Sun 3rd March 2013

The end of the winter has arrived and the sun appeared to welcome us into March. The birding highlight for me was the Barn Owl that I saw along my road - the first one I have ever seen in our immediate neighbourhood. Driving out at dusk on Tuesday I spotted one feeding over the large sloping field towards Capelles School. I couldn't stop but I returned two evenings later and positioned myself tucked in a hedge. As I was so well hidden and I barely moved, when the owl came in to hunt, it stopped and hovered just 10 yards in front of me. Definitely my closest ever Barn Owl - superb.

Apart from that it was my usual no-birding February, but I did see the Black Brant at Fort le Crocq one day when I was chomping on my sandwiches.

Black Brant - Fort le Crocq, 19 Feb 2013

 Pied Wagtail - Cobo, 1 March 2013

My pan-species listing is going along fine and I have got up to 232 species so far, which I think is pretty good progress. A few highlights below. More detail on the challenge, and also lots of interesting posts from other people on the 1000for1KSQ website.

 Parophonus maculicornis - garden, 20 Feb 13 - a beetle, notable because this is a non-british species [not identified by me I hasten to add!]

Silverfish - kitchen, 25 Feb 2013

Schrenkensteinia festaliella - garden, 2 Mar 2013

Wed 13th March 2013

SNOWMAGEDDON!!!

March was tootling along nicely. The flowers and insects were beginning to appear, the bird song went on all day, the first migrant Sand Martins and Wheatears had been sighted, and then..... SMASH!! It didn't just snow, it SNOWED!

Monday morning we were sat in the staff room looking out of the window wondering why we hadn't been sent home yet since the snow was falling faster and faster. After a couple of hours we were  finally set free and I picked up Aidan from school in the jeep. We got home just in time because in the afternoon the wind picked up and the snow fell denser and harder, until it really was blizzard conditions. The drifts were deep enough for people to abandon their cars and walk home like Scott of the Antarctic.

View from the bedroom

Such conditions in Guernsey hadn't happened since the 70's so this was certainly a novelty. Despite the wind the kids were desperate to get out and play.

The wind seemed to be gale force at times, and with the weight of the sticking snow, many trees came down - at least 50 fell across the island. One of our neighbours across the road had one fall on their house.

The next day the wind had died down but it still snowed for hours and we were all off school. Some folk wonder why Guernsey can't seem to cope with any snow and that other countries can still get on with life without shutting down. But they tend to forget that all these places have snow-ploughs, gritters, massive piles of salt and teams of people to clear the roads. We have a couple of blokes sharing a shovel (almost), and even the main roads are one step beyond treacherous.

I managed to go out for a walk round the lanes to see what was around and noticed that Redwings had reappeared locally and there were Meadow Pipits feeding underneath the trees. A Skylark appeared out of the white sky and high above Epinelle Road a crow mobbed a super Short-eared Owl flapping its way northwards.

Short-eared Owl - over Baubigny, 12 Mar 2013

During today, the snow and ice in the lowlands melted very quickly and we had hardly any left by tea-time. I went out for a bit of birding, mainly to see the Avocet that was feeding in the saltmarsh on the Old Aerodrome.

Avocet - L'Eree, 13 March 2013

The sun came out and I had a lovely half-hour down on the West coast. Three different Marsh Harriers were wandering around, a first-year Med Gull fed off the Shingle Bank and the Pink-footed Goose flock were still present bathing in the pools. The most unusual sighting was the flock of 12 Jackdaw that appeared high over head heading North, then U-turning to head back south again. At Fort le Crocq I saw the Water Pipit, which must be thinking about heading back South again to the mountains, and also a migrant Skylark. Some nice birding to end a memorable few days on the island.

Kestrel - Fort le Crocq, 13 March 2013 

Before the snow-days the birding highlight was three Reed Buntings feeding at Pulias, and the non-birding highlight was a new moth species for the garden - Acleris ferrugana - in the moth trap's first outing of the year.

