August 2026 — Just A Bird

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.

Just A Bird

Just A Bird

Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

Just A Bird

Just A Bird