Bird Sightings
March 9th sightings – Our First Chiffchaff of the Spring!
One of two Black-headed gull on Tillage (taken yesterday) © T Weston
The wind remained a strong easterly throughout the morning resulting in most passerines sticking low in the vegetation again during census counts.
In Millcombe, 3 Woodpigeons remain in Smelly Gully, a single male Goldcrest was calling in the bushes near Millcombe House, 2 Wrens were the only ones of the species seen the whole morning, 5 Blackbirds fed in the more sheltered areas, 4 Robins half-heartedly sang, and 3 Dunnocks were feeding in the gorse. Moving along the south coast, Benjamin’s Chair was quite quiet, though it was nice to hear Rock Pipit calling and a small movement of Gannet heading NE into the wind. Nearby, on Rocket Pole Pond, the pair of Mallard remained, and look set to breed here. Moving across the fields on the west coast, 27 Meadow Pipits, 2 Pied Wagtails, 136 Starlings, a single Linnet and 2 Skylark were sighted. Quarter Wall was quiet and there was no sign of any Snipe in the rushes. Furthermore, lower numbers of both Herring Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gull were seen in Brick Field. However, the 2 Black-headed Gulls (out of the three seen yesterday) were still present in Tillage. Back in the village, the flock of non-breeding Ravens and our resident House Sparrow population were both noteworthy.
A lunchtime errand down to Millcombe resulted in 2 Goldfinches on the fence above Government and the first two Chiffchaffs seen feeding in the Lower Garden area. The Chiffchaffs had presumably arrived within the last few hours were both actively feeding on insects! This is a sure sign that Spring is here, and it won’t be long before the first couple of Wheatears arrive. The drizzle has since set in so it will be interesting to see if any other migrants arrive this afternoon.
Ringing
No ringing today due to the weather, but we did recieve a ringing recovery today of a male Siskin ringed on the island in October 2021 and recaptured in Suffolk today!!! The details of this record can be found below...
March 8th sightings – A bit of gull movement
A hazy start to the day as shown by Old Light © T Weston
The hoped for Little Gull never really appeared on the island but it was a busy day for the Bird Obs Team so a couple passing by undetected could have been the case. With it being a travel day for the island visitors, a split census was undertaken with Joe taking the Millcombe section whilst Thomas took the Southwest Field, Airfield and all the fields back to the village. Both of the team were busy throughout the day, so today’s counts were limited to morning census and members of the public observations.
However, what was really apparent was the wind! The easterly winds continued; in fact, the gusts were considerably stronger than yesterday, and this seemed to affect the counts, with passerines few and far between and rafting auks being non-existent. In total, during the census only 2 Skylark half-heartedly sang on the Airfield and only a single Wren, Blackbird, Dunnock, and Robin was spotted in Millcombe! Even though the small birds hid for the morning, an impressive count of 223 Herring Gulls were feeing in Brick Field with 10 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a slight increase in Starlings to 193 birds was noted, a Snipe was flushed from the main track across the Airfield, the 7 rowdy Ravens continued to perform throughout the village, two pairs of Stonechat were back on territory and a couple of Rock Pipits flew from Benjamin’s Chair.
Alongside the species noted above, to our surprise, migrants were apparent with a single Goldfinch in Millcombe which was possibly one of the birds from yesterday. Also in the valley, there was a ‘new in’ Fieldfare. Amazingly, this was the first record for a few months and therefore the first of the year! Another surprise was a Redwing that flew in-off the coast over the SouthWest Field and dropped into the bushes around Old Light. This is the first of the species for a few days probably indicating this was probably not one of the overwintering birds we have seen.
An evening walk to Pondsbury resulted in some gull movement being noted. This morning’s Herring Gull flocks had departed leaving just 20 birds in Tillage and Brick fields with a few flocks on the cliffs relating to island breeding birds. However, an impressive flock of 83 Lesser-black backed gulls were roosting in Brick Field. This is the highest count of the spring so far, and probably consisted of island breeders and migrant birds using the island as a stop-over site. Moreover, the arrival of 3 Black-headed Gulls spotted on Tillage wouldn’t sound super exciting on the mainland, but they are an unusual species out here and were feeding on earthworms. This is actually the first sighting of the year for this species! The Fieldfare from this morning was on the Airfield this evening but was rather flighty amongst the flock of sheep.
Ringing
No ringing was undertaken today due to the strong winds.
March 7th sightings – Easterly Winds
Sightings
The day started off slightly foggy, with a cool easterly breeze off the mainland which lingered until the early afternoon. Due to the wind the birds tended to stick low to the ground today, resulting in low numbers of some of the island regulars but signs of some migration were apparent. This was particularly seen with census counts resulting in a single Goldcrest, 6 Robin, 5 Wren, 2 Dunnock, 4 Blackbird, 2 Stonechat, 3 Skylark and 4 Mallard recorded. Signs of movement came in the form of 4 Pied Wagtails feeding with the sheep in Highstreet Field and 2 ‘new’ Goldfinches in Millcombe. Out at sea, low numbers of Gannet passed, a few of the island's Shag, and a raft of 64 Razorbills were recorded.
Ringing
No ringing was undertaken today due to the weather conditions.
March 6th sightings – Census Counts
A short post today as our team were feeling particuarly tired today...
Sightings
A male Starling singing in the village today © T Weston
Census counts from today made up the majority of the counts from the island. These included 9 Mallard, 3 Eurasian Teal, 7 Woodpigeon, 4 Oystercatchers, 180 Razorbill, 40 Guillemot, 30 auk spp., 10 Kittiwake, 102 Herring Gulls, 10 Great-black backed gulls, 63 Lesser-black backed gulls (highest spring count so far), a Great-northern diver, 4 Gannet, 3 Shag, pair of Peregrines, 30 Carrion Crow (highest spring count so far), 10 Raven, 11 Skylark, 18 Wren, 133 Starling, single Song thrush, 15 Blackbird, 6 Robin, 7 Stonechat (most on territory now), 6 Dunnock, 18 House Sparrows, 3 Pied Wagtail, 4 ‘alba’ wagtail North, 20 Meadow Pipit, a single Rock Pipit, 6 Chaffinch and 26 Linnet (the highest count of the spring).
Ringing
Nocturnal counts resulted in 14 Snipe, 3 Jack Snipe, a Skylark and a Meadow Pipit seen. The Meadow Pipit was the only bird caught due to the wet and windy conditions which set in just after 21:00.