By Thomas Weston
Today was our annual Jenny's Cove count. The team assembled at the Tavern where Eleanor, Tara, Greg, Emma and I set off to count the cove. Emma and Greg had just got back from counting moths in the trap and their non-moth highlights included another Red-veined Darter (10th record ever for the island – though the 7th this year already) as well as a small passage of departing Swifts. There have been a good number seen passing on the North Devon coast this morning too which is amazing to see.
We set off at a leisurely time of 08:25am and headed off north up the track. There were small flocks of Linnets and Meadow Pipits in the grass, and a friendly family of Wheatear were in Brick Field. As we passed Pondsbury, a distant check of the waterbody yielded a very quiet scene, though a Common Snipe was accidently flushed from near the track. A local failed breeder or returnee from the North?
Jennys Cove Count by Thomas Weston
Puffin at Jenny's Cove during the Jenny's Cove Count by Thomas Weston
At Jenny’s Cove we split into two teams. Tara and Greg went to the northern sections of the cove and surveyed four viewpoints whereas Eleanor, Emma and I surveyed the southern sections. With a brisk east wind and lovely sunny weather, we remained cool in the heat. Counts were extremely successful, and we have some good results which we hope to publish in the ‘General News’ section of the website. I spent the afternoon combining the totals and there are some certainly some good results from today!
Red rumped Swallow over the Village and Bartons by Thomas Weston
On our way back, we had just dropped Greg and Emma off at the Lodge. A few hundred metres south of the Lodge, around the Barn area, we spotted a white rumped hirundine flying towards us. It looked a little like our seemingly over-summering House Martin loitering over the Village, though as it flew by it was obviously a Swallow in structure but without binoculars, I couldn’t see many more features. The penny dropped, and on its return over our heads heading back south towards the Church it was a Red-rumped Swallow. I ran to the Lodge to get the volunteers out and posted on the island’s bird news Whatsapp chat for birders to join.
The bird loitered across the southern end of the island, heading between the Lambing Shed and the Castles Accommodation whilst the wind blew from the SE. The bird remained on island for about 1hr before a band of rain (due to some atmospheric breakdown on the mainland) came across, forcing the wind to go E and then briefly SW as the band passed. This rain gave the bird enough of a inspiration to leave and head out from the Castles not to be seen again! A stunning find and so lovely to get everyone onto the bird.
I completed some Bird Obs admin and headed back for dinner baking in the heat. A walk around Millcombe as it cooled yielded some good local breeding totals of residents and our breeding migrants before heading up to our Daily Bird Log. Whilst log was being completed a flock of 30 Swifts headed around the Church screaming as they passed. Amazing and a sure sign of summer!
By Thomas Weston
My day started at 4am this morning, a slight glow in the sky and the sounds of the Millcombe Song Thrush, plus a rather active Swallow filled the air as I disturbed from my sleep. The original (non-bird) alarm was set a little later and I was up, washing up by 5am so everything was ready for the morning. I then headed down to Millcombe in the first really nice sunshine we have had for a while. It was also quite warm to start and by 6am I had the nets open.
An early start made some look more tired than others: a Painted Lady by Thomas
Millcombe woke up. The session was quite quiet to begin, though a Spotted Flycatcher flying around the Gas Store was a highlight. There were 10 birds caught, ringed and/or processed today: 3 new Linnets, including a stunning adult male; our breeding pair of Blackcap with the female being new and the male caught earlier in the Spring; a new juvenile Chaffinch fully fledged and ready to go; a retrap breeding Goldfinch and a retrap breeding Dunnock. The highlight for me are always the lesser know and lesser appreciated birds so the new juvenile and retrap adult Wren were pretty good highlights. Even more so, we found it’s nest! A rather artistic looking one and one we will record for the BTO Nest Recording Scheme in due course.
I packed up around 10am, as it got a little too warm to be sat in the blaring sun. I came back to the office, completed some of the Bird Day admin, inputted the ringing data, and before I knew it, it was lunch time already.
The Conservation Team met up in Barton’s Field with the aim to catch the presumed moulting Mallards, however little to our knowledge but the ducks had not started moulting and flew off as soon as we got there. The ducklings were no where to be seen and the temperature rose more so we all headed off a little hot but alright. The butterflies and moths out today were nice to see, a walk around Millcombe in the afternoon yeiled two broods of fledged Willow Warblers, with another brood reported to have fledged at the Terraces too! On dropping off the ringing book, I took it a little steadier ahead of my Tavern shift covering for a poorly member of staff.
Eleanor and I worked together, had dinner together and decided a summer solstice walk was needed. We walked through Millcombe and found 3 Pipistrelle Bats and heard the first jumping Guillemot chick, a sign of things to come and a weirdly seasonal change as we head into midsummer/ ornithological post-breeding/autumn!
By Lucile Doyen
Today started on the middle of a cliff, under the sole light of two red head lamps and a light drizzle. It was around midnight. Gaya was recording Manx shearwater responses to different conspecific vocalizations, with an interval of 30min between each playback to reduce disturbance. The two birds she targeted produced no response, and we wondered if we had spent two hours recording empty nests under a sky that threatened to show us what British rain is like. This is part of science ! The silence of the Manxs was soon broken by a good amount of them enjoying the bad weather conditions to come back on the Island, and we probably saw 30 of them flying around in the last 20 minutes on site. It reminded me of the first night I joined the team of ringers to catch Manx on this cliff, one of the most beautiful of my life. The sky was full of birds and stars that night. Walking on the cliffs was intimidating at first, but the presence of all group-members and learning more about Manx aging and sexing from Thomas made it a most wonderful memory.
One of this year's youngsters by Lucile
An adult male Chaffinch caught and processed in the Village by Lucile
Lundy map - click to enlarge