Saturday 12th August 2017

During the summer there seemed to be a lot of interesting seabirds present around UK waters, a lot more than usual. The pelagic trips off the south-west were seeing plenty of birds and the south coast headlands were getting lots of large shearwaters. This encouraged me to start some seawatching quite early this year, especially as people had been seeing smaller shearwaters flocking at various spots around the island. With a bit of a northerly wind direction on 25th July I joined a few of the boys for a seawatch off Jaonneuse. We had a decent selection for so early in the season with over a hundred each of Manx and Balearic Shearwaters constantly present offshore in feeding groups. We had a few Common Scoter, up to 40 'Commic' Terns, 13 Kittiwakes - which was unusual in mid-summer, 7 Med Gulls and my first Bonxie of the autumn. The highlights for me though were a Puffin and a Storm Petrel. I cannot recall ever seeing these species before on a proper autumn seawatch. I think all my local Stormies have been in the spring at dusk and all my Puffins have been seen around the Herm area (I could check on this but that would require a little effort and time....).

The next day on 27th July, the conditions were similar but, unfortunately, I was not able to go seawatching as I was looking after the munchkins whilst Rosie was working. Early in the morning at 9-ish I received a gripping grapevine text that a Great Shearwater had passed Chouet. Damn it! If only that had been yesterday. Oh well, that's how it goes - and I carried on with my day. Then again, at 11-ish, there was a second, more exciting grapevine message - the Great Shearwater had been seen again! This time, Kevin had seen it sat on the sea with a large flock of Manx Shearwaters. OMG!! What the hell to do?! Anais was still in her jimjams and it would take me a little while to get there and it was unlikely to stay that long. Gulp!

I decided to get all ready to go and try to find out news. If I knew it was still there, I'd be ready to dash straight off. Very soon after, I received a text from Wayne - "Got the Great Shearwater!" - Bleepin' Bleep!! I texted straight back "Now??" - he replied "No". I was not coping, so I gave him a ring. He told me that he'd seen it a bit ago in the flock but that he'd not seen it for a little while. However he suspected there was a good chance it was still around, as the shearwater flock was staying put and the birds were milling back and forth all the time. I grabbed Anais and we jumped in the car.

We sped to Chouet and parked up, feeling certain that I'd be too late - it had been a good hour since Kevin had first seen it on the sea. Me and Anais scuttled up the path behind the tip, screeching to a halt behind the seawatching hide. From inside the hide, Wayne turned round and shouted "Quick - it's here NOW!" and almost dragged me through the hide door. He thrusted his binoculars into my hands and I frantically scanned the sea off the headland. A couple of others in the hide were shouting directions, and suddenly, there it was! A superb Great Shearwater skimming the waves. A Guernsey tick and not even through my own bins!

Apparently, I was very fortunate. Wayne had not seen the bird at all since he texted me and it had only reappeared just before I bowled up. I quickly sorted out my 'scope and saw the bird very well as it moved back and forth between the flocks. There were lots and lots of shearwaters in loose flocks all across the vista and many of them were really close in, well in front of the reef. I never thought I'd get Great Shear so close it was easily identifiable with a pair of bins. It drifted off after a few minutes and we couldn't find it for a while until it reappeared further back, just in front of the reef. The pics below are my poor attempt at record shots, although they are pretty much identifiable! (For better shots when the bird was closer in, see Andy's shots HERE and HERE). I couldn't stay much longer as Anais was getting mischievous and starting to climb up my tripod, but I was so amazed that I'd managed to twitch a Great Shearwater. I am not sure that the bird was seen again after our sighting. I'd ticked both large shearwaters for my Guernsey list in less than a week! 

Great Shearwater - Chouet, 26 Jul 17

Great Shearwater - Chouet, 26 Jul 17

This was not my first ever Great Shearwater however. My only previous sighting of the species was a rather odd one, on our BUBO lads trip to Cornwall in autumn 1991 when I was 19. We'd had an interesting day exploring various spots around Cornwall on 14th September, ticking off both Woodchat Shrike and Aquatic Warbler for my list, and were celebrating by drinking a few beers in a St. Just pub. I volunteered to take the ten pence pieces into the phone box outside to phone Birdline South-west to see what had turned up today and almost dropped the receiver when I heard "....1500 Great Shearwaters off Porthgwarra...."!!!! We had been totally unaware that there was a massively massive passage of Great Shears passing right under our noses - we'd even been to Porthgwarra that day! Of course, that wouldn't happen nowadays with bird news at the fingertips. Needless to say, we stumbled out of our tent in the morning to make sure we were in situ for first light and were grateful that the passage had continued. We recorded 700+ Great Shearwaters that morning but unfortunately they never stuck in my memory very well, as nearly all of them were quite distant and I had quite basic optics at the time.