Acleris ferrugana - garden, 9 Mar 13

Sat 30th March 2013

Well it might be Spring, but it is too bloney cold! Never have I known such constant icy winds at this time of the year. However, one of the satisfying things about birding is that the birds are ever so predictable. That may sound like it's boring, but it's actually quite reassuring. Whatever ups and downs are going on in my busy life, I know that the Wheatears and Sand Martins will return in the first two weeks of March, then the Swallows and House Martins will appear a couple of weeks later. The annual calendar of the birds as a background to the maelstrom of the modern world relaxes me.

White Wagtail - Vazon, 30 Mar 13 - a typical mid-March arriving migrant.

Even though the temperatures this Easter holiday have been so so cold, it hasn't made hardly any difference to the migrants. All the predicted species have been arriving, just as they always do, and all at about the expected dates. It is very unusual to see a species arriving weeks earlier than expected. It makes sense because, as far as I know, these birds leave their wintering grounds triggered by changes in day length rather than weather conditions. How on earth would a Swallow know it's cold in the UK when it is in Africa? It takes them a certain length of time to get here and if they get here too early then they may not survive.

In all my years birding, I can count on one hand when I've seen a bird more than a week or so before I expected it. It is one of the key factors in successful bird identification - know what you expect to see before you see it. Apart from proper rarities, I am rarely surprised. So if you think you've seen something really early, I suggest you think again.

Meadow Pipit - Vazon, 30 Mar 13

After the blizzards it took no time at all for all the snow to melt and it was finally on the 18th that I saw my first Wheatears of the year at Pulias. Only five days later I noted my first 2 Swallows powering north over the fields near home, with Sand Martins on the same day. Also of note was a Firecrest feeding in a garden along our road on 27th.

A couple of days ago, on the 28th, I went out for my first proper migrant hunt. I was keen to see some Ring Ouzels that had been present at Pleinmont for a few days but these were nowhere to be seen, and apart from at least 40 Wheatear there was little else on the headland. However, I did spot the first 4 House Martins for the year arriving in off the cliffs. Down at L'Eree there was both a Little Ringed Plover and a Black-tailed Godwitfeeding on the pools on the Aerodrome.

On the beach at Vazon I was admiring the Rock Pipits feeding in the seaweed and quickly took a few snaps of some very bright birds which I expected were Scandinavian-raced individuals. I didn't think much of it until I got home and looked at the photos and saw that they were brighter than I thought and were probably Water Pipits.

Water Pipit - Vazon, 28 Mar 13

I wasn't sure so I returned today to have a proper look at them and there were two birds present which showed all the features of Water Pipits. I was a bit rusty on breeding-plumaged Water Pipits and haven't seen any for a while. These were excellent birds, the blue-grey head contrasting with the brown back was very distinctive. I made a few notes on the not-so-good photos I took of them:

Also whilst I was waiting there the wintering Black Brant suddenly came up onto the beach with other Brents to drink from the fresh stream water. This is the first time I've seen it at all close and I looked for signs of any hybridisation but I couldn't see any. Managed a few snaps but it was in and out before I could get any really good ones.

Black Brant - Vazon, 30 Mar 13

The other notable bird of the last few days was also on 28th when the grapevine text told me of a drake Garganey just up the road at Vale Pond. A nice start to what I hope will be a rarity-filled Spring.

male Garganey with Teal - Vale Pond, 28 Mar 13

The icy easterly winds have certainly not been conducive for any moth trapping but I speculatively put it out on 27th as the wind had died a little, and was rewarded with an Oak Beauty. I have seen 3 others in Guernsey but this was the first record for the garden.

Oak Beauty - garden, 27 Mar 13

My 1000 for 1KSQ challenge is progressing well, although the cold weather means that the invertebrates are not out as early as they can be. I am on 282 species, so well over 1/4 of the way there. I have bought a couple of beetle books and the new hoverfly book so I am getting more tooled up to identify more species.

Eristalis pertinax - garden - the only species of hoverfly out and about so far.

rove beetle sp. - garden - there are over 1000 species of this family in Britain so I have practically nil chance of identifying these!

