Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

General bird sightings from August including a Barn Owl from the roadside at first light near Pleinmont on 9th, Reed Warblers still feeding young at the Peninsula Hotel pond on 14th, plus a few Whimbrels on the beaches and a couple of Green Sandpipers at Rue des Bergers. I didn’t manage to catch any superb migrant days, but a quick run round Rousse on 27th had 3 Wheatears, 5 Willow Warblers, and a Firecrest, which were promising. Just as I was getting in the car, a small group of Starlings flew over, and I spotted the distinctive pale rump of an imposter. As they landed on the ground, I could see that one was indeed a juvenile Rose-coloured Starling, which is always a pleasant sight. 27th August is a very early record for a juvenile bird, and I cannot find any Guernsey record that is as early in the autumn. I think this is the seventh RCS I have found in Guernsey now.

Rose-coloured Starling - Rousse, 27 Aug 26

There were no rarities found that I was able to go see but a Hoopoe was on the driving range at L’Ancresse on 31st but I never saw it close.

Hoopoe - L'Ancresse Driving Range, 31 Aug 26

Young Black-Headed gull - Rue des Bergers, 20 Aug 26

Most of the interesting moth records from August were on the Entomological Section’s field trapping sessions. In the garden, trapping was not as busy as earlier in the summer with not-so-many rarities. I had only my second Diplopseustis perieresalis (Palm Tabby) on 2nd, and another three Oak Processionaries during the month. For some reason, the night of 12th was superb for tiny, tiny micros, with 26 species of “pre-tortrix” species, a very large number for the garden. There were 6 sp. of Phyllonorycter, including a new species for Guernsey I think - Phyllonorycter klemannella (Shining Alder Midget). An Ancylosis oblitella that night was only my second ever.

The first field-trapping night was at Les Tielles on 8th August. It was a warm evening and just setting up the traps we saw double-figures of Blue-winged Grasshoppers along the cliff-top. There were some terrific species in the traps in the morning, but only one new species for me; Scrobipalpa instabilella (Saltern Groundling), which was a gen det job. We had two Convolvulus and one Striped Hawk-moth, a Pine-tree Lappet, a Cosmopolitan, an Annulet, and 7 Oak Processionaries - all exciting species.

Convolvulus Hawk-moth - Tielles, 8 Aug 26

The second session was at Le Gouffre, where we managed to find a few sheltered spots away from the stiff westerly wind. Due to the conditions, numbers were down, but there were some great moths, including one of my most-wanted - a Passenger. There seems to have been a few this year, so perhaps a colonisation as it feeds on the abundant brambles and willows. For south-coast specialities, we had a couple more Annulets, and a terrific 14 Bordered Greys, a species I’d only seen a few times before. I had a couple of micro-ticks with Cedestis subfasciella (Barred Needle-miner) and Dichomeris alacella (Black-spotted Snout) as well as a Bryotropha sp. which was either basaltinella or dryadella and needs investigating.

Getting out and about in the field during the school holidays meant that I was able to find a few other interesting invertebrates that were new to me. I managed to bash a couple of Southern Oak Bush-crickets out of (not surprisingly) an Oak tree at La Garenne. I’d seen a couple of nymphs there earlier in the year, but I thought I’d wait for them to grow up to be sure.

Southern Oak Bush-cricket - Garenne, 3 Aug 26

Also, in the orthopteran realm, I thought I’d make a concerted effort to tick off the rare Brown-spotted Bush-cricket from its only location at Bordeaux mound (in fact, the only location in the British Isles afaik). It has been known from there a few years, but I’ve never actually gone to specifically look for it with the sweep net. As I arrived, I was cursing the weather as it was just starting to rain, but I thought I’d have a go anyway - and lo and behold, first sweep of the net, and a tiny bush-cricket was there - easy-peasy. The brown-spotted name comes from the series of quadrilaterals along the wing-cases. It is a very small bush-cricket, smaller than the other similar-looking species.

Brown-spotted Bush-cricket - Bordeaux, 18 Aug 26

Long-winged Conehead - Grand Pre. 1 Aug 26

Dermestes undulatus - L'Ancresse, 6 Aug 26 - a terrific beetle, found under a dead rabbit, with silky-white underpants.

Obama Flatworm - Fontanelles, 11 Aug 26 - an invasive species, looking like some kind of eel in a rockpool here!

Southern Green Shieldbug - Fontanelles, 11Aug26 - finally found this species, the youngsters being easier with their polka dots

July was all about the moths, and I had four new lifers during the month and a couple more new for the garden. A great find was a Fiery Clearwing just near the house, in the St. Sampsons School orchard, feeding on ragwort flowers. It was only a couple of years ago that this species was restricted to Bordeaux, it toe-hold in the island. But, I suppose with the last couple of warm summers, it seems to be spreading suddenly. I had a look round at some of the nearby dead sorrel stems, and found tiny black eggs dotted along the stems, so I suspect there will be more here next year.

Fiery Clearwing - St Sampsons HS area, 4 Jul 26

Moth-trapping in the garden had some excellent species but did not have the huge numbers as in June. The start of the month was best, as the warm temperatures continued. After last month, seeing my first Latin on the cliffs, I had a second on 6th July, a new garden species. That night was the busiest of the month with 29 Small Mottled Willows, a Silky Wainscot (first for many years), a Splendid Brocade, and a late Pine Beauty.

The only surprising species on 8th July were two Little Emeralds in the trap. Not a super rare species in Guernsey but something I had never seen before. A third Little Emerald flew into the kitchen on 19th also. Another surprising new macro moth for me was the impressive Mocha which was on the outside of the trap on 23rd July, a rare species in Guernsey with not many records. Oak Processionary is a species which is on the up, and I had 1 on 23rd, 3 on 28th and 2 on 30th. The other new species for the garden was Phalonidia manniana on 21st.

The Entomological Section went on a few field-trapping sessions, which are useful for seeing species that do not really wander into the garden very often. We had traps in the Vale Pond area on 4th July, hopefully looking for saltmarsh species, but, apart from lots of Coleophora salicorniae, we didn’t get any other speciality, apart from the soldier fly Nemotelus notatus (Flecked Snout). We did attract a few species from the nearby coastal dunes with a superb Shore Wainscot and my first White Colon for many, many years. Other notable species were Clepsis spectrana, Sitochroa palealis, Loxostege sticticalis, and Silky Wainscot.

Teleiopsis diffinis - Vale Pond, 4 Jul 26

We also trapped Silbe on 18th July. We had a super selection, but only one new one for me, the tiny tortrix Ancylis diminutana. Other notable moths were Webb’s Wainscot, Lesser Spotted Pinion, Little and Small Emerald, and my first Metalampra italica for 20 years. A new lepidoptera for the garden was a brief visit of a Brown Argus on 19th July, now seemingly widespread in Guernsey after not occurring here at all when I first arrived. There was an influx of Clouded Yellows late in the month and amongst 5 at Rousse Tower on 26th, I saw a superb helice variety.

Trioza centranthi galls on Red Valerian - Delancey, 12 Jul 26 - just keeping your eye out for oddities, like these weird reddish curls on a Red valerian growing out of a roadside wall can reveal new species for Guernsey.

I had five days on a trip to Jersey mid-July with the school. Not really a wildlife-finding mission, but whilst waiting around for pupils to do their activities, there’s always things to see if your eyes are sharp enough, and I picked up a few new species.

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Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

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August 2026

July 2026

Just A Bird