Bird Sightings

The last three days of May brought a few late passage birds including Golden Plover on 31st, and continued light passage of Hirundines and Swift. Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Willow Warblers continue to be seen in small numbers, and a few have remained to breed. A Spotted Flycatcher was seen on 30th and 31st, in Millcombe. Fledglings of Robin, Blackbird, Starling, Sparrow and Stonechat have been seen harassing their parents for food. Interestingly, our ringed Blue-Headed Wagtail pair have been seen again after a short hiatus, collecting nesting material around the village. 

Thankfully, Peregrine Falcon sightings have increased again (5 birds recorded on 29th) and birds appear to be busy, mostly active along the East Coast, with a sub-adult male frequenting the West, including Jenny’s Cove.

Lundy’s first Guillemot chick of 2025 was spotted at Jenny’s Cove on 30th, and a few of the Kittiwake nests which suffered storm damage have been rapidly and diligently rebuilt! Several of the loafing Kittiwakes on the West are first year birds, with striking patterning. Thousands of Manx Shearwater were recorded flying over the North End at night (29th) using thermal imaging cameras, and Storm Petrels have been detected by the same means, near the Battery and North.

Finally the winds have swung round and we’ve been met with Westerlies once again, bringing some considerably more unsettled weather than the past few months! Hirundine and Swift passage has continued but at a slower rate, now that we are late in May, and a couple of Greenland Wheatears have been seen: 22nd and 25th. 

We had another flurry of Golden Oriole activity between 22nd and 24th, with males seen each day (Millcombe) and a male and female together on 23rd. Millcombe also produced a singing Garden Warbler on 25th, and small numbers of Spotted Flycatchers almost every day. Siskin were only recorded on 20th at the Terrace. The Terrace continued its Subalpine Warbler streak with another bird, female this time, on 20th.Subalpine female on Terrace, 20th May, R Bower Redpoll have been seen on 4 days, either on the East coast or around the Tavern/church, and a Turtle Dove, which didn’t appear to stick around, was seen on 22nd at the top of St John’s Valley.

The last confirmed sighting of our Blue-Headed Wagtails was on 20th, so we wonder if the individuals that have been around since late April have finally departed.

The 20th brought several sightings of a Marsh Harrier, and the female-type bird was seen again on 21st. Following this, the next notable raptor sighting was a Hobby on 27th, a day which brought a Force 9 gale to Lundy. A 1h15min seawatch at the end of this day produced 1039 Manx Shearwater, including a raft of c500. It is lovely to see good numbers of our 25,000 birds rafting at sea. In further Manx Shearwater news, we now have 14 eggs in our 30 monitored Manx nest boxes, a great start to their breeding season. 

The seabird season appears to be off to a great start, and all Lundy’s cliff-nesting seabirds are being counted week of 26th May by a dedicated RSPB team. RSPB team in actionDuring surveys (26th May especially), several Shag chicks have been spotted in the North of the island, some only hours old. On 26th one of the team flushed a Storm Petrel from the entrance of its burrow at the North End.

However, unfortunately the recent stormy weather has had its impacts. Small numbers of the monitored Kittiwake nests have been washed off by the high waves. Thankfully there is still time for a second brood: fingers crossed.

Good land Puffin counts came from the Battery on 21st, 35 birds present, and 50 were seen on the St Phillips Stone buttress on 25th. We have now noticed a few birds coming into burrows with sand eels at Jenny’s Cove, which suggests chicks have begun to hatch!

Lundy has seen minimal Teal activity at Pondsbury, 2 males spotted on 21st, followed by a female on both 23rd and 25th. Waders continue to visit the island in passing: 2 Whimbrel North End on 22nd, a Dunlin on Middle Park Pond 20th and 28th.

Two Raven family groups continue to be seen, likely broods from Long Roost and Benjamin’s Chair.Raven family, Aztec Bay, K Power A Peregrine pair has also been recorded around Gannet’s Combe.

Despite the winds, we have sighted Painted Ladies, Red Admirals, Green Veined, Large and Small Whites, Common Blue and Peacock butterflies. 95 Small Heaths were seen on 21st, a bumper count for the species. Several Brown Silver-Lines have been seen throughout, and a nice Cream-Spot Tiger in a trap moth trap this week. 

Visitors viewed 7 Common Dolphin from the Oldenburg crossing on 20th, and the same day 3 Harbour Porpoises were seen during a seawatch at South Light.

The continued spell of very fine weather has led to another shining week on Lundy!

Millcombe’s wooded slopes have produced a variety of notable species including Hawfinch (15th-17th), Grey Wagtail (13th) and Reed Warbler (15th & 18th), as well as a flyover Hobby on the 13th. Two year high counts for Spotted Flycatcher were achieved on the 13th and 18th, producing 18 and 25 birds respectively, with the majority of sightings coming from the valley. The 18th in particular proved to be an exciting day in Millcombe with sightings of a female Golden Oriole and Crossbill, as well as Cuckoo and Redpoll all coming in around midday.