Sun 14th April 2013

Thank God. Spring has finally arrived. This year has been the slowest start to spring migration that I can ever remember. Those endless days of cold winds stopped everything in their tracks and they didn't seem especially keen to continue, even after the winds changed.  We don't have many weeks of proper migration to savour in the year, so these couple of weeks wasted are a shame. It's only really been this weekend that there has been an obvious surge of migrants. I had a quick stroll around Fort Doyle this morning and there were scores of tired Wheatears all along the coastline plus a female Black Redstart. Very little variety though for the time of the month.

male Wheatear - Fort Doyle, 14 Apr 13

Going back to the final few cold days of the Easter holidays, on 4th April, since nothing was coming in, I went for another look at the Water Pipits at Vazon as they were staying much later than any of our wintering birds usually do. They were looking even more resplendent and I soon realised that I was looking at three birds - an extra bird had appeared. A few days later, on 7th, I looked again and saw that two birds were still present and I think that there may have been a 4th, but one in less obvious, more winter-plumage. It was a real treat studying these "pink and blue"  pipits feeding with the wagtails in the vraic. Water Pipits have always been special birds for me because they were the first "rare" birds I ever found. OK, they aren't that rare, but Yorkshire is quite far North, and the two birds I found on the bank of the River Aire when I was a teenager were the first ever record for Swillington Ings. It's all relative.

Water Pipit - Vazon, 7 Apr 13 

This bird (above) was, I think, probably another Water Pipit but I couldn't get a good photo or clear views. It is very unstreaked below and is also very whitish on the underparts, brown above with greyer head, but appeared to lack any pink yet. 

Rock Pipit - Vazon, 7 Apr 13 

Garganey - Vale Pond, 11 Apr 13 - still present and a bit closer, and as you can just see on the photo, I was listening to it calling quietly.

Little Egret - Pulias, 9 Apr 13

So, as you can see, although it is nice to get a few migrants in at last, it is hardly electrifying stuff. There's usually a few rarities on the island by now. Let's hope things heat up in the second half of the month. My 1000-species challenge is going fine despite the cold and I have hit 300 species, but the most spectacular non-avian beast I have found is shown below - a Black Oil Beetle, seemingly bursting at the abdomen. There were a few of these in the turf on the clifftop at Pleinmont.

Black Oil Beetle - Pleinmont, 7 Apr 13

Fri 3rd May 2013

I have gone well beyond my self-imposed limit of two weeks between posts because our school has been subjected to one of the "surprise" inspections by the school inspectors. Not a total surprise, but three weeks' notice to get all the paperwork in place and to plan (or over-plan) the lessons, has meant that I have spent most of my spare time working. I even went into school on a Sunday!

I did break off for a few hours though to go look at a Short-toed Lark in a potato field near Rue des Bergers. It showed very well in the scope but wasn't too forthcoming for the camera.

Short-toed Lark - Rue des Bergers, 20 Apr 2013

Also my 1000-species challenge has stalled somewhat, but I have been identifying a few species in the garden, including the best one, a jumping spider called Pseudeuophyris lanigera, which as far as I can tell is a new species for Guernsey.

Pseudeuophyris lanigera - garden, 30 Apr 13

Silver Y - garden, 27 Apr 2013 - the first migrant moth of the year

Lasioglossum calceatum/albipes - garden, 20 Apr 2013

So not a great deal to report, but April continues to be so cold. Even now, as the sun is shining, a nippy breeze is coming in from the NW. Looking at the forecast though, Sunday looks much, much warmer and this is the day of the annual Guernsey Bird Race. So my prediction is that "The Sultans of String" are going to pull out a Bee-eater!

Sun 5th May 2013

GUERNSEY BIRD RACE 2013

The Sunday before the May Day Bank Holiday is the official day for the Guernsey Bird Race and it has been for 27 years. Last year we didn't take part in the proper race as we did it on a different weekend, but this year we were back in the game. We did pretty well this year, but we are still waiting for the planets to align and us to achieve the magical one hundred species and nirvana.

