Bird Sightings

The winds changed to a southernly direction over night, but the strength was a little high for migrant passerines to be moving in the night. However, it seems our Golden Plovers have departed with a nice tail wind.

The wind affected census today with most passerines sticking low. However, 4 Mallards including the pair on Rocket Pole Pond; 9 Woodpigeons all above Smelly Gully; 4 Oystercatcher, 2 Gannets and 5 Shag in the Landing Bay; mixed gull flocks in Tillage and the Airfield resulted in 79 Herring Gulls, 25 Lesser Black-backed gulls and 11 Great Black-backed Gulls; a pair of Kestrel were around ¼ wall; a female Merlin was hunting the Water tanks; a Peregrine flew past near Castles; 32 Carrion Crows were in the fields around the Village; 6 Ravens were in the Village; only 3 Skylarks and 5 Meadow Pipits were spotted; 4 Goldcrest were feeding low by the Gas Store; 8 Wrens, 9 Robins and 3 Dunnocks half-heartedly sang; 34 Starlings and 2 Pied Wagtails were feeding with the sheep, 4 Blackbirds seemed very low today but if they were anything like the 4 Redwing who were at the bottom of the Blackthorn bushes then everything was a bit more hidden than normal. The singing Song Thrush continued in Millcombe whilst finches in the area included 4 Chaffinches, 4 Linnet and a Goldfinch.

Ringing

A last-minute decision resulted in a nocturnal session at one of the Manx Shearwater colonies with the team. In total 30 new and 22 retrap birds were captured including 2 chicks originally ringed in 2012, 2 chicks originally ringed in 2013, 2 adults ringed in 2014 and various records from every subsequent year.

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Another day of westerly winds and dropping cloud base led to a low fog over the island that was not the most inspiring weather for anything. However, 3 Mallards, 2 Woodpigeons, single Oystercatcher, 3 of the 4 Golden Plover in Brick Field with an additional one seen further North by members of the public, 84 Herring Gulls, 8 Lesser Black-backed gulls, 5 Great Black-backed Gulls, 2 Razorbills, 3 Shag, a single Cormorant flew North, single Kestrel, 19 Carrion Crows, 7 Ravens, 11 Skylarks, 2 Sand Martins, single Swallows, 4 Blackcaps, 9 Willow Warblers, 2 Chiffchaffs, 5 Goldcrest, 15 Wren, 34 Starling, 9 Blackbirds, 5 Redwing (11 seen later in St Helen’s Field), single singing Song Thrush, 7 Robins, 6 Stonechat, 9 Dunnocks, 14 House Sparrows, single Pied Wagtail, 12 Meadow Pipit, 5 Chaffinches, 14 Linnet and 15 Goldfinches.  

A Ring Ouzel female at North End, a couple of Eurasian Teal on Pondsbury, a passage of hirundines and a flock of 120 Puffins were the highlights by allcomers today.

Ringing

A very short session this morning was soon hampered by drizzle that seemed to just be falling in Millcombe as the top of the valley was very humid and close. However, some lunch and a post-rain session resulted in another hour in Millcombe but absolutely no birds were caught and to make matters worse, the rain came back again.

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A really nice day with Swallows, Sand Martins, Willow Warblers and Wheatears seen.

A change from the migrant inspiring southernly winds quickly changed to a westerly wind overnight. This seemed to have sturred a little displacement of some of our long distance, high Arctic waders leading to a small arrival on the island. This was noted when a Eurasian Curlew was heard in flight and a Golden Plover was seen flying over the Village heading South, both the first of the year. This latter was in summer plumage and presumably dropped in on the south coast, but it was uncertain where this bird ended up. However, later in the morning, when Lucy and Thomas were tasked to chase the Goats out of ¼ Wall, a brief interlude occurred when Lucy stumbled across a presumably new Golden Plover on the path just in front of Quarry Cottages. This was very peculiar. The bird was unfazed by the presence of the duo and continued feeding around the building. After talking to a few passersby, the team went to complete a Fulmar survey at Gannet’s Rock and found 67 on their usual ledges, as well as a female Merlin and a couple of nearby Peregrines too. On the way back, a check of the plover did not yield any success, but Lucy did it again and found a new flock of 4 Golden Plover in Brick Field including three in summer plumage and a different individual to the one photographed above. This was very exciting, and it was great to inform the guests of these waders. Their plumage being so immaculate and black extending from the head to lower belly indicated these were most likely heading to the Icelandic/Faeroes population and were of the northern race P.a. altifrons.