Female Crossbill feeding in Millcombe Pines, 18 May. Carol BaillieCrossbill silhouette, Carol Baillie

Further afield notable species included the second Eastern Subalpine Warbler of the year spotted on the Terrace on the 17th, and a Grey Heron seen first at Pondsbury on the 15th. Continued sightings of Blue-headed Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Tree Pipit, White Wagtail and Siskin were logged throughout the week. Lundy has seen a further trickle of waders: Whimbrel (maximum count of 3 on 14th and 18th), Ringed Plover and Dunlin (both achieving highs of 3 on 17th). Sightings of a Harbour Porpoise and a distant Great Skua were had off the North End on the 14th. Elsewhere on the island, frantic Kittiwakes continue to snatch huge bill-fulls of nesting material, including directly outside Puffin burrows at Jenny’s Cove. The first Kittiwake egg of the year was spotted on the 19th, heralding the beginning of the breeding season for this species.

The week of the 5th to 12th May brought mostly settled weather, which led to some consistent hirundine passage and a trickle of Swift sightings, resulting in observations of 1868 Swallow on 7th which was trumped only two days later by movement of a staggering 3076 on 9th, counted between 10.30 and 18.00 (but the great majority from 13:00 to 16:00) mainly along the west and leaving from North Light, with 1425 House Martin and 117 Swift also counted moving north off the island the same day.

A few waders continue to drop in on the island, Whimbrel being a consistent star, seen each day until 10th, with a high count of four on 6th. A couple of Lapwing passed through, one of which showed well in Brick Field on 7th. Turnstone and Common Sandpiper were spotted at North Light on 6th. Dunlin have trickled through most days, with a high count of nine observed on the 9th across the south of the island. A Ringed Plover and Greenshank were heard on 10th around Pondsbury too. As of 10th May we still had four Teal on Pondsbury, three of which males. Lundy has had more Cuckoo action, with two birds seen or heard on the 8th, 10th and 12th mainly around Millcombe and the east coast, including a likely female looking for Meadow Pipit nests. A Collared Dove has been seen every day except 12th, and two were seen during Bird Obs census on 11th.

Lapwing, Brick Field on 7 May. Tim Jones

In seabird news, large feeding flocks of 200-500 Kittiwake were observed off the west on 5th and 6th, and following this, they were first seen getting busy collecting nesting material on 7th at Aztec Bay, which held 196 birds on ledges.

Auk counts have also been good, with an excellent count of 5116 Guillemot on cliffs at Jenny’s Cove on 10th, joined by 573 Razorbill neighbours. A year high Puffin count was achieved on 8th with 496 counted at Jenny’s Cove over both land and sea, and complemented by another 43 from the North End. Manx Shearwater have been seen in the distance most days, and on 10th over 480 were seen travelling north close off the east of the island. Despite the bright moon and clear night skies, birds can be heard calling from the village. A high count of 108 Shag was achieved on 12th, with most birds seen in the far north. A large number of nest sites have also been located.

On morning of 12th, a group of unhappy gulls and crows along the east drew attention to a female-type Marsh Harrier moving quickly north, a first for the year! 6th and 7th brought sightings of a pale female Merlin, mostly seen in the northernmost quarter. Hooded Crow have been spotted across six days, including a max of two on 7th and 12th near the water tanks and Brick Field. One of the birds on 7th seemed more of a hybrid phenotype. There has been considerable Raven activity of late with two fledged broods seen, one just south of Long Roost and one Benjamins Chair, totalling five young. Ravens have been very busy over the seabird colonies with surveys regularly including sightings of Guillemot egg thieving.

Our trusty Millcombe Song Thrush continues to sing every day, with great renditions of Greenshank within its varied repertoire, which regularly confuses the Merlin bird app. Numbers of Passerine migrants are dwindling now, with 9th-10th being the first two consecutive days with less than three Blackcap since the end of March. However, Garden Warbler sightings continue. Two were seen on both 7th and 12th, with singles several other days. 

Several of Lundy’s breeding passerine residents have been observed collecting nesting material or food, including Starling, Blackbird, Linnet, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Stonechat, and good coverage on 9th meant 38 Wren were seen or heard, many displaying breeding behaviours.  On 5th May a brood of five Stonechat chicks were located and ringed at Pondsbury Heath. 

Stonechat nest (monitored under license), Brennig Hughes

We have had great views of Spotted Flycatcher every day, including 12 on 12th, mostly on the East and especially Barton’s/Upper Millcombe fenceline, their favourite Lundy perch. These were joined by Pied on 6th, 7th, and a stunning Pied male on 10th. 6th brought us a Whinchat, and the days either side provided possibly the last Common Redstart sightings of the spring, with a Black Redstart too on 5th.  Among the good Wheatear counts (47 on 5th and 7th), we have had a smattering of smart Greenland candidates. 

After careful identification, it seems as though Lundy has seen both a male and female Yellow Wagtail and Blue-headed Wagtail throughout the week, the male Blue-headed bearing a ring and being the potential Channel Wagtail candidate first spotted on 1st. Mainly seen around Barton’s Field and the village, this bird seems to be sticking around, spotted almost every day. Tree Pipit sightings have continued every day except 12th, and the presumed long-stayer was seen bathing on 8th in Millcombe. As of 6th, we had 146 Linnet still remaining. 5th and 6th brought more Siskin sightings, with three and six respectively.

In Lepidoptera news, during the calm, bright weather of 11th, we experienced a sudden influx of at least 115 Painted Lady and 126 Red Admiral on 11th, and have been observing other species including Small Copper and Small Heath (17 on 12th), Common Blue and Brown Silver-Line moth. 11th also brought a record sighting of a Four Spotted Chaser, the 4th Lundy record since the mass invasion of 1963! The sighting was then replicated on 12th.

Four-spotted Chaser, Pondsbury 11 May. Tim Davis