The Sultans of String - myself, "5-sites" Mourant, The Gupster, and Sgt-Major Turner - the One Direction of the birding scene.

I'm just going to give a quick run down of the highlights of the day as I don't have any photos for illustration, because if your stopping to take photos on a bird race, you're doing it wrong!

Meeting up at half-four, we discover, as usual, that Mark and Chris had a Barn Owl from the car on the way, but it wasn't a problem as we all soon had a bird calling from near a nest box. Heading across to the Claire Mare at first light, we ticked off a couple of Snipe from the hide which can be elusive on bird race day and we lopped off plenty of common species as we slowly made our way south to Pleinmont to catch the early-morning migrants.

Up on the headland there was clearly not a fall of migrants but a Ring Ouzel perched up in Mabel's Field was a bonus. Here we also had flyover Tree Pipit and Yellow Wagtails, and a surprise was a Snipe flushed from the scramble track. Even more surprising was a Kittiwake passing offshore - I've never seen a Kittiwake from Pleinmont before. 49 species.

This year we didn't have to worry about catching high tide until late in the afternoon so we headed straight to Saumarez Park to try and find some singing warblers. Unfortunately neither Willow or Wood were forthcoming but we had good views of a Garden Warbler near the pond.

After ticking off Swift and Tufted Duck at Grande Mare we decided to head up to the north of the island, checking Pulias on the way. Just as we were looking for waders on the beach, Mark spotted a magnificent Short-eared Owl flapping in our direction. Definitely a bonus bird and a local patch tick for me too! It seemed to get spooked by the clay-pigeon shooters and appeared to head out to sea. 61.

After that we slowed down a bit, checking a few sites but nothing unexpected seen. Wayne had a bunting-type bird in flight at Ft Doyle but it disappeared quickly. Both Raven and Jackdaw flying over the Grand Pre were unusual, and a Common Sandpiper flew from Miellette beach. We headed for Town to catch the boat to Herm.

From the ferry we quite easily saw Guillemot and Puffin but couldn't see the more elusive Razorbills. Whilst waiting at the dock in Herm, we had just decided to leave without them when I managed to pick 3 up through the 'scope, close in against Jethou. So we returned straight away but at £3.83 per tick the auks were quite expensive! 72.

After a quick break at Jerbourg for a cuppa, the weather was amazing and we watched hirundines piling in off the sea. Next stop was Petit Bot where a male Firecrest was singing and showing excellently. We may have had a brief Wood Warbler here too but we weren't sure. Then whilst ticking off the Peregrines on the south cliffs, the other three saw a large, distant raptor heading inland. They were quite sure it was Osprey but couldn't be 100%. 

Now it was mid-afternoon, we were on 74 species and we had to start "mopping up". We visited various sites in the west with Claire Mare scoring us Shoveler, Greenshank and the elusive Heron. We spent quite a bit of time at Pleinmont but a Whinchat was the only news species, although we had both Garden Warbler and Firecrestat Vaux de Monel. Again, the other three saw a huge raptor way out over the sea which they thought was Osprey - perhaps the same bird - but they couldn't quite clinch it. 78.

As the tide had turned and it was starting to drop quickly, we turned our attention to waders and found four new species at Vazon - Bar-wit, Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Turnstone - and also (thanks to a kind tip-off from another birder) we raced back to L'Eree and ticked off a superb Golden Plover on the Old Aerodrome, which luckily flew in just as we gave up and were leaving. Now we were on 83.

Next was the Guet where Goldcrest was easily found calling in the pines, then Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard drumming and seen at a site on the outskirts of St. Peter Port. Bullfinches couldn't be found at Dell Nursery but we easily found them in the Talbot soon after - 86.

We then went to Port Soif to tick off Stonechat as we knew that there was a pair there. We never used to have to go to a specific site for this species, as we always just bumped into one - clearly in decline. 87.

Running out of species, we searched unsuccessfully for Grey Plover before grabbing some chips for tea. It was now well after 8 o'clock and the light was dimming so we headed off to Chouet for our usual evening seawatch. We didn't need the Manx Shearwaters we saw as we'd had one off Pleinmont earlier, but in the failing light we did see a few very very distant Storm Petrels way off shore. 88.

