Bird Sightings

By Emma Abel

This morning Greg headed out to monitor the Guillemot plot and arrived to a slight surprise. The ledges that have been so chock full of birds were almost entirely empty. Now, this is the time of change in the seabird world as the chicks have been fattened up with Sand Eels over the last couple of weeks and are ready to make the treacherous jump down into the sea and begin their final development into an adult out on the open ocean, accompanied by their father. Therefore, the sight of just one single chick left on the plot should have been no surprise, but it was still a shock to have such a visual reminder that the season is coming to an end.  Now it is time for autumn migration to begin!

A very empty Guillemot ledge by Greg Lee

Over on the east coast, Jessie was counting the Fulmars at Gannets' Rock where they saw the first couple of downy chicks appearing on the ledges. They were also accompanied by a young Peregrine getting a good look at both Jessie and the Fulmars. Today was a good day for spotting Peregrines across the island as many adults were out with their fledged young, their distinctive calls even being heard from the office in the village! Eleanor spotted a group of four over at the Quarry later in the evening.

 Juvenile Peregrine at Gannets Rock by Jessie Dermody

Another raptor sighting was from Thomas, who spotted a possible Hobby chasing the Swallows and Swifts over Barton Field. Unfortunately, there was quite a glare off the sea to get a definite ID; thinking initially that it was a Peregrine, he then noted that it was quite small and was being mobbed by the hirundines – a common sight when Hobbies are around. However, it may have been a young Peregrine trying its luck with the Swallows. 

As the auks are rapidly disappearing from the cliffs, we decided to head to Jenny’s Cove this evening to see if we could glimpse any jumplings in action. It was a beautiful clear evening with the cove bathed in the golden light of the setting sun. Puffins were looking extra beautiful scattered down the grassy slopes and suddenly more visible on the large rocky face where they are often hidden among the Guillemots. A usually cacophonous section of coast, the cliffs were strangely quiet tonight. Instead of the constant gargling noises of the adults, the loudest calls came from chicks, a distinctive high pitched squeak that in some cases echoed all the way up from fledged chicks in the water down below. We managed to spot one Razorbill chick with its father, that had already made most of its way down to the rocks near the base of the cliff, when they both jumped into the water and swam off together into the sunset. A couple of Great Black-backed Gulls were also on the prowl, the remaining chicks extra vulnerable without the safety of a full colony. 

A sunset auk watch at Jenny's Cove by Greg Lee

By Jessie Dermody

My morning began with a short walk over to the Castle to join a seawatch organised by some volunteers from the mainland! The Sea Watch organisation has a large network of volunteers who regularly survey for cetaceans from land, and these two volunteers in particular visit Lundy every year to run a series of watches. Unfortunately, there were no cetaceans around this morning for us to record. We did, however, spot four Gannets, a Peregrine and a Kestrel.

Adult and juvinile gannets on the wing. Photo by Jessie Dermody

After some lunch and admin in the tavern, Chloë and I headed to the landing bay for a BRUV deployment. We dropped the BRUV on the north side of Rat Island, right on the edge of a rocky reef with lots of kelp. During this hour-long deployment, we recorded five fish species, three cnidarian species and a lobster! I was able to identify some seaweed species in the footage: Mermaid's Tresses, Forest Kelp and Wireweed.

A screengrab of the lobster approaching our bait!

The data we collect from the recreational fishing area in the landing bay will eventually be compared to data collected in the landing bay. From this we should be able to determine whether the No Take Zone is higher in species richness than the fished zones around the island. Today we recorded two Corkwing Wrasse, one of which was an adult male. There is a good chance that these two corkwings could have a nest in the rocks near our deployment site. We also had 2 Ballan Wrasse, 6 juvenile Pollack, 2 Sea Bass and 13 Two-Spotted Gobies.

A male Corkwing Wrasse approaching the kelp forest.

Once we had retrieved the BRUV, I enjoyed a little free diving, during which I spotted a large Candy-Striped Flatworm, the two Sea Bass we caught on camera earlier, and many more jellyfish – including a beautiful Blue Jelly which I managed to swim into. Luckily their stings are only as painful as nettles. I ventured back down to the Landing Bay much later that evening, with some other brave swimmers on the island. We hoped to swim with the bioluminescent phytoplankton in the water after sundown. It was a perfect night for it, as the moon was waning and rising very late. The bioluminescence was visible from the surface of the water in the shallows, but swimming off the jetty was truly magical. We all sparkled beneath the water, it felt like swimming through the night sky! The columns of the jetty also glowed, as barnacles feasted on the shining plankton. After a lot of excited squealing and splashing, we all headed up the hill to bed, dodging the Manx Shearwaters as they came in to land near the road. 

The best photo I could get of the bioluminescent algae in the waves. Doesn't really do it justice, but proof that it was there!

By Eleanor Harris 

Today I was on a Tavern shift two, so I did not have to start till 12 noon. As a result, I decided to go for a swim on such a beautiful morning. Walking through Millcombe it was alive with the calls of juveniles calling their little hearts out, including Robins, Wrens, and Swallows to name a few. A lovely walk to start the morning much needed on what could be a busy day. 

A morning swim was had in the clear, cool water which was slightly interrupted by a ‘jellyfish soup’. This included some rather large and impressive Compass Jellyfish so not ideal when wanting to swim in peace. Heading back to the village Swallows skirted the Landing Bay catching insects on the wing which was a lovely sight to see as they seem to be thriving on the island this year. 

Back in the village I had a slow morning before work, enjoying the sunshine and reading a book. 

Today promised to be a busy day with two school groups arriving for a day trip. Simon and Chloë showed them around the island balancing travel day tasks with tour guiding, so a busy day for both. 

Noctilucent clouds EH

After my Tavern shift had finished we decided to head out for a Manx Shearwater evening. It was a rather light night, so we ended up watching noctilucent clouds for a while whilst waiting for birds to arrive. It was a good mix of birds with both new and retraps. 

By Thomas Weston

A short blog post today highlighting a fee of the bits and bobs completed on my bird day.

The day started at 6am and I was getting ready for some ringing as the weather was supposed to be calm and cloudy. Alas, we did not have the cloud, but we did have the calm, so I headed down to Millcombe to open a few nets. Before anyone else arrived, I saw the Great-spotted Woodpecker, a ‘rare bird’ for the island due to its overall scarcity. However this individual has been hanging around for over a week now which is nice. It was heard calling in the trees above the Gas Store – where our Spotted Flycatcher family were still residing – before flying out and up the valley to the trees above the Casbah. I lost view of the woodpecker thereafter, but I did have nice views of Stonechats, Linnets, Goldfinches, and the singing Song Thrush. I opened the nets, but within two hours a new juvenile Blackbird and one of our breeding female Chiffchaffs were the only birds caught. However, a single House Martin and two Swifts were the only noticeable migrants. Meanwhile, Greg and Emma opened the moth trap, and a few new species for the year were recorded which was nice. Names to be sent soon!

Lucile, Eleanor, and I decided to open the traps for a while and we ended up catching just shy of 20 Starlings and a new House Sparrow juvenile. This was only one of two unringed sparrows on the island and it was great to catch this wild born bird, aptly known as Austin.

Up-island, Chloe’s disturbance survey resulted in a pair of Grey Herons flying around Gannets and seen/videoed. Emma and Greg later went up there to do some seabird monitoring, but at the time of writing the outcome is unknown.

The rest of my day was full of data inputting, checking our Swallow broods before running log, and having a relaxing evening enjoying a bit of the summer sunshine.