by Greg Lee
Today saw a marked day in the calendar, the return of the daily Observatory census as we gear up for autumn. Admittedly, it has only been a month since we stopped the spring migration census, however it signals the starting of that busy and anticipated time in the British birders year. This time, we shall be doing census right up until November so lets hope that it can be as productive as spring for some varied and busy days!
It perhaps wasn't the most auspicious start today, with a very strong easterly breeze that swayed the trees and deafened any sounds coming from the bushes, in a couple of months, a similar direction to the breeze could potentially be quite exciting but it is a little early at the moment. Millcombe itself was quite quiet but as I reached the top of St John's Valley, I came across a real pocket of activity with a group of young Sparrows being joined by a Pied Wagtail, some Stonechats, a Dunnock and two Willow Warblers. The latter were certainly local progeny but by the end of the month, we should expect so see migrants from elsewhere passing through, perhaps even in considerable numbers. For now though, it was enjoyable watching the lemon-yellow juveniles working through the bushes and trees. Heading up to Old Light, I then spotted two Sand Martins somehow flying against the wind and heading southwest towards the village, with a Swift also spotted distantly over the Airfield indicating there was some migration afoot in the conditions.
Willow Warbler by G.Lee
The rest of census saw birds generally lying low with a few Meadow Pipits squeaking in the areas of long grass and another Collared Dove also appearing in the Village. On the other hand, it was surprisingly good for Red Admirals, with an influx clearly underway of these migratory butterflies. The rest of the morning and early afternoon saw some data input and also collating the various descriptions of Golden Orioles collected during the spring, with at least nine different individuals thought to have occurred on the island!
A Windblown Sand Martin by G.Lee
Thomas and Eleanor undertook a seawatch from the Ugly in the late afternoon and were rewarded with some good gull activity including five Black-headed Gulls, which so far this year have been quite scarce on the island.
By Thomas Weston.
Sunday starts with an S and so do most of the birds seen today!
Ringing this morning with Luca and Lucile went really well. Our mission was to catch an unringed wild brood House Sparrow. A brood we have been seeing since the third week of June and during each ringing session, one of its siblings have been caught and colour ringed, blood sampled and pit tagged leaving just the one bird out of three. This for context was the only unringed House Sparrow of ringable size on the island. Yes, the Sparrow Project has reached that moment where they have almost completed what most Pokemon players dream of. Alas today was the day, Lucile ringed a brood in a box and whilst checking the traps I returned with our target individual. Almost completely the same biometrics as the previous two, we knew we had finally found our last fledged wild brood - until the next! Starlings in comparison were caught and we processed 14 in total - 1 new and 13 retraps. The retrapping is great, watching their moult develop and the birds being a lot bigger now then they were in the nest back in May! A cute round circle and soon to have that glossy plumage for the first time.
A couple of Sand Martins heading south later and at 10am I gave a walk and talk about Manx Shearwaters, showing guests and staff our cutest and fluffiest breeding birds we have on the island currently. These birds are growing well and it was a surprise to have another new chick born. A bird we thought was a failure, succeeded. Having an expected hatch date of the 22nd June, it is certainly a 'late one' though not too late in the Shearwater world. It is so great watching them grow and to be in the company of people who love the Shearwaters too! We really feel privileged every time. On our way back, a seemingly slight passage of Swifts was ongoing with some coming a few metres in front of the face! More came through later which was nice.
Gathering a team together after some lunch we checked on our Swallow broods. With fine weather and adults happily feeding, we manged to ring two broods whilst another brood were too small and the final one on eggs. This means we have had at least 6 broods of Swallows this year, a high in recent times!
Back to the office for admin and catching up on emails before an evening of blog and log later!
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, Jessie was counting the Fulmars at Gannet’s Rock where they saw the first couple of downy chicks appearing on the ledges. They were also accompanied by a young Peregrine Falcon 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 with the distinctive calls 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
Lundy map - click to enlarge