Saturday 31st October 2020

The second half of October was mostly spoilt by atrocious weather, especially in my half-term week off which was almost a write off. On Tuesday 20th I called in at Rousse and surprised a Kingfisher from the tiny douit behind the Peninsula Hotel. Unusually, it didn’t fly off at speed, but flew up into the branches of a sycamore where it was surrounded by a small flock of tits. I managed to fire off a few photos before it realised it wasn’t supposed to be there.

Kingfisher - Rousse, 20 Oct 20

There were still up to 10 Swallows and 5 House Martins feeding above the sea wall at Cobo earlier that same day. Two days later on 22nd, I discovered a short-staying Water Pipit on the small beach at Albecq just by the Fort Hommet pines. Apart from this early morning sighting I didn’t see it again. This is the second time I have seen a brief Water Pipit on this beach in autumn.

On the next weekend (Sat 24th Oct) I managed to get out to Pleinmont late morning but it was dull, miserable, a little windy and pretty lifeless. The sum total that I wrote down was 15 Swallows, 1 Siskin, 4 Firecrests and 10 Chiffchaffs - not really what I was after. I thought I’d try a couple more sheltered spots - Le Bigard, Petit Bot - but it was a similar story there - 2 Grey Wagtails, 3 Firecrests & 4 Chiffchaffs.

Pezeries Bay - 24 Oct 20

Golden Scalycap - Vaux de Monel, 24 Oct 20

The next day I was out driving with my daughter and stopped to look at a rarity that had turned up recently - 3 Canada Geese at L’Eree. I didn’t get out of the car. Living here in Guernsey I had got very used to not seeing this species and had not missed them one bit. However, they do seem to be increasingly recorded here - almost every year at the moment - and it wouldn’t take much for them to establish themselves just like the feral Greylags have. Well that’s something to look forward to….

Canada Geese - L’Eree, 25 Oct 20

Another drive on 29th and I called in to see the presumably same wandering Great White Egret which had been spotted roosting at the back of the Claire Mare. This is the first time ever that we have had a individual that has stuck around for more than an hour. The only other birding of note was at La Garenne on 30th where there were plenty of Chiffchaffs but not any hoped-for eastern phylloscs. And finally a Wheatear appeared on the beach at Jaonneuse on 31st. To say that this period was disappointing is an understatement but there’s always next October to have another go at finding the rarest rare.

Great White Egret - Claire Mare, 29 Oct 20

colour-ringed Oystercatcher - Jaonneuse, 25 Oct 20 - I await to find out where it is from

Buzzard - from our bedroom window, 25 Oct 20

Only managed one moth trap session in month, on 17th but got a decent total of 29 species for the time of year. There was the typical autumn selection of species but the highlight was no doubt a Pine Carpet, only my second record.

Black Rustic - garden, 17 Oct 20