Bird Sightings

A foggy Red-throated Diver in the Landing Bay. ©Thomas WestonA foggy start after a stormy night resulted in a census of two halves. Millcombe was very warm and humid with a Raven, a Chiffchaff, 5 Robin, 12 Dunnocks, 5 Woodpigeons, 3 Chaffinches, a single lost looking Sand Martin, 3 Goldcrest, Chiffchaff, 11 Wrens and 7 Blackbird were spotted. The fog lifted enough to see the Landing Bay and the visibility was good. Here, 2 Red-throated Divers (scarce here), the overwintering adult winter Great northern Diver, a Guillemot, a Gannet, 2 Shag, 3 Oystercatchers, 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a Great Black-backed Gull and 15 Herring Gulls were spotted. The fog soon dropped and the walk past Benjamin’s Chair resulted in a small flock of Linnet feeding on the clifftop. Rocket Pole Pond had a pair of Mallard (4 seen today in total) and the pair of Stonechat continued to build their nest. Walking through Southwest field and the Airfield saw singing Skylarks and Meadow Pipits noted but by this point even we were getting lost and disorientated today! Finding ¼ wall was an achievement but the small flock of Carrion Crows and a Pied Wagtail in Brick Field alongside a few flyover ‘alba wagtails’ were the highlights.    

Outside the census period, notable sightings by allcomers:

• 1^st Firecrest of the year was in Millcombe around midday.
• Single Swallow flew south through the Village.
• A female Merlin flew over St Helen’s Copse.
• Male Wheatears were seen beyond ¼ Wall, in Barton’s Field and in Tillage Field.
• A small flock of Puffin made landfall at Jenny’s Cove this morning with a flock later noted offshore.
• A flock of 6 Sand Martins flew south through Millcombe this afternoon.

Ringing

With the weather calming down enough to open the nets, a couple of hours in Millcombe resulted in just one bird being caught, a new Chiffchaff.

• Visit Website
• Visit Website

A calm, nice, sunny day today.

One of our returning Linnet near Pondsbury. ©Thomas Weston

Census counts from involved 13 Wrens, the singing male Song Thrush, 3 Oystercatchers in the Landing Bay, 3 Robins, 11 Ravens, 27 House Sparrows, 7 Blackbirds, female Merlin flew below the Tavern, 4 Pied Wagtails, 2 Redwing, 8 ‘alba’ Wagtails north, 4 Chaffinch, 7 Dunnock, an increase to 10 Goldcrest, 14 Meadow Pipit, singing Goldfinch, 2 Gannet, 3 Fulmar, 151 Razorbill, single Guillemot, 4 Shag, 6 Chiffchaff including one in subsong, 3 Woodpigeon, 2 Great Black-backed Gulls, 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 5 Stonechat with two pairs noted, 3 Linnet, 32 Carrion Crow, 14 Skylark, Rock Pipit, 114 Herring Gulls, 3 Mallards, 52 Starling, 3 Sand Martin flew North and 2 Cormorants also flew North.

A quick check on Pondbury resulted in the Green-winged Teal male, a female Teal, a Linnet, 5 Sand Martins, 4 Meadow Pipits, 6 Skylarks and a Wren.

Puffin off Jenny's Cove. ©Thomas Weston

A foggy day to start with census being affected by visibility most of the morning but after midday the sun came out and it was a lovely day. Good coverage was achieved again with the second day of feral stock counts being undertaken. As a result, the sightings below are combined with counts from across the island today.

New migrants included an exciting sighting of a single (first of the year) Ringed Plover that flew high south over Tillage/Brick Field towards Pondsbury but did not seem to stop, the first 13 Sand Martin and 2 House Martins of the year, an increase to 6 Chiffchaff, 4 Wheatears, 8 Linnet, a potentially new Red-throated Diver off of North Light this afternoon and a migrant flock of 3 Cormorant flew North this morning.

