Bird Sightings

By Thomas Weston

An extremely wet morning on which Eleanor and I decided it would be a good idea to do census... With Greg ill, and luckily staying in bed, we took it on ourselves to get up, eat croissants with tea, before heading out to brave the weather. On the route, we firstly noted the local Carrion Crows – they were braving the weather and sat feeling sorry for themselves in the fields around the Village. Meadow Pipits decided today was probably not the best time to migrate and with 17 noted, it was not much to write home about. The regular 5 Blackbirds in Millcombe, sums up the current thrush migration. Where are the deluge of Redwing, and the first few Ring Ouzels?

 Swallow in Millcombe by Thomas Weston

The Swallows definitely looked like they wanted to be in Africa right now, as they sat – some motionless – on the brambles and flew centimetres away at your feet looking for food. A sad look on their faces too did not help the situation. In Millcombe, we struggled to pick out many birds in the wind and rain. A single Dunnock, 10 Robins, 4 Wrens, 3 Chaffinches, and a Woodpigeon were some of the best of the residents. Migrant-wise, it was slow, with 6 Goldcrest, 2 Chiffchaffs, 9 Blackcap, a ringed Firecrest, and the most unusual species of the morning, a quiet Yellow-browed Warbler at the top of the trees around Battlements. Offshore a flock of 3 Gannets and 4 Shags were the only birds. Walking around the plateau did not add too much to the selection, with a couple of Skylark flushed from underfoot, a Lesser Black-backed Gull with 9 Great Black-backed Gulls on the Airfield, and 8 female and 3 male Mallards in Barton Field. 

Little Egret from the Terrace by ThomasWeston

The rest of the day off was spent making cake, drinking tea, writing a report for the Large Gull Survey (which somehow crashed and deleted so you will have to wait for that)! before heading off for a walk in the evening once the wind died down a tad and the sun came out. On our adventure down to Millcombe and along the Lower East, a couple of additional Goldcrest were of note, including two on the Terrace. No sign of any more Yellow-browed Warblers, but there were two Little Egrets spotted by Eleanor flying in from midchannel, before coasting, and heading north off the island. In addition during our wanderings, a Spotted Flycatcher was in Millcombe, 2 Snipe were flying around in the wind, a Sparrowhawk was spotted on the down pipe to one of the Barton cottages, and a nice flock of 20 Oystercatchers were below Millcombe with 44 Great Black-Backed Gulls at North End.

Amazing news came in of a Manx Shearwater chick ringed on the island on the 19th August 2026. It was found dead on a beach in Brazil, some 9000km away just 46 days later. It is great to know the bird got close to its wintering grounds, but a shame it ended up being found dead on a beach. Hopefully not the first of many!

by Kirsty Cox

When I saw that today was my day for writing the blog, I was concerned that it may be another eventful day but luckily today has gone a lot more to plan!

It started as usual with some office admin, catching up with seal ID and emails, including liaising with the Devon Wildlife Trust Marine Strandings Network. Sadly there have been a lot more pup deaths than usual this year and this has been the same across Devon and Cornwall, so I have been organising sending them the data that we have been collecting. 

After toast I went to feed the chickens. It was my last day with this responsibility and I’ll miss seeing them every day and having a bit of chicken therapy time!

Then it was off on pup check. It has been a quiet few days with the pups as there have been no new arrivals but it is nice to see the pups that are on the beaches doing well and developing as they should.

Part way through my pup check route I went down to meet the boat to take up my position as 'pup police'. Although we don’t currently have any very young pups in the Landing Bay, we still need people to keep their distance from the weaned and moulted pups and it is a great time to meet people arriving on the Oldenburg and to chat to them about all things seal.

After completing pup check and processing the photos, it was time to head back to speak to people as they were walking back down to the boat. Boat days always seem to pass so quickly, especially on Ilfracombe days when there are only a few hours between the boat arriving and the boat leaving.

