kittiwakes which sadly saw the Aztec birds being plundered very quickly by other avian predators. However, in better news, lots of young Kittiwakes are now fledgling and swirling safely in Jenny’s Cove!
In the evening, members of the Conservation Team went out to catch some Wheatears. With the full moon, it was a harder ordeal, but we were treated to some beautiful noctilucent clouds drifting over from the high Arctic. Three Wheatears were caught though, one being new and the others being re-traps from previous sessions. There does seem to have been a reduction in Wheatear numbers recently, are the juveniles leaving the island already?!