Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

On Thursday 3rd November, Wayne and Mark G discovered a large pipit at Pleinmont which was suspected to be a rare Blyth’s Pipit, rather than the more expected Richard’s Pipit (although the latter has been really rare recently here). Of course, being at work I was unable to go check it out. The identification was confirmed as a Blyth’s Pipit, the first for Guernsey, and I went up to Pleinmont to search for it on Saturday 5th November, hoping that it was still present.

The conditions were not very conducive for searching with another stiff southerly whipping in off the sea bringing showers and drizzle with it - totally miserable weather. One thing that was easy to see was the thousands of Starlings that had arrived and were flocking in huge numbers in the grassy fields, re-energising for their migration flights.

I went round and round all the likely fields on the top of Pleinmont searching for the pipit but was coming up blank. The species can be very elusive and is quite happy just sitting in taller-than-it-is vegetation for ages. Often it is a case of just being lucky to see it fly in or out of a field. There were plenty of Skylarks up there, with over 50 birds counted in a few flocks, which had to be checked and checked in case the pipit decided to join them for a while. There were also lots of Chaffinches going through and a few Fieldfares, with a late Swallow struggling through the dankness. I tramped around the same fields for about 3 hours not seeing the bloney pipit, getting damper and wetter, but I somehow knew that the bird was still around - I could just feel it (unless that was just the water seeping into my undergarments).

I may have seen it briefly fly up and perch on a distant bush but I couldn’t be sure and after a while, I felt I needed a break from the wind and rain, so I toddled down to Vau de Monel to look for warblers and get some shelter. No sooner as I had reached the calm of the picnic bench than I received the grapevine message that the Blyth’s had just been seen again, exactly where I’d spent the previous hours scouring - typical! As I scurried back up the hill, my legs starting to get somewhat weary, I spoke to Wayne on the phone who told me it was last seen flying towards the observation tower field. I looked round there and the close-by areas but there was no sign. However, I now knew it was still here and was confident that I could relocate it.

I returned back towards the LSG fields and could see Wayne by the roadside and headed towards there to speak to him. Just as I passed the crossroads, a bird leapt vertically out of the field just ten yards to my right. It called as it took off and I could clearly see and hear that it was in fact the Blyth’s Pipit - my perseverance had paid off. We watched it fly around the fields a couple of times and then drop down and land on a bramble stem on the hedgebank. It was very distant for photographs but I got a couple of record shots. We had it a couple of more times in flight but after my herculean efforts, I was now knackered and didn’t really expect it to show any better. We had a Golden Plover and a Mistle Thrush whilst we were waiting also.

Blyth’s Pipit was obviously a new species for my Guernsey list but I had seen one previously, on Tresco, Scilly in 2007. This species is one of the most difficult species to identify in the field as, as well as being generally elusive, it is very similar to Richard’s Pipit. I did not see the bird well enough to get any visual identification clues, although as it flew around it did not give the impression of a large, gangly pipit like Richard’s, but a bit more compact and with a normal-length tail - a shape not unlike one of the smaller pipits. The flight picture above shows that the tail isn’t very long at all.

The key feature was the call however and we heard it a few times. It never gave a longer, drawn-out call like a Richard’s, but always gave a short “chup” note, which I associate with Tawny Pipit. I managed to record a couple despite the strong winds masking the noise. The spectogram below matches what you expect for a Blyth’s, a main inverted V between 5 and 7 kHz, with a smaller V below at about 3.

Blyth’s Pipit Spectogram - Pleinmont, 5 Nov 22

Comparison of spectograms of various vagrant Blyth’s Pipits

After a whole week, I was surprised that the Blyth’s Pipit was still around the next weekend. With the weather much sunnier, I was hoping to see it better, so I headed to Pleinmont on 12th November around lunchtime. As I drove there, I passed a ringtail Hen Harrier which was flying to the north of Pleinmont Road near Les Tielles. This bird had been seen a couple of times earlier that day at Pleinmont. I trudged around the LSG fields again which contained a few hundred Linnets and a Reed Bunting and after only a couple of circuits I accidentally flushed the Blyth’s Pipit from the long vegetation. Again it was very flighty and difficult to pin down but I did manage another call recording - probably a bit clearer this time.

