Bird Sightings
March 29th Sightings - White Wagtail
White Wagtail along the Main Track/Brick Field. ©Thomas Weston
A walk to Jenny’s Cove in the morning from the Tavern resulted in a very smart looking adult male White Wagtail (scarce here) feeding on the muddy main track before showing well in Brick Field; a small flock of ducks including 4 Mallards and 5 Eurasian Teal at Pondsbury; 11 Skylark and 8 Meadow Pipits noted on the main track between ¼ Wall and ½ Wall; roughly 120+ Puffins, 34 Kittiwakes and 17 Fulmar off Jenny’s Cove; 3 Wrens and 8 Wheatears (2 colour ringed birds paired together and ringed together last year) between Jenny’s Cove and ¼ Wall; a female Merlin hunting passerines near The Earthquake; a female Peregrine distantly flying around Tibbets; 129 Herring Gulls, 30 Lesser Black-Backed Gulls and 3 Great Black-Backed Gulls on the flooded fields around the Watertanks; and 7 Pied Wagtails on the Airfield/Highstreet Field demonstrating a small but noticeable arrival of this species.
The afternoon was a lot more relaxed and the team were not out birding.
March 28th Sightings - Wet and Windy day
A windy, rainy, cold day resulted in few birds seen today. This included 3 Mallard, 4 Eurasian Teal, 2 Woodpigeons, single Oystercatchers, 32 Puffin, 4 Guillemots, 2 Kittiwakes, 79 Herring Gulls, 12 Great Black-backed gulls, 80 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 3 Fulmar, 136 Manx Shearwaters, 38 Gannets, 15 Shag, female Kestrel, female Merlin, 25 Carrion Crows, 4 Ravens, 8 Skylarks, 7 Chiffchaff, 3 Blackcap, 5 Goldcrest, 4 Wrens, 70 Starlings, 3 Blackbirds, 4 Robins, 2 Stonechats, 3 Wheatears, 4 Dunnocks, 14 House Sparrows, 5 Pied Wagtails, 2 ‘alba Wagtails’, 27 Meadow Pipits, 4 Chaffinches, 3 Linnets and 2 Goldfinches.
March 27th Sightings - Ring Ouzel
Ring Ouzel male at Halfway Wall. ©Liz Gouldson
After yesterday’s excitement, we introduce our newest member to the team, Lucy Pécasse who will be completing our seabird productivity work this year! The first full day of work included checking out the study sites and climbing up and down the cliffs in search of seabirds – even if it was super windy. Welcome to the team.
A big drop in migrants today as the weather changed to a strong south-westerly with frequent rain showers. The standout highlights of the day:
- A Ring Ouzel spotted at ½ Wall and photographed by our guests.
- The highest Manx Shearwater (1455) count of the year from the Ugly.
- The highest Wheatear (36) count of the year with a good mix of migrants and breeding birds.
- Single Greenfinch in Millcombe (scarce here).
- A female Bullfinch in St Helen’s Copse (scarce here).
Other sightings from today included 6 Mallard, 4 Eurasian Teal, 14 Woodpigeons, 8 Oystercatchers, 122 Puffin, 87 Razorbills, 17 Guillemots, 162 Auk spp, 104 Kittiwakes, 84 Herring Gulls, 12 Great Black-backed gulls, 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, single Red-throated Diver, single Great Northern Diver, 8 Fulmar, 58 Gannets, single Cormorant, 19 Shag, female Sparrowhawk, male Kestrel, single Peregrine, 19 Carrion Crows, 12 Ravens, 10 Skylarks, single Swallow, 2 Willow Warblers, 3 Chiffchaff, 15 Blackcap, 8 Goldcrest, 7 Wrens, 122 Starlings, 3 Blackbirds, Song Thrush, 4 Robins, 12 Stonechats, 36 Wheatears, 6 Dunnocks, 8 House Sparrows, 2 Pied Wagtails, 72 Meadow Pipits, single Rock Pipit, 4 Chaffinches, 6 Linnets, 5 Goldfinches and a Lesser Redpoll.
March 26th Sightings - A 'fall' of Migrants
Willow Warbler on the Gorse at Rocket Pole. ©Joe Parker
After a very wet day yesterday, the clouds parted and a clear night with southernly winds occurred. Winds were recorded from as far south as Northern Spain, so it was a mild night inspiring migrants to use this weather window to move. Due to the drop in wind speed and in suitable wind direction, it was an early start for the team today with the Millcombe nets opened at 05:15 this morning. The increased cloud cover and relatively low cloud base around dawn led to a small fall of migrants first thing and the ringing session started off quite steady. However, just before 9am, a very short period of drizzle arrived and from this moment onwards, a large arrival ‘fall’ of migrants occurred. This led to the number of birds caught and ringed increasing substantially. The number of birds found around the island increased after 9am with good coverage from all comers. The number of birds arriving to the island stayed high throughout the day and the nets were closed around 18:15. In total, the team ringed 191 new birds comprising of four main migrant species: the first Willow Warbler for the year, Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Goldcrest (plus one of our resident Wrens). The team also recaptured an additional 5 birds throughout the day including a 4yr old Blackbird, a Goldcrest caught a few days ago and a Robin and Dunnock originally ringed last year. Full ringing details can be found below.
Thank you to fellow birder Tim for confirming some statistics. The day beat a couple of records including the highest ever numbers of Willow Warbler recorded in March with 97 seen by all comers, and the highest ever numbers of Chiffchaff recorded in March with 334 seen by all comers. The 135 Blackcaps recorded almost equalled the March record of Blackcap sighted (previous March record on the 31/03/2021 was 144). The 42 Goldcrest seen was the highest Spring total for many decades, but this count did not beat the 60 on the 27-31/03/1989 or the 50 on the 27-28/03/1974.
The first Jackdaw of the year in Brick Field. ©Joe Parker
It was not just a notable day for the passerines but today saw the highest counts of the year for Puffin (511), Woodpigeon (21), Linnet (32), Goldfinches (8), Siskin (4), and the first Grey Wagtail and Jackdaw of the year. To add to the craziness of the day, the American Green-winged Teal was still present on Pondsbury.
Other sightings today included: 10 Mallards, 4 Eurasian Teal, 2 Water Rail, 14 Oystercatchers, 6 Snipe, 302 Razorbills, 3 Guillemots, 2 Auk spp, 30 Kittiwakes, 140 Herring Gulls, 6 Great Black-backed Gulls, 8 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, single Red-throated Diver, single Great Northern Diver, 19 Fulmar, 5 Manx Shearwaters, 10 Gannets, 2 Cormorants, 24 Shag, pair of Kestrel, single Merlin, single Peregrine, 20 Carrion Crows, 13 Ravens, 19 Skylarks, 43 Sand Martins, 9 Swallows, a single Firecrest, 16 Wrens, 83 Starlings, Song Thrush, 10 Blackbird, 7 Robins, 19 Stonechats, 24 Wheatears, 10 Dunnocks, 19 House Sparrows, single White Wagtail, 4 Pied Wagtails, 16 ‘alba’ wagtails, 79 Meadow Pipits, 3 Rock Pipits, 6 Chaffinches, single Greenfinch, and a single female Reed Bunting.