Gold Spot - garden, 30 Jul 17

In the second week of the holidays we had a visit from my sister and her family on their biennial trip to Guernsey. One thing we always do during this time is a intensive rockpooling session and this year we chose Lihou Causeway and I had plenty of new species including some of the creatures below. My favourite was an actual living Ormer which looked incredible up close. Bright green and full of character, peering out of his shell. I don't know why people eat shellfish as they do not look at all appetising.

"The Rockpool Ninjas" - Lihou Causeway, 8 Aug 17

Ormer - Lihou Causeway, 8 Aug 17.jpg

Ormer - Lihou Causeway, 8 Aug 17

Spiny Starfish - Lihou Causeway, 8 Aug 17

Spiny Starfish - Lihou Causeway, 8 Aug 17

Squat Lobster - Lihou Causeway, 8 Aug 17

Long-spined Sea Scorpian - Lihou Causeway, 8 Aug 17.jpg

Small-headed Clingfish - Lihou Causeway, 8 Aug 17.jpg

Maera grossimana - Lihou Causeway, 8 Aug 17.jpg

The wind swung around to the north again on 10th August and so I went for another seawatching session at Jaonneuse. There were not lots of birds passing but it was a still brilliant because, as well as the 7 Arctic Skuas and 3 Bonxies, we recorded a really nice Pomarine Skua - and it had spoons - not massive spoons, but spoons nonetheless. 

On the next day, 11th August, there were no plans at all for birding as I had my car booked in to be looked at, since it was not starting properly. I always take my bag with my bins and camera almost everywhere I go (much to Rosie's chagrin) but as I was going to be leaving my car at the garage for the day, I thought there was no point in taking them just to bring them back. I should have known that would be a big mistake! As I was waiting for Rosie to collect me, the guy had already had a quick look at the car, saw what the problem was and said I could drive home whilst he ordered a new starter motor. Simple.

So, I casually drove back along the west coast in the sun, singing along to my CDs when, as I was passing Portinfer, I saw a large flock of Starlings perched all along the house roofs. I looked to the left, and through the windscreen, perched up on the chimney was a classy, pink as you like, adult Rose-coloured Starling. It was weird because everything seemed to go in slow motion, like in a film when the cop spots the suspect as he drives down the road, and the film slows right down as they clock each other. Despite it being a fleeting moment, I had a very good view for a few seconds.

Of course, there's nowhere to stop along there and there were cars behind me, so I carried on and turned up towards the Portinfer car park and reached for my bins. Oh crap! So I ran back to the road where I saw it, to try and get a record shot on my phone but I could not find the bird at all. I informed some other people and when they arrived I'd hoped to be able to borrow some bins to look at the bird, but it was still being annoyingly absent. I didn't have much time to play with as I'd arranged a trip to Castle Cornet with the family, but I thought it was worth speeding home to grab my gear whilst it was still being looked for. Returning to the site and chatting with the lady whose garden all the Starlings were feeding in, she said she had seen it earlier on her feeders. I had driven past this spot lots of times in the last week and not seen any Starling flocks so maybe some had arrived all of a sudden, bringing the Rosy with them. We went up and down the road a few times to no avail and I eventually had to depart. Luckily, Wayne stuck around for a while longer and managed to get a few snaps of the bird (below). What a corker - and "self-found" on my patch as well. This was actually the first pink Rose-coloured Starling that I had ever seen so it was a shame it was so brief. Although beggers can't be choosers and I reckon I am on a run of luck at the moment so I ain't gonna complain!

Rose-coloured Starling - Portinfer, 11 Aug 17

Firing the Noon-day Gun, Castle Cornet, Aug 17

Castle Cornet, Aug 17

Clock mechanism, Castle Cornet

Small Tortoiseshell, Castle Cornet, 11 Aug 17

Friday 21st July 2017

This post covers the time between the end of the spring migration and the end of the school year. There is not usually a great amount of birds seen during this period, mainly because I don't actively go out birding at this time of year. However, I usually see some stuff whilst out and about, but the focus is generally on insects. On 4th June, I had a bit of time at Silbe and had about 5 new species of invertebrate and also a singing Firecrest in a traditional spot.

Nowadays, I rarely stumble into a new macro moth during the daytime, but on a dog walk on L'Ancresse Common on 10th June I disturbed something from the grass which, upon investigation, I was not surprised to see was a Mother Shipton moth. I say I wasn't surprised because this was a species that I had planned to search for this summer since there had been a few records recently in the L'Ancresse area. But I didn't have to search because it was just there! I found three individuals in just a short stretch. I believe that this species must be a new arrival to Guernsey in the last few years because if it had been present throughout, then I am sure I would have noticed it. The pattern on the forewing is meant to resemble an old crone, hence the name.

