Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

Lapwing - Rue des Hougues, Castel, 17 Dec 22

Midwinter birding on the island is totally dependent on the weather. I’m not especially talking about birds arriving here escaping from the cold, although that is the number one factor which makes a good winter. In migration periods it is worth sacrificing some dryness if it means getting out in the field to find something rare, but in winter it is not likely to pay dividends. Also, the darker evenings and mornings makes any pre- or post-work birding only viable if the skies are totally clear. Mid-winter birding needs a flexible schedule to make the most of fine weather windows. I do not have a flexible schedule.

3rd December was manky but I had a quick look over the wall at Richmond, Vazon where I was pleased to see the island’s first Water Pipit of the year flying around, in the company of a Black Redstart and a Bar-tailed Godwit. There was also a Black Redstart just up the road at Oatlands Lane.

There seems to be plenty of Cattle Egrets this winter and it was not unusual to come across a few whilst on my island-wide drives with the girl. The field below the Reservoir dam has 4 birds seemingly constantly there as I drive past and there is often a few in the fields alongside Route des Houget where the photos below were taken through the passenger door window.

Cattle Egret - Route de Houget, 11 Dec 22

At the end of the second week of December, snow and ice came down in the UK and pushed lots of Lapwings and Golden Plovers to Guernsey. During the next week or so, Lapwings were everywhere, even in very small fields and large gardens. Sometimes we get decent flocks to the island, more or less every winter there’ll be a few, but unusually they seem to have dispersed more this year, not staying in their groups as much. So it was difficult to estimate numbers but no doubt a few thousand Lapwings and a few hundred Golden Plovers. The photos below were of a particularly showy bird in the same spot as the Cattle Egret photos were taken. I went out on 17th to search for weather-pushed birds, but apart from the plovers there didn’t seem to be a lot else arrived. Two Tufted Ducks were at the Reservoir along with 7 Teal.

Lapwing - Route Des Houget, St. Saviours, 17 Dec 22

The same day, since it was actually sunny for a change, I continued down to Rocquaine because there had been a Red-throated Diver there recently. I soon found it from the fish factory, with also a Great Northern Diver just to the south. Walking up the beach towards the Red-throat, I was surprised to see that it was coming much closer each time it dived and taking up a position on the rocks by the waters edge, I watched it as it came really close for some great photos. Being able to go out when the tide is high makes a massive difference to successful birding. After 23 years of not seeing a Red-throated Diver in Guernsey, I had now seen two in three months.

Red-throated Diver - Rocquaine, 17 Dec 22

The year finished with the Xmas holiday weather being completely dreadful. Some sightings from the final week being a Great Northern Diver finally returning to Grandes Havres, a Little Grebe in St. Sampsons harbour on 23rd and, later that afternoon, the absolute breathless excitement of a first-winter Common Gull flying NW over the house with some BHGs - only a full-fat garden tick! Get in ya’ beauty!!!!!

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.

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