Bird Sightings

By Simon Parker

A new week dawns and this morning started with the promise of fairer winds and some sunshine, I was up quite early to get a run in before work.  My new plan is to run in the morning to get the feel good flow all day, I heard from a Bear Grylls show that this was a good thing to do. In general, I always like to be awake fairly early and start moving but I'm not afraid to squeeze in a siesta if energy levels run low. I'm also open to changing my mind given that some of Bears other advice involves ingesting questionable substance to survive.

Census this morning was pretty active, a fair amount of noise around Millcombe and large numbers of House martin and Swallow were already moving.  I met Thomas and Greg down by the nets, already setting up for a short morning session.  I was joined on census by Anna who's travelled from Germany to spend a few weeks here, we both took a while scanning the landing bay and enjoying the calm after the past weekends rough seas.

Shag, Greater Black Backed Gull, Oystercatcher, Guillemot and Gannet were all present, it was one of those days when you could just happily sit and watch the landing bay but we had to move on.  As we passed along the South near Benjamins chair, I heard a Jackdaw heading out to sea followed by a Curlew calling from somewhere overhead but I didn't spot it.  A Peregrine was wrestling with two Raven over by the castle and a fair size group of Razorbill rafted off the South coast.

Large numbers of Linnet were spotted around the gorse bushes and the Black Headed Gull is still here, wandering alone around the village.  Over by Old light, we spotted a first for the year.  A lone Cuckoo being mobbed by Meadow pipits.

Cuckoo perfectly disguised as a Pipit

Emma had also been down to Jennys Cove to undertake her Puffin survey, over a hundred sighted and some "billing" action was underway.  "Billing" is a term used to describe the action of two puffin rubbing their bills against each other and is a good sign that they will be nesting.  

As the day wore on, it soon became clear that migration was well and truly underway, over 1000 Swallow were recorded by Thomas and Eleanor moving through the Island.  Another first for the year, Ring Ouzel spotted by a visiting birder rounded off a pretty spectacular day considering our slow season.

By Thomas Weston.

A calmer day so a few of the more unusual species appeared on the island, these are tending to be referred to as 'Lundy Scarcities' based on their infrequent sightings on the island. They may not be your classic rarities but they are certainly noteworthy. In fact, some you may see in your garden, local park or at a beach, but here on Lundy, the normal 'mainland species' are just not the same when living on an island.

Two species not pictured included a Cormorant who flew North past the island this morning before I reached the Ugly. It was seen by visiting birder Andy who spotted it at some height, along with good numbers of Kittiwakes and Manx Shearwater passing.

Greenfinch by Thomas Weston.

The next scarcity was the Greenfinch. A lovely adult male singing in the trees next to Millcombe House before joining the local Goldfinch flock and heading to the Village.

Black-headed Gull. By Thomas Weston

Checking the Landing Bay was successful today with a Black-headed Gull feeding in the surf below Smelly Gully and later looking rather tired but hanging around the Village feeding on anything it could find.

Back to the office for some admin when Greg noted the Hooded Crow from the Office Window. A nice addition to the day and a little rarer than a scarity, so a Lundy rarity for sure with very infrequent sightings, though this could be a returning individual from a previous year.

Sandwich Tern by Thomas Weston

Whilst we undertook some mist net setting up and ringing session, 2 Sandwich Terns flew by and remained in the bay until around 16:30 when they were seen flying South past Rat Island and continuing their journey.

What will tomorrow bring!?

Keep Posted.....

By Anna

Waking up to howling winds and hail, Thomas braced himself for the weather and went out to do the census while others - like me - enjoyed their morning off.

Clearing Rhodi!

What a view!

Making Rat Blocks

by Greg Lee

A grey and still morning on Lundy with not a breath of wind for the first couple of hours. Sensing this as a rare opportunity, particularly with the upcoming forecast, I decided to carry my shotgun mic around with me to see if I could get some sound recordings of any birds that were around during census. Despite the wind dropping down early in the morning, there didn’t seem to be a hint of any major arrivals with Millcombe hosting single figures of both Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff, quite the reduction on the numbers experienced on Wednesday. I had been hoping to record both species in song with my microphone; however, this may have to wait as the birds were very hesitant to use their voices today! Joe and Flo had decided to set the nets up and their totals for the ringing session also reflected that it was a quiet day for migrants. Indeed, I saw a few Warblers still sporting rings, so they were likely birds from Wednesday that were still lingering in the area. Goldfinches were again active in the area, and the small flock were flitting around the area chittering to each other during my walk. As I approached Old Light, a Wheatear was sat on the dry-stone wall singing, a perfect opportunity to get some sound-recordings sorted as well as testing the wind-proofing ability of my "dead-cat" microphone cover. Hirundines were in short supply this morning, it seemed, which was perhaps surprising with the lack of wind but a mixed party of Sand Martins and Swallows over Quarter Wall caught my eye. Approaching Quarries, another Wheatear was perched nicely close to me and also broke out into song, starting with a bit of Green Sandpiper, which seems to be a popular species to mimic in the island bird community before turning to the scratchier notes typical of Wheatear, just a short while later, a female appeared, possibly by the fine vocal antics on display. High overhead, a circling Sparrowhawk was also interesting to see, we have had a few birds around recently with one even seen heading south out to sea in recent days, so perhaps this was another passing migrant.

Wheatear by G.Lee

Later on in the day, Emma and I tasked ourselves with making an indent into the recycling, a constant job but very important to sort it out on a weekly basis. It was a good effort with the pile of bags going down considerably through the afternoon. Elsewhere, Thomas relocated the Greenfinch around the village, seemingly taking company with the House Sparrows and an island scarcity in the form of two Canada Geese were seen flying down the East Side. The Mallards have also been active recently and a brood of nine ducklings was seen near the Lambing Shed, hopefully over the coming days that number stays as a constant rather than being seen as an opportunity for the local corvid population to get some food.