By Thomas Weston
A Bird Day with nice fine weather again, but today a cool breeze in the air which was nice and refreshing, even a little cold at points.
A 5am start and I walked down to Millcombe where I opened a couple of nets and sat waiting. The birds were quite quiet to begin but gained in activity soon after 6am when I began to catch a few individuals. There were Goldfinches and Linnets in the bushes and the sounds of a couple of Willow Warblers. A couple of Peregrines were searching for any highflying migrants, so everything stayed low and in the bushes for the next hour. Lucile joined just before 7am, and this coincided with the Willow Warbler wave. A Lundy phenomenon whereby Willow Warblers start to descend in the valley and pass from top to bottom in a wave. The flocks can vary between a couple to 10 and the next round we caught the next 3 birds, followed by a round of 10 and so on... The wave was quite late today and arrived about 07:30, the other day it was at 06:00. This is something we are intruiged by, do they spend the night on the island and then head off SE? Do they fly in and drop out the sky onto the island at dawn, find each other and head SE? The majority were new and juveniles, with yet again two retraps being adult birds. One was ringed on Friday and the other ringed last year which was very nice!
A reminder to stay cool in the heat! Thomas Weston
Eleanor joined and it was going well with the Lundy breeding adult female and her young Spotted Flycatcher caught and ringed, another two Lundy born Blackcaps, more Wrens(!), and a couple more Linnets too. We decided to pack up and undertake a little later start time to census, this was good and included multiple heard only records of the Great Spotted Woodpecker in the Valley. We believe it to be a different bird to the one last week but we are certainly not sure as it sounds the same and I have not seen it well yet. There were birds in bushes but not much out to sea. Benjamin's Chair held a feeding frenzy of Gannets, and Manx Shearwaters, a Sand Martin overhead, but overall it was quite calm out on the water. Passing through the Airfield and over to Quarry Cottages, there were flocks of Linnets, small flocks of Wheatears, and a nice mix of breeding Meadow Pipits seen. Pushing it for time getting back into the Village before 11am but a few flocks of Starlings and House Sparrows later we made it back in time.
Manx Shearwater chick! Our youngest of the box birds...
Manx box checks after saw the smallest of the chicks becoming a lot bigger now and the biggest gaining weight quick!
An afternoon of admin was to be whilst Tara, Jessie, Chloe were out and about searching for any early Seal pups. Meanwhile Eleanor was in the Tavern but got some much needed time outside and Lucile was keen to catch some Starlings and House Sparrows but alas no success today.
By Thomas Weston
The morning started at 5am.
Sunrise this morning!
Eleanor and I woke up to get ready for a ringing morning. We descended down to Millcombe as the sun was rising and opened a few of the nets. There was a warmth in the air and the sun was strong again.
The first round was really nice, we caught a couple of fledged juvenile Robins and there was the sound of a Great Spotted Woodpecker in the trees above the Gas Store. The birds kept coming and so did the Conservation Team, aptly Greg and Lucile who joined. There were a couple of new Wrens; a brood of ringed Wrens who we were lucky to ring in the nest as it was in a wall; a Linnet; a Song Thrush which was the most unusual as our 'usual' male was still singing; and a new juvenile Dunnock too. However, the main aim for the ringing was to see if there were any migrants coming through, the date in the past couple of years has been the start of the Willow Warbler passage and this was no different today with 28 birds proccessed including a couple of retraps from the Spring migration period as well as a known breeder too! The only other true migrant at the moment were 2 Sedge Warblers both of which were juveniles from elsewhere. There was one Lundy breeding adult Chiffchaff mixed in and even a family party of 3 Blackcaps with one adult in moult, the adult male not, and a juvenile too - both species not migrating just yet but will soon become a regular blog feature no doubt.
Adult Willow Warbler caught and ringed in Millcombe. Thomas Weston
Wing moult of the adult Willow Warbler above. Thomas Weston
The adult Willow Warblers who were caught were all in active wing moult and were certainly now migrating yet!
A more chilled day off was had with a walk up from Old Light to Aztec Bay and then back via Pondsbury in the afternoon resulted in the highest Puffin count of the year with 552 noted in small rafting flocks - a bit odd as these are usually the first to leave but it seems they are the last of the auks to leave this year! There were about 100 Guillemots and a small flock of Razorbills noted too. The West Coast was buzzing with moths and butterflies. It was amazing to see above 1000 Silver Y's who were present up to Pondsbury, as well a plethora of butterflies including 3 Clouded Yellows. On the way back, flocks of Linnets were frequently found and the area around Pondsbury was nice to explore as it seemed no body had been there recently. A flock of 6 Mallards on the water, a Sedge Warbler in the bushes and nice views of Blue-tailed Damselfly and 2 Emporer Dragonflies were nice.
By Thomas Weston
The day started last night, out walking the Village looking for Wheatears for ringing. The aim was to catch and ring as many Wheatears to see how many come back to the island in future years where they can be caught and colour ringed as part of the Lundy Wheatear Retrapping Adult Survival (RAS) Project. The night was successful with an hour and a half session in very very calm conditions resulting in 6 new birds out of 12 birds seen - a positive 50% catch rate.
Wheatear metal ringed in the Village. Pic by Chloe
A few hours later and the sun was in the sky and a strong wind again! The wind seems super strong during the mornings before dying off by the evening. However, this didn’t deter me from undertaking census this morning, and the sun was nice and bright encouraging some butterflies to emerge from the undergrowth – Painted Lady, Meadow Browns, and Green-veined White. Bird wise, it was quiet but rewarding. There were mixed finch flocks including Goldfinch and Linnets, as well as a nice feeding frenzy off Rat Island again with Gannets, Manx Shearwaters, and Kittiwakes all in the flocks again. The gulls were diverse this morning but were only the larger trio – Great Black-Backed, Herring and Lesser Black Backed, despite the easterly wind hoping to push some more of the smaller scarcer ones across. In Millcombe, a Willow Warbler and a Chiffchaff were both present, with a flyby Kestrel and Peregrine the most notable overhead. Moving round the fields there were a few suspect Meadow Pipits around the census route showing signs of second broods, and we hope to find another couple of nests before the season finishes. After a few late nights recently out catching Wheatear, it was amazing we did not see any ringed birds on my travels – especially as we went out last night! We shall see if some start to appear, or whether there is a larger movement around the island then we can imagine! Moving onwards, the highlight of this morning was a Grasshopper Warbler that was flushed underfoot near Old Light. The long grassy coloured warbler flew over the wall and dived into cover in the graveyard. It was not seen again, but the wind did not help in this location. The rest of the day was based in the office inputting data, writing rarity descriptions, and making sure our nest records for the BTO Nest Recording Scheme were up to date.
Lundy map - click to enlarge