With a bit more ID work completed in the office, it was time to sign off. So, all in all, a much less eventful day than my previous two blog days but that was definitely welcome!

Elsewhere on the island there were continued sightings of a Yellow-browed Warbler as well as a Common Redstart, 2 Lapland Bunting, 4 Redwing, a Spotted Flycatcher and a Tree Pipit.

Yellow-browed Warbler by Greg Lee

By Thomas Weston

Sunfish at North End by Thomas Weston

Foggy yesterday, but we found a Sunfish at North End. Yay! The only pic I can contribute to the blog today!

The fog was strong again today and lingered over the top of the island. The ringers down in Millcombe were having a quieter session before heading home, and I passed by on census. Census was a good one, migration notching up a little with a day of thrushes. Reports of Redwing and Song Thrush (totalling less than ten) were seen by guests, but none of the former and just three of the latter were noted on census. However, 23 Robins, 24 Stonechats, and 11 Blackbirds were high counts for the census area, being counted as I moved in and out of the misty fog that lay on the top of the island for most of the morning. In Millcombe, numbers of Swallows were okay, but low. No obvious migration of this species was seen today, so we presume the 34 birds counted were sort of stuck on the island and could not see the mainland to depart. We presume the single House Martin was stuck too, as it was seen flying up and down the east coast. Not ideal. Howevere, there were signs of movement, with 7 Goldcrest, and 72 Meadow Pipits noted. In the trees above the Casbah a Yellow-browed Warbler was heard calling deep in the Sycamores. In the bushes below, 19 Dunnocks (a high count), 7 Chaffinches (still really low), 10 Blackcaps, 8 Chiffchaffs, and 5 Siskins made up the rest of the small but decent arrival. Residents were present in good numbers with 10 Wrens, 4 Ravens, 3 Water Rails, 11 Carrion Crows, 2 Peregrines, 3 Rock Pipits, a single Great Black-backed Gull, 3 Oystercatchers, and 11 Shags all within the general Millcombe area, seen from various vantage points. Finches along the route really have not taken to migration, or not quite to Lundy yet. The Skiskin were nice, but seeing 6 Goldfinches and 15 Linnets was very low for the time of year. In the Village, after navigating through the fog, 8 Mallards, a male Kestrel, and 84 Starlings were the best of the rest. 

An afternoon in the Tavern for me, with not much to report from my side, but the visiting ringers had a probable Little Bunting, another Yellow-browed Warbler was seen, the Snow Bunting was still in residence, and 2 Lapland Bunting appeared as the cloud cleared. The Common Redstart from a few days ago, relocated to the Beach Road where it found a rock now aptly called Redstart Rock. In Millcombe, a Spotted Flycatcher and Firecrest were nice late migrants, and a Golden Plover and Snipe were the only waders seen today. 

By Greg Lee

When heading back to the Lodge last night, I had noticed that the mist had rolled in from the sea, only clearing at dawn, just before I began my census for the day.  It perhaps wasn’t surprising that there hadn’t been a substantial arrival of migrants. Instead, it was a select few highlights down in Millcombe including a couple of Pied Flycatchers, a ringed Yellow-browed Warbler (from yesterday), a Song Thrush and a small collection of Chiffchaffs, Goldcrests and Firecrests. The upper section of the island was very quiet indeed, but this wasn’t particularly surprising; in fact, the main highlight of it all was wearing my new wellies and my socks keeping warm and snug. Something that wouldn’t have happened with my old pair or my walking boots.

Yellow-browed Warbler by G.Lee- Colour-ringed as part of an ongoing project into the migration of this Siberian species

We are lucky to have a few other birders on the island at the moment and so a few other interesting sightings during the day included at least two other Yellow-browed Warblers, the Snow Bunting at Rocket Pole, a very late Swift at Halfway Wall, and a Common Redstart along the Beach Road. 

Redstart by N. Barnes