We were quite happy to finish on 88 although we knew that one more species was possible after dark - Long-eared Owl. We waved to one of the other teams who were sat in their car waiting for a LEO to emerge and we decided that we couldn't be bothered to do the same after a long day. So we headed home across L'Ancresse Common, and...... WHAM! A Long-eared Owl almost smashed into our windscreen as we drove away! Lucky is not the word. 89.

So we finished on 89, which turned out to be the highest score of the day. We felt we'd been quite lucky, so we were quite fortunate I suppose. We have been amazingly consistant in the Bird Race (when we have done it on the official date, and when we have completed a full day). In the last seven races we have had 88, 88, 89, 88, 88, 90, 89. So only two species variation in all those years. All our full races are shown on the graph below.

Maybe the magical 100 is now beyond us. Maybe it is due to species disappearing as breeders in Guernsey. Maybe it is due to declining numbers of migrant birds countrywide. But for us, the competition with the other teams isn't the important part. Our raison d'etre is always the 100-species Everest and we have to believe that perhaps next year will be the year.

Sun 19th May 2013

We're still awaiting the spring rarity here on the island, the one I need for 250 Guernsey birds. Although the bulk of the migrants have now passed through, I cling on to the age-old birding maxim, "the big one comes late and on its own". Meaning that the very rarest birds often arrive after the main migration has finished - very late May or early June - and so you can be wandering around seeing practically zero migrants, and then something mega pops up in front of you. It's always remembering that when the days are getting warmer and the birds are getting thinner on the ground.

Rarest bird of the first two weeks of May has been the young Spoonbill that spent a couple of days at the Claire Mare. Although, not so rare any more, it still feels and looks like a proper rarity. On Wednesday 8th, the day it was discovered by Chris B, I popped down to see it in my lunch hour and it was parading back and forth right in front of the hide. It didn't even mind about me noisily chomping on my Quavers as I tried to take some pics.

Spoonbill - Claire Mare, 8 May 13 - bit of an ugly, big-nosed bugger (don't say it.....)

My other favourite sighting was of a Tree Pipit at Pulias. Although it isn't exactly a rare species, rarely do I get to watch one at close range on the deck. This bird was feeding in the grass and when the dog walkers disturbed it, it went right into the middle of the Tamarisk clump, hopping around like a Dunnock under there.

Tree Pipit - Pulias, 16 May 13

Swallow - Pulias, 15 May 13

Just this morning, I reached 450 species for my '1000 for 1KSQ' pan-species listing challenge with a Poplar Hawk-moth in the moth trap. But easily the highlight of my insect-hunting was a tiny little moth I found on Friday. I first saw it perched on the kitchen wall in the morning, didn't recognise it, but failed to collect a pot in time as I was running around getting the kids ready for school. Luckily, later that afternoon I saw it again on the wall, just inches from the back door and I caught it, photo below.

Dryadaula pactolia - inside the house, 17 May 13

It seemed distinctively-marked and so I was surprised that I couldn't find it in any of my books. So I browsed the internet and soon found it - Dryadaula pactolia - related to the clothes moths. This was definitely a new species for the island and reading about it, there seems to be just a handful of records for the whole of Britain! Apparently, this species originally comes from Australia or New Zealand, but can be rarely found in distilleries and wine cellars in Europe as an adventive species. But what the hell is it doing in my kitchen?! I don't think there are going to be many wine cellars around here. I suspect that it pupated in a case of wine, which was then imported to Guernsey and then hatched out and flew into our kitchen. Nonetheless, a mega record!

White Woodlouse - garden, 11 May 13 - been looking for this ghost-like species all year. It only lives in ants' nests - it's a wonder how these things evolve for such niches.

Xanthogramma pedissequum - garden, 12 May 13 - a hoverfly, whose larvae apparently also live in the same ants' nests as the woodlouse.

Gooden's Nomad Bee - Les Effards, 12 May 13