Eventually I did locate the Blyth’s on the deck and was able to watch it in a grassy field for an extended period, although not especially close since I never carry my ‘scope around. I did manage to stalk a little closer and got much improved photos from last week. I couldn’t really see many salient features but it was a bit of a chameleon, sometimes looking small, compact and cute, sometimes looking large, lanky and leggy. Comparing picture 2 and 3 below, the bill and head appear to have grown in size between photos!

Blyth’s Pipit spectogram of call - Pleinmont, 12 Nov 22

I had a few general sightings during the next week, with a very late Swallow and a Lapwing flying over Pleinmont on a brief stop on an island tour on 13th. A Black Redstart was at Pulias on 17th and a Razorbill swam in the town harbour on 18th. A really late Wheatear fed forlornly on Albecq beach on 18th, not looking impressed with its situation.

Saturday November 19th and I had a few hours spare during the day to get out birding. Mid-November is a pretty relaxed time to search for good birds - too late to have high expectations, but with always the slight knowledge that there might be something cool out there. I stopped at Rue des Hougues, SA first of all to check the fields. It was quiet overall but I wandered over to the cows in case there was any passerines feeding there. Indeed there was and one of them was clearly a Yellow Wagtail, a really late record. I’d never heard of a November Yellow Wagtail here before (apart from misidentified Greys). Of course, at this time of year one’s thoughts immediately go to the possibility of an Eastern Yellow Wagtail but this bird was bright yellow-bellied and not the expected grey colour of that recent split. But an adult bird would show yellow still so I needed to hear it call. After taking a few photos, the flock flew into the nearby trees and I managed a recording. It didn’t sound much different than usual and the spectogram didn’t throw up anything unexpected, so it will go down as a very late Western Yellow Wagtail, of subspecies unknown.

Yellow Wagtail - Rue des Hougues, 19 Nov 22

Spectogram of Yellow Wagtail (& Meadow Pipits) taking flight - Rue des Hougues, 19 Nov 22

Pleinmont was sunny but quiet but I did have exceptional views of the male Dartford Warbler that has been present. Fingers crossed that the winter stays mild and the breeding population can return. There was a few Woodpigeon flocks moving and the weirdest sighting was the Dunlin that I heard calling, before locating it flying within a flock of Woodpigeons. On the way back I took in the 9 Canada Geese that had arrived recently.

The final week of the month was pretty dismal but an adult Little Gull feeding in the middle of Grandes Havres at dusk on 25th was the first I had seen for quite a few years. The last sighting was a Barn Owl perched on the post box at L’Eree after dark on 27th which gave really close views through the windscreen.

Palpita vitrealis - garden, 11 Nov 22 - the highlight of my final moth-trapping session of 2022

October began with one of many stomps round Pleinmont, none of which produced any big-finds but at least there is always something of interest to see during this month. Pleinmont on 1st was windy - very much a theme of the month - and the sheltered valleys produced lots of Chiffchaffs and a few Firecrests but little new. A single Spotted Flycatcher at Fort Hommet pines on 5th was pretty late for the species.

Just as I was pulling into Rousse on 6th October for a quick look round after work, the grapevine came through of a Red-throated Diver that Mark G had just seen at Belle Greve Bay. This species was easily by biggest “tart” for Guernsey - 24 years and not even close to seeing one. There had been a few seawatching sightings and one or two in bays when I was unavailable, but nothing for me that was ever ‘gettable’. So I u-turned and drove across to the east coast, just a 5 minute detour, and pulled up at the Red Lion. I quickly saw the bird swimming offshore to the north and I grabbed my stuff and walked up the beach. It had already started drifting out into the Russell by the time I reached parallel with it. The diver had drifted out far enough so that any photos would be tricky, but I managed to get a few distant snaps. And it gradually swam further and further out until it was just a speck in my bins, and was never seen again. I was lucky to get there in time to see it - number 272 for my Guernsey List.

