Bird Sightings

By Greg Lee

A bit of breeze from the west today. Fortunately, it wasn't enough to dampen the opportunity to set up the nets in Millcombe with the visiting Axe Estuary Ringing Group. Despite the less than optimal weather for an arrival, there was a fair amount of Blackcaps, Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs in the bushes. However, census duty called and it was a bit of slim pickings on the island, despite my ever-optimistic hope that the westerlies may ground some more Nearctic waders, especially with the good numbers occurring in Ireland and the south-west of Britain. A Grasshopper Warbler flicking up out of the Bracken at Pointless Wall was a bit of a surprise, as we are approaching the end of the main season of passage for this species. Whether this is the same individual seen at Pondsbury by myself earlier in the week I'm not sure, but given the weather it probably could be! Over the Airfield, a pair of Peregrines were wheeling around in close proximity to some Ravens. 

Heading back into the Village, a Grey Wagtail flew over, the lovely yellow to the undertail and belly catching my eye. As I was due to drop some fresh bird-bags down for the Ringing Team, I headed back to Millcombe, where the ringers reported a slower hour or so since I had left for census. Just as we prepared for the final round, I extracted a female Goldcrest before furling the lower Millcombe nets. However, two members of the ringing team came down from the Slope and Secret Garden nets with a bird in a bag. As they took it out, I immediately saw the big, black eye and "cute" face of a Common Rosefinch, which was a bit of a surprise. Due to the recent weather keeping birds around on the island for some time, it is expected that this is the bird I encountered on the 7th, seen sporadically in Millcombe and at the Terrace since then. Certainly, the purple-staining on the beak was evidence that it had been enjoying the Blackberries, so in theory, it had been hiding itself away in the scrub on the island and keeping a low-profile. This is not the first time I've been on a ringing session where a Rosefinch has been the last species to get in a net. I had a similar experience at Sandwich Bay in 2022, although Rosefinches, despite being a regularly-occurring scarcity on the East coast, are quite rare in the South-east and that individual was the first for Sandwich Bay in over 50 years! 

Rosefinch, caught and ringed under licence by G.Lee

As the weather started to deteriorate as the day grew on, my next job was the monthly inspection of the Rat Boxes around Old Light, the Village and down towards South Light and the Landing Bay. Fortunately, no news is good news and I had nothing to report from the boxes. It also gives a good opportunity to add a bit of extra birding although it was rather quiet, save for a mystery small passerine that dived into the scrub in the paddock by Stoneycroft. It was initially sat on the wall, but was off like a shot before I could raise my binoculars. I'm assuming for my sanity that it was just a shy Robin, but whatever it was, it probably won't be leaving the island with the weather as it is overnight. 

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By Kirsty Cox.

Another busy day on Lundy!

I started in the office catching up with seal based admin – IDing yesterday’s pup checks and making contact and sharing information with two other organisations who work with seals, one in Devon/Cornwall and the other much further afield on the Isle of Lewis!

Then after the official Lundy Island toast break, I helped Simon clean the Vestry as Tara and quite a few other staff are off island at the moment so it was all hands on the housekeeping deck to get the properties clean and ready for the next guests arriving on island today.

Before long there was the radio shout from the Oldenburg to say they were half an hour away so it was time to head down to the Landing Bay to take up my role as Pup Police. We have three pups in the Landing Bay at the moment. All of them are now fully moulted and weaned so they are experiencing life on their own and seem to be enjoying it so far! Moulted Seal Pup by Kirsty Cox

After Pup Police, it was back up to the office to finish a bit of admin before lunch and then I headed out on the daily pup check. The check was split into two halves today with my second stint of Pup Police in the middle so I could speak to people heading back to the Oldenburg in the afternoon. 

Sadly today's pup check was a mixed experience. There was the joy of seeing three chunky weaned pups in the Landing Bay and another seven healthy looking pups on other beaches. But there were also two dead pups – one in the water and another on the beach beside its mother, which is never an easy thing to see. 

Back in the office again, it was time to look at the photos from pup check to ID the pups and add the data to the ever growing pup check spreadsheet!

