Saturday 31st December 2016

The only bit of birding I did in the final week of the year was on 28th December, when I called in at the Fauxquets to have another look at the Cattle Egret flock since I was passing, especially since I'd heard the day before that there were now an amazing 12 birds present. I drove past the field down at the bottom where I saw then earlier in the week but they were not there, so I circled round to scan from the top of raptor ridge. I couldn't see any cows, never mind egrets, but just walking ten yards further down the road, I found a hidden herd and saw that there were Cattle Egrets with them. Getting a little bit closer, I managed to count a minimum of 15 birds wandering amongst the bovine beasts in quite a tight little group. Another record count for the island!

14 out of 15 Cattle Egrets - Raptor Ridge, Fauxquets - 22 Dec 16

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PATCHWORK CHALLENGE - SUMMARY OF 2016

I have been a keen supporter of the Patchwork Challenge "competition" since it started and it has really given my local birding quite a helpful boost. Before 2013, I had quite a nonchalant attitude to bird recording, barely even writing down what I'd seen most of the time. But now I have something specific to focus on, I record many more of my sightings, not just on my patch, but elsewhere too. The map below shows the extent of my self-allotted patch area. I suppose, from a Guernsey perspective, this is a series of smaller 'patches' but it encompasses the area that I genuinely go birding more than anywhere else on the island.

Below is a graph showing my efforts during the last three years - (I sort of did it in 2013 also but I didn't record in enough detail to put on the chart). As you can see, with 147 points, 2016 was my best total so far, just 4 points more than in 2014. I don't know what the hell I was doing in 2015 - walking around with my eyes shut maybe! But it does go to show that, when you have a patch which is almost totally reliant on migrant species, luck and weather play a huge part in the number of species recorded. In 2015, spring seemed OK, just a few points short, but the autumn of that year was terrible (and I think it may have had something to do with changes to my work times if I remember rightly, which took me a short while to adapt to).

Below is the list of species I recorded on the patch during 2016. The birds in light blue are the four species new for the patch, where I have been birding for almost 16 years now on and off. Greylag Goose was more of a technicality, since it has only recently been countable (as a Cat C species here), although I have only ever seen them a handful of times on patch, since they do not move very much. Coal Tit was part of a small influx into the island and something I particularly looked for in the pine woods of Le Guet. Shoveler was overdue - despite the lack of lakes and ponds, I'd have thought I'd at least have had a flyover by now, since they regularly winter just off the patch. Number one best bird was the Kentish Plover though - a much declining species and the first in Guernsey since 2003.

I did quite well for 6-pointers this year with four species - (six-pointers are "nationally scarce" species that you have found yourself) - the aforementioned Kentish, a Yellow-browed Warbler in October at Rousse, a Wryneck at Pulias in September (I would be disappointed in not finding a Wryneck during the year) and a Short-toed Lark at Fort Hommet in September. This is now the third ST Lark I've found on the patch. Other highlights for me were finding a Lapland Bunting, a Merlin which I haven't seen for ages on patch, only my second patch record of Bullfinch, and the fact that Ravens are suddenly really easy to see here after years of just one or two records.

Photographed highlights of the patch in 2016 - Coal Tit, Short-toed Lark, Shoveler, Kentish Plover, Yellow-browed Warbler, Lapland Bunting

Although I achieved my record score in points, I did not get my best ever species total, being one short of the 107 I recorded in 2014. This year, apart from a Snow Bunting, I found all the species myself. What I could do with is a few other people weighing in with a few species that I can twitch!

Below is a list of the species that I have recorded on the patch since I have been doing the PWC challenge but did not record in 2016. Some of these it is not surprising since they are proper rarities on the patch (eg Coot). The biggest miss was Tree Pipit probably as I don't usually find it a problem to get a few going over both in spring and autumn. Disappointing to miss Fulmar, Balearic Shearwater and Redstart too.

Below is a list of species that I have seen on the patch in the past but not in the last four years of doing the PWC. Some of these are proper rarities, but others you may find surprising. It is obvious that I don't get much seawatching done on the patch due to the few records of stuff like Manx Shearwater and Arctic Skua. The problem with seawatching is that there are offshore rocks that keep the birds very far out and also I do not have the time to sit there scanning for long. If I do get enough time in NWerly winds, then it would be daft to seawatch from the patch when I could be seeing the birds much better and closer from Jaonneuse. Reed Warbler should be more regular and I have no explanation. A lot of these species (eg Lapwing, Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare) are only likely when we get a harsh cold snap and we haven't had one for a good four years now.

So, to 2017 and another attempt to beat my record. Hopefully the weather and the birds will be kind to me.

Sunday 25th December 2016

Early December is a time for relaxed birding, with none of the stress of trying to locate scarce migrants before they move on again quickly. In the early winter, the birds that are here on the island have probably been here a while and, unless an unusually cold snap hits, there won't be much new arriving. So you feel that you have plenty of time to find any unusual birds as they will probably stay a while.

On 1st December, the weather was clear and calm and perfect for looking for birds swimming on the sea. On the way home from work I stopped at Pulias and found a very nice Black-throated Diver floating off Port Grat bay and then, just off Rousse, both Great Northern Diver and Red-breasted Merganser. The first and last of those were patch year ticks, two species which I should have seen - but didn't - earlier in the year. Mental note for 2017 - it is far easier to find winter species between Jan and March, than in December, so pull your finger out! These two brought my Patchwork Challenge points total to 147 which was my record total in the four years I've been doing it.

