Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

The first weekend of November can be pretty good for migration here and often produces a good variety of late birds. So as I headed along Rocquaine coast road late in the morning of Saturday 7th I was optimistic of seeing something decent. However, what I didn’t expect was to casually glance through the windscreen and see a Hoopoe feeding in someone’s front garden! I wasn’t really paying attention and just looked down to the left of the road and thought “hmm, there’s a Hoopoe” - quite strange really. There had been a brief sighting of a Hoopoe two days previously up at Pleinmont and this was probably the same bird which had just moved up the coast a mile or so. This is the first Hoopoe that I have bumped into myself in Guernsey after all these years, which is surprising (even though it was probably not the first sighting of this individual, I’d say this still qualifies as a ‘self-found’). I jumped out and took some pics only for a very selfish cretin to walk right past the bird and flush it, when it was blatantly obvious I was taking photos. I couldn’t re-find it but it did stay in the area for a few days and was appreciated by the local photographers who got much better results than me. November is very late for a Hoopoe and, especially since it seemed quite dark, I wondered if it might have been of the eastern, Asian race (I can only find one record later than this, back in 1974).

When I finally got to Pleinmont, there wasn’t much to shout about - six each of Firecrest and Chiffchaff in the woods, but no late rare Phylloscs. A quick call on the way home at Prevote, then Bigard where there was a brief but showy Siskin in an Alder.

Conditions looked quite promising the next day and I headed back up to Pleinmont for first light. There did seem to be a lot of birds around by the car park first thing - plenty of thrushes flying about, and a Firecrest, plus a very late Garden Warbler. It felt really good and when Wayne and Mark joined me in the search I was sure we were going to find something. However, our efforts didn’t result in anything rare but it was nice late autumn birding on the headland nevertheless. Two Reed Buntings by the weedy strip looked new in, and we had at least 12 Firecrests today - but that was it really.

Mid-month was very quiet and conditions were generally poor. On 11th I called in to see two possible Goosanders reported but they turned out to be two pretty showy Red-breasted Mergansers in the bay between Grandes Rocques and Port Soif. I also called in to see a distant Pink-footed Goose in the fields behind Vale Pond.

Red-breasted Mergansers - La Port aux Malades, 11 Nov 20

On 20th I popped to Jaonneuse to see 3 Purple Sandpipers feeding on the beach and on 21st it was to Barras Lane fields to see if the 3 Canada Geese were still present and there were also 2 Wigeon here in the flooded fields which was unusual. After this I called in at Garenne which is excellent for wintering Chiffchaffs and where I hoped to see some other late Phyllosc. There were at least 5 Chiffchaffs and 2 Firecrests. On 23rd there was both Great Crested Grebe and Great Northern Diver at Vazon which both looked new in and there was up to six Ravens at Fort Hommet around this period which was a good count.

On 28th I popped to the Foulon as I had to while away an hour and saw a Firecrest and 4 Siskins. I popped back to Barras Lane on 29th to check on the geese and saw that the Pink-footed Goose had moved here now, hiding amongst the Greylags. The 3 Canada Geese were still present and were giving the local feral Barnacles quite a bit of stick, chasing them and honking. I wonder if they might be becoming territorial and we may get a breeding attempt next summer.

Canada and Barnacle Geese - Barras Lane, 29 Nov 20

Pink-footed Goose - Barras Lane, 29 Nov 20

I don’t usually bother with the moth trap in November but with lots of reports of Radford’s Flame Shoulder from around the country, I thought I’d better give it a go as I still needed said moth. So I put it out on 8th and got a decent selection of species, including a new one for the garden, a Red-green Carpet, which was a nice surprise. I’d emptied all the trays out of he trap and was a little disappointed not to get a Radford’s Flame Shoulder, but when I removed the final bit of covering wood, I saw a sneaky one hiding underneath. I understand it has been the best autumn ever for this species and it was another tick in a great autumn of moths for me.

Radford's Flame Shoulder - garden, 8 Nov 20

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.

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.

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….

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.

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Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

Just A Bird

November 2020

October 2020 part ii

Just A Bird