A Golden Plover at Quarry Cottages. ©Thomas Weston

Alongside the flyover waders, census was productive with 3 Woodpigeons, 115 Herring Gulls, 20 Lesser Black-backed gulls, 11 Great Black-backed Gulls, 2 Razorbills, single Fulmar, single gannet, 3 Shag, Kestrel, 28 Carrion Crows, 6 Ravens, 3 Skylarks, 3 Swallows, 2 Blackcaps, 2 Chiffchaffs, 7 Goldcrest, 5 Wren, 63 Starling, 4 Blackbirds, 5 Redwing, single singing Song Thrush, 5 Robins, single Stonechat, 5 Dunnocks, 12 House Sparrows, Meadow Pipit, 5 Chaffinches, single flyover Linnet and 3 Goldfinches.  

Ringing

An nocturnal session resulted in 32 Snipe (2 caught and ringed), 2 Jack Snipe, a Meadow Pipit, 2 Skylarks (both caught and ringed) and 4 Golden Plover (all caught and ringed) seen. We also heard at least 4 Manx Shearwaters and a single Redwing.

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Remaining with a southernly wind resulted in another little arrival of migrants to the island that were nicely picked up on census today.

New in migrants:

• A Short-eared Owl flew over Millcombe being mobbed by Herring Gulls as it slowly went North up the island but was unfortunately lost behind the Ugly around 08:45.
• A White Wagtail was feeding with the sheep in St Helen’s Field and was sometimes associating with the Redwing flock that has been hanging out in this area too.
• A Black-headed Gull was found in the Herring Gull flocks on Tillage Field and looked very stunning in its summer plumage – all other species are stunning too, but they really do look special here on the island possibly due to their scarcity.

Other species seen on census included 67 Starlings mostly in the Village; 19 Carrion Crows with the sheep around Old Light; 23 Redwings split into their two flocks still with the largest just outside the Tavern; our singing male Song Thrush; 19 Linnets arriving back to their breeding grounds; 10 Robins filling Millcombe with song; 2 Woodpigeon above Smelly Gully; our four main migrant passerines consisting of 9 Goldcrests, 2 Willow Warblers, female Blackcap and 6 Chiffchaffs; 5 Blackbirds in the valley; 10 Dunnocks with one bird found outside Millcombe at ¼ Wall Copse; 5 Chaffinches with a pair feeding in the Village; 8 Ravens including the rowdy Village mob; 13 Wrens mostly in Millcombe; a high count of 248 Razorbills off Benjamin’s Chair/Ugly associated with 6 Guillemots and 9 Shags; 10 Meadow Pipits and 12 Skylarks mostly in the Airfield; 3 Great Black-backed Gulls, 22 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, ‘alba wagtail’ and 3 Pied Wagtails feeding in Highstreet Field; single male Kestrel around ¼ Wall; a single Goldfinch and 2 Swallows flew North; 3 Oystercatchers were in the Landing Bay; 3 Stonechats and a Rock pipit were on territory; a single Gannet flew South; a juvenile female Peregrine was hunting Southwest Field; and a good count of 37 House Sparrows were in the Village.

Meadow Pipit on a Gorse Bush around Pondsbury. ©Thomas Weston

Sightings north of ¼ Wall included a single Blackbird, Stonechats, Meadow pipits, Skylarks, Linnets, migrant Goldcrests, 2 Eurasian Teal and a pair of Ravens.

Ringing

A short session in Millcombe resulted in a small catch of warblers this afternoon.

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