A Cattle Egret had been seen for a few days at various sites in the west of the island and in my lunch hour on 7th December I went to look at the site of the last sighting near the Reservoir. However, I could not find it, but did see my first Mistle Thrush of the year feeding in the next field. There are so many small random fields in Guernsey that could hold decent birds, it would take months to check them all.

Mistle Thrush - nr Reservoir - 7 Dec 16

I'd not planned to go out and do any birding really until the Xmas hols, but on Saturday 17th December I got a call from Mark G to tell me he was watching a Whitethroat at Richmond, Vazon. He was very sure of the identification but, as I was free, I went straight down there as it was a very unusual record and wanted to see the bird. Mark was there when I arrived and we watched up to 5 Chiffchaffs feeding in the small gardens at the end of the bay, and pretty soon the Whitethroat appeared. This is the first winter record for Guernsey of a species which should be well south of the Sahara by now, and certainly the only one I have seen at this time of year. There have been records in the UK of Whitethroats wintering but these are few and far between compared to some other species of warbler. We looked at the bird hard but could not find anything unusual about it and it looked like a pretty standard autumn Whitethroat.

Whitethroat - Vazon - 17 Dec 16

Whitethroat - Vazon - 17 Dec 16

Later the same day, a grapevine message alerted me on the phone that a Long-tailed Duck had been found in Pembroke Bay. This was only the second record here since the Millenium started and, even though I had seen the last one, I quickly whizzed down for a look at it. The day had drifted on and it was very late on in the afternoon with the light going, but I was fortunate enough to see the bird really close in where the waves were breaking over the beach. I managed some decent shots despite the dark conditions but I also managed to get wet feet! A terrific bird and in exactly the same place as the last one.

Long-tailed Duck - Pembroke - 17 Dec 16

Long-tailed Duck - Pembroke - 17 Dec 16

With school over for the holidays and with a free afternoon, on 22nd December I went out for some relaxing birding in the lovely warm and sunny December. The Cattle Egret from earlier in the month had been joined by a few more and there were now six birds poking around the cow fields in the centre of the island. They had been mostly seen around the Fauxquets Valley but I had already dipped out once as they wandered around many different fields, following the cows. However, today just before I set off, there was a message that they were in the field alongside Candie Road and so I went straight there. The Cattle Egrets were still present and Andy M was photographing the birds through the hedge. We actually counted not six but eight of them - another record count for the island! They could be quite flighty if one moved around too much, but if you stayed in one place, they sometimes strolled quite close to the hedge and we got good shots.

Cattle Egret - Fauxquets Valley - 22 Dec 16

Cattle Egret - Fauxquets Valley - 22 Dec 16

Cattle Egrets - Fauxquets Valley - 22 Dec 16

With the weather so sunny and clear I drove towards Pembroke to try and get better pictures of the Long-tailed Duck. It was still present but was hanging around a little bit offshore today to get anything better than last time. On the way, as I drove past Cobo, I saw a Guillemot quite close in, just off the beach, and I stopped to take some photos. It looked somewhat tired.

Guillemot - Cobo - 22 Dec 16

Considering where to go next, I pulled into the car park at Les Amarreurs and scanned across the bay. However, what I didn't notice straight away was the bird fishing right on the waters edge, almost literally on the beach. I couldn't tell what it was straight away as it dived underwater and I was looking right into the low sun, and I thought it may have been a merganser. So I decamped from the car and tried to scurry around the other side of it, utilising the small pier sticking out from Les Ammareurs, so that the light was much more behind me. I now saw, when it surfaced again that the bird was actually a Black-throated Diver, which was even better, and it was still feeding very close to shore albeit moving away from me. Nevertheless, I carried on towards the pier, gambling that the bird would turn back and come into the bay again - there must have been some good feeding there if the bird was coming in that close to shore. I was too busy keeping an eye on the bird that I slipped on some seaweed and fell right onto my shoulder, bins swinging into my face and ended up on my back. D'oh! Luckily, I am a natural athlete and so didn't hurt myself at all and I climbed up onto the pier, plunging my hand in a massive dollop of gull crap as I did so!

Perched up on the pier I was disappointed that the diver had almost exited the small bay and would soon be lost. But, perhaps startled by a crazy swimming lady, it turned round and headed back in, following the shoreline, just a few yards offshore. I realised I needed to get closer to the beach and I scrambled back down onto the rocks just by the water's edge. I managed to find a rock big enough for me to lay down on, in amongst the seaweed, almost hanging over the water, and waited. It surfaced a couple of times a bit too far away and then dived again and was closer. It dived again and I knew that the next time it was up it would either be right in front of me, or it saw me and turned round. I was very lucky as it suddenly surfaced right in front of me, barely six or seven yards away! I managed to rattle off two photos before it dived again. I was especially pleased with the second of these - one of the best photos I have ever taken I reckon!

Black-throated Diver - Les Amarreurs - 22 Dec 16

Black-throated Diver - Les Amarreurs - 22 Dec 16

Black-throated Diver - Les Amarreurs - 22 Dec 16 - this photo shows just how close the diver was to the shore.