Bird Sightings

Another similar day, with strong easterlies keep birds hunkered down and hirundines trapped on the island. At least 100 Swallow roosted on the island overnight. The Red-breasted Flycatcher continues and good numbers of Firecrest came to the fore when the winds calmed down, with six recorded, outnumbering the five Goldcrest, which is a rare occurance! Good island coverage was achieved today, with the west coast raked and the highlight being a mobile Lapland Bunting, the first of the year. First picked up at Aztec Bay solo it heading north to Three Quarter Wall.

1st winter Red-breasted Flycatcher, Millcombe © Angus Croudace

Day totals of other notable species included: five Wigeon, five Teal, two Water Rail calling in Millcombe, a Ringed Plover, two Snipe, three Dunlin which remain at Middle Park, one Grey Heron, one female type Merlin, nine Skylark, single Reed Warbler, three Willow Warbler, five Chiffchaff, ten Blackcap, five House Martin, eleven Sand Martin, six Spotted Flycatcher, six Whinchat, nine Stonechat, five Wheatear, one Grey Wagtail, ten Pied Wagtail, two Alba Wagtail, 86 Meadow Pipit, 11 Rock Pipit, 296 Linnet, 20 Raven and 31 Carrion Crow.

Strong easterly winds approaching gale force at times battered the island. Today's highlights included the welcome return of a first winter Red-breasted Flycatcher sensibly feeding in the shelter of Millcombe Pines, which showed on and off throughout the day. A Pied Flycatcher and at least four Spotted Flycatcher were also logged along with three Firecrest, four Goldcrest, single Garden Warbler and Common Whitethroat, plus a handful of Blackcap. The weather has brought a small arrival of ducks, with Pondsbury hosting three Wigeon and six Teal. An Osprey, the first of the autumn but unfortunately too distant to age was seen briefly over the Landing Bay at 0820am with a couple of Ravens ensuring that it did not linger. Finally, an exhausted juvenile Knot dropped onto the track outside the Tavern late morning, the first record for the year. It stayed long enough for some visitors to photograph it, and then flew off over Old House. Our ~150 benighted Swallows were feeding on the West Sidelands as once again the strong winds prevented them from leaving. 

More strong easterlies today, force 5 for much of the day gusting force 6. Hundreds of hirundines arrived at the island, but didn't venture further, circling back as they reached Rat Island. They fed in the shelter on the west sidelands, and several hundred roosted overnight. A conservative estimate of 550 Swallows was logged, but it was a very tricky movement to count.  At least 11 Sand Martin and 10 House Martin were among them. Millcombe remained relatively deprived of birds, with one Chiffchaff, one Firecrest, four Goldcrest, 6 male Blackcap, 4 Spotted Flycatcher (plus two near Quarter Wall) and two Pied Flycatcher the highlights and pretty much sum total! A Common Whitethroat was by Quarters Pond in the village.

The drake Wigeon was on Barton Pond for the day and a Teal was flushed from QW Pond. A single Grey Heron was present, flying over the village at sunset. Two Black-headed Gull flew into the Landing Bay and were loafing for several hours. Nice counts of five Peregrine Falcon and five Kestrel benefited from good island coverage. Five Whinchat also remain along with three Wheatear in the south of the island. The highlight of the day however, was undoubtedly a female Great Spotted Woodpecker which worked it's way from Old Light to Benjamin's Chair along the fence posts of SW field, first record of the year.

A period of easterly winds has set in, and after a clear and calm night we found very few downed migrants in the morning. A hirundine pulse almost two hours earlier than is typically expected here resulted in a count of 278 Swallows, and a handful of Sand Martin and House Martin mostly between 0830 and 0900. Meadow Pipits and wagtails were moving too, with seven Pied Wagtail, 21+ Alba Wagtail, three Grey Wagtail all on passage. The winds picked up later on in the day making picking up any birds that were about there even more difficult, but Joe managed to pick up a new in Wryneck whilst driving visitors up the Millcombe switchbacks! It was flushed from the track near the battlements but not seen again. This is our sixth individual on the autumn. Our visiting ringers had a very quiet session early morning, but three Firecrest out of just nine birds ringed made for an outrageous ratio - very much a quality over quantity session! Spotted Flycatcher count was four, still three Pied Flycatcher but a meagre seven Blackcap recorded today! Eight Whinchat still remain and Wheatear are still very thin on the ground, just two seen today.

A Dunlin and a Snipe were seen near SW field and three Ringed Plover in the Landing Bay, with another count of 14 Oystercatcher on the west coast by Montagu's Steps. Another day highlight was a Wigeon seen in flight at the north end by our stock control team.