Moreover, the reappearance of the American Green-winged Teal was very welcome, and it was seen associating with a female (presumed) Eurasian Teal this evening on Pondsbury. The only other waterfowl seen today were 9 Mallards spotted on suitable ponds/waterbodies from the south up to Pondsbury. The first of the year for us here. Meanwhile, a total of 7 Oystercatchers were seen today (8 yesterday) and a nice daytime count of 26 Snipe were made – this is a species we see a lot at night but never know where they all go in the daytime.  Seabirds were having a slow day with 15 Kittiwake, 14 Gannet, 22 Shag, 30+ Fulmar, 207 Herring Gulls, 11 Great Black-backed Gulls, 34 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 13 Razorbill, a single Guillemot, and a small flock of 6 Puffins seen. Along the coast at least 5 Rock Pipits were seen. Birds of prey were showing well again today with a female Kestrel, female Merlin and 8 Peregrines seen. In the fields, 34 Carrion Crows, 8 Ravens, 28 Skylarks, 107 Starlings, and 6 Stonechats were spotted. Counts from Millcombe including 5 Woodpigeons, a singing Goldfinch, singing Song Thrush, 9 Blackbird, a single Goldcrest, 6 Robins, 7 Dunnocks, 57 Meadow Pipits.

We also found a dead Glaucous Gull adult on the island today. The bird has been swabbed for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, and appropriately bagged/disposed of in line with current guidelines.

Female Merlin near the Old Stone Crusher Site. ©Thomas Weston

Today was a good day for birding. The low hazy fog that hung over the Devon and Welsh coasts remained for most of the morning, but the visibility on the island was good and compared to the last few days we could see quite a distance. Census counts were split due to our annual feral stcok counts being undertaken this weekend, but combined counts showed a nice arrival of migrants. The higher coverage of the island also led to some really nice counts across the whole are.

To begin, some notable sightings:

• Two female Merlin were seen with one along the Southwest Field boundary and one at the North End.
• Our first Swallow of the year flew south from ¼ Wall towards the Village.
• An arrival of 6 Wheatear with the first female seen.
• An arrival of Chiffchaff along the East coast with birds noted from Millcombe to ¼ Wall.
• 2 Puffins off Jenny’s Cove

Our resident pair of Mallard remained on Rocket Pole scrape where a pair of Stonechat were seen gathering nesting material. The pair along Quarter Wall were seen but not showing signs of breeding yet. Waders are always few and far between on census, but a pair of Oystercatchers were in the Landing Bay and a Snipe was flushed from the Airfield. Out on the coast, a pair of Great Black-backed Gulls, 77 Herring Gulls, 16 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, single Guillemot, 240 Razorbills, 2 Gannet, 6 Shag and our lovely duo of divers (Red-throated and Great Northern) were both in the Landing Bay first thing. A surprise sighting of 4 Cormorants first seen over Millcombe and then over ¼ Wall heading North were the first of the year and a nice migrant species for the island. With the weather being more favourable than recent, birds of prey were using this opportunity to show well. The female Merlin pictured above was a welcome sight as well as a female Sparrowhawk and a Peregrine too.    

 Down in Millcombe, our small population of 5 Woodpigeons were spotted, a Water Rail was heard charming at the bottom of Smelly Gully, 2 Chiffchaffs were a good precursor to the others who arrived later, 5 Goldcrest were in the trees, 17 Wren were either heard singing or spotted coming out of the gorse bushes, 6 Blackbirds of both sexes were seen, a singing male Song Thrush, 2 Robin, 7 Dunnocks and the singing male Goldfinch were all seen. In the fields, 31 Carrion Crow were mostly in Brick Field, 8 Skylark were noted with some displaying 138 Starlings commuted between the Village and Tillage, 4 Stonechat with one pair nest building, 33 Meadow Pipits potentially included some migrants, and a Pied Wagtail were spotted. In the Village, 27 House Sparrows and 7 Ravens were seen.