Mother Shipton - L'Ancresse, 10 Jun 17

I popped to the pond at the back of Port Soif Nature Trail on 13th June to see if there were any Reed Warblers present. There are a few small patches of reedbed within the borders of my coastal patch, but this is the only place that I've definitely had Reed Warblers breed. However, I couldn't find any here last year, so I was very pleased that there were a few calling and active birds present. I managed to get photos of a very young juvenile, just out of the nest. It shows you how quickly the birds get on with it, since the adult Reed Warblers probably didn't arrive at the pond until late April, and since then they have built a nest, courted, mated, laid, incubated, hatched, fed the young a thousand times and then saw them fledge. They don't hang around.

Reed Warbler youngster - Port Soif Nature Trail Pond, 13 Jun 17

Blue-tailed Damselflies - Port Soif Nature Trail Pond, 13 Jun 17

On 20th June, after work, I called in at Ronez Nature Trail to check on the nesting success of 'Species X' and, as it was a hot day, there was lots of bees feeding on the Ox-eye daisies and other flowers. I have been trying to improve my bee knowledge recently but it is very difficult since many species look very similar in the field and it's hard to know which ones to focus attention on. However, I did notice a stumpy little species, with dashes rather than stripes on its abdomen which was clearly something new. Upon investigation, it proved to be a new genus for me - Epeolus variegatus, or the Back-thighed Epeolus Bee. Incidentally, 'Species X' had done very well with 3 well-grown chicks about to be fledged.

Black-thighed Epeolus Bee (Epeolus variegatus) -  Ronez Nature Trail, 20 Jun 17

Each year I am so slow to get the moth trap out and working, and each year I say that I will make more of an effort next year. I think it is that I am so preoccupied with birding during the spring, it doesn't enter my head. Also, it relies on decent weather on a Friday or Saturday night which are the only days I can do it during term time. But I eventually got my bott into gear and on 7th July I got my first new species for the garden, the Small Marbled. This wasn't a surprise as there were lots seen of this migrant in the UK at the time. What was a surprise was that it was so small - it looked more like a micro. As I was more interested in this rarity, I didn't really pay attention to the slightly odd Willow Beauty I popped into the fridge. Only after looking at it properly later, I worked out that it was a Mottled Beauty, another new species for the garden! Two new ones in one night - I can't remember when that happened last. Mottled Beauty is very common in the UK but strangely scarce and local on the island.

Small Marbled - garden, 7 Jul 17

One of the first signs of autumn on the island is the appearance of the Mediterranean Gulls post-breeding. On 13th July I drove past two stunning adults on Cobo beach, and then three the next day. They looked so good, I scampered down the beach to take some photos of them against the dark seaweed.

Mediterranean Gull - Cobo, 14 Jul 17

Mediterranean Gull - Cobo, 14 Jul 17

Eventually the final week of the working year arrived which, in our school, is always Activities Week. This week can be pretty good for wildlife spotting - (see Black Stork last year) - but it depends on which activities I have been put down for. This year was pretty good as I was helping with the "island-hopping" activity. On the Monday (17th) we had the school's annual sponsored walk. All the way from Petit Bot back to Town - quite a tough one! Birds I had along the way included singing Firecrests in both Petit Bot and Moulin Huet valleys, and a pair of noisy Peregrines around Jerbourg. I really must push for a sponsored walk in migration time.

The next day (18th) was a trip to Herm. Nothing much interesting on the bird front apart from an odd first-summer Kittiwake hanging around Jethou, but I did see a new plant growing right next to a path I'd walked down loads of times before - Carline Thistle. I really don't know how I'd missed it before as there were several in the area. Whilst we were there, a massive storm suddenly appeared and, as we made our way back towards the village from Shell Beach, the sky in front of us was black as coal and cracks of lightning jabbed the water to the south. Many of the kids were genuinely worried and we had to shelter in the pub as the rain viciously pounded the island. Luckily, it was just a passing storm and the boat back was fine. However, later that evening, the skies to the north of the island were being constantly lit up by the most persistent and violent lightning storm I've ever witnessed as far as I can remember. The sky-filling flashes were going off every few seconds for twenty minutes or so and, in the gaps in the clouds, we could see forked lightning dancing every which way. I managed a bit of video footage - quite spectacular. 

Carline Thistle - Herm, 18 Jul 17

Lightning storm to the north of Guernsey

The next day (19th) we went to Sark. I had not been there for literally a decade or so, and I had forgotten how great it is. The boat over was great, bouncing across the Little, then Great Russel. I saw the same first-year Kittiwake as we passed Jethou, and then had a close Balearic Shearwater closer to Sark, and also a probable Sooty Shearwater a little further off. Another thing that I hadn't done for a decade or so is ride a bike - but apparently it is something that you will always remember how to do. So we hired some bikes and covered a lot of the island, included my first trip across the famous Coupee to Little Sark. I really enjoyed the biking although my bot-bot became a little tender. As expected, Sark was full of insects - everyone says how much more there are always on this island than elsewhere - but I didn't have chance to stop and look at them. There wasn't much birds to see apart from Swifts flocking over Little Sark and Peregrines by the harbour.