After a quick dinner in the Tavern, I attended the online Seal Alliance Masterclass meeting. It was a fascinating evening with talks about Photo ID Software, Social Solitary Seals, the Give Seals Space Campaign, the Flying Rings Campaign, and Seal Disturbance. Over 100 people were in attendance from all across the UK and so much knowledge was shared. 

And when the meeting ended, it was time to switch the lights off in the office and the day was done!

Aside from the seals there were a lot of good sightings today. Thomas was heading off island and sent through his totals for the Oldenburg crossing! Not all were in the recording area but in total he saw 3 Manx Shearwater, 11 Common or Arctic Terns, a female Common Scoter, 100+ auks both Guillemot and Razorbill, 6 Gannets, Fulmar, 23+ Kittiwake, Herring Gull and a Great Black Backed Gull. 

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By Thomas Weston

A stiff north wind today led to a nice census, though the breeziness on the top of the island was not ideal.

Census counts: 3 Mallards, single Woodpigeon, single Water Rail, 2 Oystercatchers, single Great Black-Backed Gull, 3 Herring Gulls, single Lesser Black Backed Gull, single Gannet, 2 migrant Cormorants south, 25 Shags, 2 Peregrines, 52 Carrion Crows, 7 Ravens, 2 Skylarks, 6 Swallows, single Willow Warbler, 8 Chiffchaffs, 22 Blackcaps, 2 Goldcrest, 12 Wrens, 97 Starlings, 2 Blackbirds, 6 Robins, single Stonechat, single Wheatear, 3 House Sparrows, 7 Dunnocks, single Yellow Wagtail, single Pied Wagtail, single White Wagtail, 4 unidentified alba wagtails, 45 Meadow Pipits, single Rock Pipit, single Chaffinch, 14 Linnets, and 7 Goldfinches.

The rest of the day was spent doing admin.

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By Thomas Weston

The rain had come through last night, not much but enough to clear the sky of fog and mist.

Swapping census with Greg so he could go ringing with the visiting ringers, it was nice be able to see more than 20m ahead. The clearer skies led to the start of the autumn's Meadow Pipit migration with 86 birds seen throughout the census route, as well as the first 81 Linnets. There was a small increase in Goldfinches, and it was presumed some of these were using the skies to migrate through – a lack of records for this species recently has been a tad odd. However, the count of 7 Blackbirds was good for the residents, and the reappearance of a ringed Song Thrush was interesting. Maybe it is not our funky singing male who sings all spring and summer, but the second bird caught post-breeding? The latter, amazingly, was caught again last week still moulting so it could be sticking around still, and perhaps in slightly poor condition having now been moulting for over a month, hidden for sure. Moreover, there were definitely some Robin migrants on the island as the census count of 18 was particularly high for the route. If it remains mild then this count is likely to increase further. True migrant species were low, and so were the numbers in the nets too, though 2 Spotted Flycatchers, 2 Goldcrests, 2 Willow Warblers, 3 Blackcaps, 2 Chiffchaffs and a single Whitethroat were the best in the bushes. The Village Swallows were loitering around the top of Millcombe, though with some migrants coming through already it is not unlikely some of these could be joined by more soon. Looking out from Battlements Corner, 2 Water Rail in Smelly Gully were the best, though 2 flyby Rock Pipits were excellent to see. With most bird species on the island being migratory to some extent, our 'more' resident species resulted in 3 Chaffinches, 2 Woodpigeons, 14 Wrens, 46 Carrion Crows, 6 Ravens, 17 House Sparrows, 106 Starlings, and 10 Mallards. It seemed that seabird numbers were low on the east, with only 14 Shags of note, though with the cold front having come from the west, seabird numbers were higher with a single Gannet, 8 Kittiwakes, and 5 auk spp, noted. On the Plauteau, a single Ringed Plover migrating over south was not too unexpected, as Greg had 3 earlier in the day, though the 2 Dunlin and 2 Grey Herons with at least one of the former coming in off the sea at Old Light were very unexepected. The Airfield was quiet, though 7 Skylarks, and a single (potentially one of our last?) Wheatear was nice to record. Alongside the expected birds in the Village, Kirsty handed me a box. This was the first of 5 Manx Shearwaters ringed/processed just from the Village including a bird we had ringed from outside the Tavern two days ago, released on the cliffs, and then back again outside the Tavern. No clue what this bird was doing.

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