Red-throated Diver - Belle Greve Bay, 6 Oct 22

I was back up at Pleinmont on 9th but a stiff southerly had set in - not ideal for migrants hunting. There was a small passage of Siskins occurring though, with as many as 40 recorded flying south in small groups. Three late-ish Yellow Wagtails fed in with the cows and a surprising Mistle Thrush flew around for a circuit. The best bird though was a superb juvenile Hobby which did a circuit of the sheltered slope above Pezeries Bay, coming so close over my head it looked at me as it passed.

I tried Pleinmont again on 15th October and it was less busy, although I did see the single Yellow-browed Warbler briefly in Pezeries Dell but it would not show for more than a few moments.

There was a little more activity in the next few days along my coastal, weekday patch. My first Redwing of the autumn was at Fort Hommet on 18th and two Snipe flew by at Pulias on 19th. The first Black Redstart of the autumn was present at Rousse on 20th where a Clouded Yellow was a surprising sight.

I tried Pleinmont again on 22nd but was again met with unhelpful stiff southerlies. There was more activity than last week though and I managed brief views of both Yellow-browed and Dartford Warbler in the same spots as last time I saw them. Skylarks and Chaffinches were on the move in small numbers and a Whinchat was lingering. The best sighting was a brownish Merlin which flew by me low over a field at Mont Herault after scattering wagtails and pipits. It swooped up and joined both Peregrine and Kestrel in the skies above the cliffs there.

As it was half-term, I didn’t have to wait a week until my next visit and so went up to Pleinmont again on Tuesday 25th when the wind was, you’ve guessed it, stiff southerly again - the 4th visit in a row with annoying winds. The most unusual record was a half-singing Cetti’s Warbler in Blackthorn by the car park, that Wayne had found a few days previously. This was my first-ever on the headland. There were small numbers of expected species but little on migration. A total of 8 Swallows went through and a Reed Bunting flew round the fields at Mont Herault.

The next day I changed tack and went to the furthest point NE at Fort Doyle. There was a showy Black Redstart and a Wheatear on the seaward rocks and a couple of Firecrests in a garden.

Disappointingly, the winds didn’t change once during my week off but 27th October was a much better day. Even though it was really dull I thought I’d give La Garenne a quick look for rare warblers. A superb Yellow-browed Warbler showed well right by the entrance and I managed to get some decent pics. Not the rarest but it is always nice to find away from Pleinmont.

Yellow-browed Warbler - Garenne, 27 Oct 22

The grapevine then alerted me to a Desert Wheatear that had turned up on the cliffs at Pleinmont. Although I have seen some before, a rare wheatear is not to be missed and I wanted to see this, especially as it looked like a classy male. I wasn’t able to dash out straight away but I managed to get up there quite soon, only to be told that it had just flown round the headland and no-one knew where it was. I then trudged up and down the cliff path for quite a while but it was nowhere. People who were searching began to drift off and I thought I’d give a quick check of the nearby fields. I did a circuit and then saw that, in fact, everyone who was looking had departed, and it was just me left. It was more than an hour since anyone had seen it and so I guessed that it had flew inland. But, just before heading home I had one last look over the cliffs and saw a white arse fly away from me! I don’t know where it had been but it was back in the exact spot it was at the very start. It was difficult to get very close to as it seemed to prefer the rocks half-way down the cliff slope. This is now the 7th for Guernsey, which is quite remarkable, and the fourth that I’ve seen.

29th October was apparently a good migration day on the headland but I was stuck at home. Just looking from the garden in half-an-hour I had flyover Skylark and Snipe, plus 50+ Chaffinches and 100+ Redwings. A late Wheatear at Rousse that afternoon and a Teal at Pulias Pond on 31st finished the month off. Another disappointing October for Guernsey rarities, rescued slightly by the excellent Desert Wheatear.

The wet and windy weather meant that very little moth-trapping was done, but I managed a couple of nights during half-term with the southerly winds suggesting I might get a few migrants. Two Scarce Bordered Straws were the first for ages, one being a really dark individual, and a Dark Chestnut was again the first for years.

Just A Bird

Just A Bird

Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

Just A Bird

November 2022

October 2022

Just A Bird