La Coupee, looking from Little Sark - 19 Jul 17

The next day (20th) was a brief trip to Jersey. Due to Condor's helpful ferry timetabling, we didn't set off until lunchtime and only managed a few hours on the larger island. The trip over was on the Liberation, the first time I'd been on this newer ferry, and I had a whale of a time standing on the top as it bounced around the waves - felt like we were surfing! They may tell us that the Liberation is just as stable a boat as the old one, but it is so obviously not. Things were crashing off the shelves and it wasn't even slightly rough - no wonder it keeps being cancelled. As we approached Jersey I saw one or two Balearic Shearwaters quite well.

After an exciting afternoon of shopping (didn't join in), waterslides (didn't join in) and Pizza Hut (joined in like a maniac), the return journey was not until the evening, and this time on the slow ferry. As one of the year seven boys had a seasick-troubled journey over, he wanted to spend the whole time sat outside, so I volunteered to supervise* him rather than sit inside, even though the wind had picked up and it was quite blowy on deck. (*take my bins and do some seawatching). As Jersey started to get smaller behind us, I started to see a few shearwaters, both Balearic and Manx and so I started scanning with a little more intensity.

When we were approximately two-thirds of the way across, we passed a little pulse of feeding Balearics and also one of the kids spotted a dolphin jump out of the water. I managed to pick it up again behind the boat and saw that there were 3 or 4 Common Dolphins out there. As we got closer to Guernsey and were passing to the south of Sark it was starting to get a little dusky and we sailed through a spread-out feeding group of 20 or so Manx Shearwaters, a few of which were sitting on the water. As I was looking through these, a larger bird caught my eye, flying slightly away from me, just forward of straight out, and pretty close in, which immediately looked interesting. It was clearly shearwater-like but not the same jizz as the Manxies I had been watching. The bird looked larger and rangier, with longer wings, much more gull-like than the Manx. It had a slower movement, with none of the fast flaps and sudden changes of angle that you see with the smaller shearwaters. My immediate thought was "Crikey - that's a Cory's Shearwater!".

The difference in size soon became obvious when it flew right past a Manx Shearwater and was definitely much larger. My first thought was to double-check it wasn't a young Gannet but I couldn't see the head very well from the angle it was flying and also, I was struggling to keep my bins really still. It then swooped round a bit so I could see the underparts well and the plumage indicated it was definitely not a Gannet. From what I could see, the upperparts were quite plain and were looking quite dark in the dusky light, but not dark like a Manx. It had more of a greyer or maybe browner 'frosted' tone to dark upperparts, but not the more obvious deep brown colouration of a Balearic.

The underparts were white throughout, apart from the underwing which had a very obvious dark blackish border all the way round. This was a clear and distinct field mark which could be seen well even in the dusky light conditions. I looked in particular for any dark markings in the 'arm pit' area or the flanks, but these were very clean. The head was difficult to see as the bird was slightly pointing away still and it almost seemed to 'disappear' against the grey of the sea. Unfortunately I was not able to be certain that I saw a pale bill. I was now certain that it wasn't a Great Shearwater since I would have noticed a dark cap and pale collar at such close range, and there were no other markings seen on the underwing.

I shuffled a bit on the deck as the boat rocked a little, and lost the bird temporarily as I had to turn around to admonish some children who were running on deck! I found it again quickly though, but it was now a bit further out and had changed direction flying right to left. It had gained a little speed and was being more of a shearwater, gliding over the surface, dark then light, then dark, then light etc. As I knew what it was now, I just enjoyed it flying around as it got further and further away.

I was pretty shocked, as Cory's Shearwater is something I have never seen before in British or Channel Island waters. Not surprised really, as there had been plenty of large shearwaters seen in the English Channel in recent weeks, but shocked nonetheless. I never expected to get a tick on a school trip. The only Cory's I have seen were the ones we used to see in the evenings off Eilat North Beach, Israel, as well as the Scopoli's we saw in Corsica in April.

When I got home I investigated where I must have been when I saw the bird. I had the time - between 8 45 and 8 50 - so I looked on the sea-vessel tracking website to see where the ferry had got to at that time. I also noted that the sun was just about to disappear behind Jerbourg pine forest, so I looked at a website which shows the direction of sunset from any point, and the location matched very well. On the map below I have circled the approx. position of the bird and as can clearly be seen, it is easily close enough to add Cory's to my Guernsey list.

Location of Cory's Shearwater sighting

Emperor Moth larva - Grandes Rocques, 21 Jul 17