Bird Sightings

By Thomas Weston

Manx Shearwater Seabird Researchers by Thomas Weston

Last night was lovely. An hour and a half on the cliffs resulted in 15 Manx Shearwaters being caught and ringed under license. This included 13 new and 2 retraps. One of the retrap birds were from 2013 and the other from 2023. Amazing how one is at least 13yrs old and the other 3yrs old but we know they do not return to the colony until they are 4yrs old so these both easilly be in their 20's by now! We were joined by two researchers from Imperial College, London and they are recording and analysing the calls of the Manx Shearwaters to determine differences in the calls of each colony as well as individual calls. Basically looking for regional dialects around Lundy and also individual slang! They have placed recorders across the island so we are looking forward to the results and what they find.

Goldfinch at the Church. Thomas Weston

 I seem to get more bad weather days to write the blog then anything else and this was the case again with the morning being rather windy and wild on the island starting with low cloud base but gradually rising throughout the day as the main front came through in the morning. A windy walk to Benjamin's Chair this morning before my stint in the Tavern did not yeild much apart from an unringed male Wheatear singing to me and a few Meadow Pipits, there was not much to be seen. The two local Ravens were scouting me out as I checked the area for any passing seabirds but this resulted in more drizzle and some impressive gusts plus a Gannet. A Goldfinch at the Church was noteworthy.

The Tavern called. The evening/night consisted in strong westerly gusts and most of the staff acccomodation shaking! Not ideal and a wild night indeed.  

by Greg Lee

It was almost a complete 180-degree turn for today’s census with Storm Dave bringing the exact opposite of the weather conditions I had enjoyed on yesterday’s census. Instead, an F5 WSW wind was blowing across the island, and we were completely enveloped in a thick fog complete with spells of (mercifully) light rain. Usually censuses at the moment produce a total of between 35-40 species in good weather, but with viewing so difficult, I could only muster 27 species this morning, which was ten less than yesterday. However, I was able to produce a year-tick for the island when I picked up a Stock Dove in flight over Millcombe. The bird seemed quite unsettled and seemed to fly around the valley several times before disappearing somewhere, clearly it didn’t enjoy the company of its bigger cousins, the Woodpigeons, which were also hunkering down in the trees. A very small total of Warblers was sheltering in Millcombe, with Willow Warblers leading the majority and the Treecreeper was again scrambling up a tree trunk on the slopes of the valley. The Landing Bay was actually easier to view then yesterday with a single Guillemot, a couple of Razorbills and a modest number of Shags in the sheltered waters. Off Benjamin’s Chair, the Razorbills were still gathering as we fast approach the time of year where the bustling seabird colonies are most active. It was most surprising in the murk to hear a Skylark still bursting in song near the airfield, clearly it doesn’t want to put spring on hold. With the weather being so unpleasant, today presented a good opportunity to catch up with the very important job of data-entry and so for much of late morning and early afternoon I was collating the recent bird sightings onto the online data log before preparing for a kitchen porter shift in the evening.

Stock Dove by G.Lee
Elsewhere, Rosie, who was been helping out with ringing this week reported a Curlew flying off the West Coast and a Hooded Crow hybrid was found in Tillage Field by Eleanor and Thomas. After the past couple of days of triple-figure counts, a lone Sand Martin battling the winds at Pondsbury was a bit of a sorry sight.

Hooded x Carrion Crow by T. Weston

By Greg Lee
It was a glorious sunny morning for my census today with just a light NW wind on the top of the island. After a very clear night, it perhaps wasn’t surprising that the bushes weren’t filled with newly arrived birds, but it seemed like the perfect conditions to keep an eye on what was moving overhead. Sure enough, Sand Martins, House Martins and Swallows were arriving in off the sea all through the morning along with flocks of Linnets. Birders on the mainland Devon coast have been reporting large movements of the latter over the past couple of days. With the sun gleaming off the sea from the east, looking down at the Landing Bay was a bit more of challenge but after scouring the surface, the Great Northern Diver was sitting happily, having avoided the attentions of a Grey Seal the previous morning. Millcombe is currently full of Blackthorn blossom, and this is a magnet for many of the warblers pushing through with small numbers of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs interspersed with the occasional Blackcap this morning. The regular Treecreeper also made itself known by calling from the Pines area. When the local Sparrowhawk buzzed through, even the vocal Song Thrush dived down into the scrub, but the birds were quickly back to normal with a couple of minutes. If you are visiting the island, the Millcombe Song Thrush is a well-known individual with a particular penchant for mimicry. Just today it imitated several waders including Curlew, Greenshank, Green and Common Sandpipers. On top of that it also seemed to be enjoying doing Crossbill and perhaps most strangely, the harsh alarm-call of a Grey Squirrel. Has this bird spent some time in woodland next to an estuary? Heading to Benjamin’s Chair, Sand Martins were whizzing past me and I was surprised to see two cliff-feeding Willow Warblers in this area. Less surprising was an impressive raft of Razorbills on the sea, I could hear the birds rather deep calls drifting up the cliffs as they sat tightly-packed on the water. Over on the airfield, the Skylarks were in full song, and the Meadow Pipits were also squeaking around in various parties. The male Kestrel was also hovering in the still winds, usually I encounter this bird sat on the Quarry cottages or nearby rocks.

 Willow Warbler Millcombe © Greg Lee

After census, I decided to briefly check on Millcombe again as the sun had risen considerably and there may have been a mid-morning arrival, which is a feature of island bird migration. Although there wasn’t a great deal more in terms of birds, at least two Peacock Butterflies were feeding up on the blossom whilst overhead two Peregrines were wheeling high over the valley amongst some Herring Gulls. I also took two students from the Imperial College London to the Manx Shearwater colonies on the West Coast. Over the next two weeks, they are hoping to collect the calls of up to 50 different individuals, as a part of a wider study into variation in bioacoustics between different Manx Shearwater populations. Whilst enjoying the sun on the slopes of the West Coast, more Sand Martins and Swallows were passing through, Puffins and Razorbills were sat on the sea and there was plenty of Wheatear action amongst the rocks. The slew of Common Dolphin records also continued with another 20+ feeding distantly offshore.