Bird Sightings

Blue-headed Wagtail Flava Bartons Field. Thomas Weston

Census counts from today with including 6 Mallards, a single Feral Pigeon, single Woodpigeon, 2 Collared Doves, single Oystercatchers, single Kittiwake, 26 Great-Black Backed Gulls, 15 Lesser-Black Backed Gull, 24 Herring Gulls, single Guillemot, 3 Razorbills, 2 Puffins, single Gannets, 16 Shags, single Kestel, 7 Carrion Crows, 6 Ravens, single Skylark, 3 Chiffchaff, 5 Wrens, 53 Starlings, 2 Blackbird, 3 Robins, 3 Wheatears, 2 Dunnock, 40 House Sparrows, the female Blue-headed Wagtail showing well in Barton’s Field with the Horses, 2 Pied Wagtails, 29 Meadow Pipits, single Chaffinch, 90 Linnets and 21 Goldfinches were seen.

Puffins at Jenny’s Cove continue to reduce in numbers as they finish breeding. The number within the cove was roughly ~150 on the land, however this number fluctuated throughout the morning. The Guillemots and Razorbills continue to decrease here with juveniles fledging and the adults leaving as a result. The Kittiwakes and Fulmars in the cove continue to raise their chicks.

Ringing

Our artificial box checks for Manx Shearwater continue with the first four chicks of a suitable size for ringing. This was followed by a short Village ringing session whereby a few House Sparrows and Starlings were caught and ringed. It is always great to see both species moulting from their juvenile plumages into their adult type plumage that looks almost identical to their parents.

Not many sightings from all-comers today but 5 Mallards, 2 Feral Pigeons, 2 Woodpigeons, 2 Oystercatchers, 20 Herring Gulls, 2 Great-Black Backed Gulls, 10 Lesser-Black Backed Gulls, 2 Shags, 4 Carrion Crows, 4 Ravens, single Swallow, 7 Chiffchaff, 12 Starlings, 3 Blackbirds, single Robin, single Wheatear, 13 House Sparrows, female Flava Blue-headed Wagtail with one of the fully fledged Flava x Flavissma Wagtail hybrids and 5 Pied Wagtails.

Fulmar at Jenny's Cove. ©Thomas Weston

After a busy night last night, a later start to the surveys was needed. It was great to prove successful fledging of all of our Guillemots on the productivity site, with a single adult the only bird left on the nesting ledges. Our Kittiwakes are still doing well with 102 chicks still being monitored that is pretty good. The Puffins are continuing to fledge their pufflings and it will not be long before they start to leave the colony and disperse out into the Atlantic for another year. Whilst Puffin surveys were being undertaken, it is always great to see how the other remaining seabirds are getting on. It was great to spot this Fulmar and their chick in the nest above Devils Chimney. An evening spent down by the Jetty resulted in close views of a Puffling and Fulmar in the very calm conditions we are currently experiencing on the island.  

A busy day for the team with it being a boat day. However, census was undertaken in the morning and an evening survey was undertaken at one of our Storm Petrel colonies in the northern areas of the island. The survey went from sunset to around 3am the next morning and resulted in 100 birds being caught (both Manx Shearwater and Storm Petrels). This is a great effort towards our British Trust for Ornithology Retrapping Adult Survival (RAS) project that has been set up at this colony with the aim of monitoring the survival of our Stormies. Whilst we waiting for the birds to arrive, we were treated to the sounds of juvenile Guillemots, a migrating Common Sandpiper, a couple of flypast Fulmar, passing Gannets, and about 100 Herring Gulls arriving from the NE and heading SW.

A juvenile Puffling in the Landing Bay was unexpected too! 

Ringing

Starling caught and ringed in the Village. ©Thomas Weston

A stunning Starling caught in the Village garden was nothing compared to the busy night of 100 birds caught at one of our cliff top ringing sites including 79 European Storm Petrels and 21 Manx Shearwaters.