Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

Species for December was Great Northern Diver with plenty of sightings along the patch. There was one bird in Vazon and at least two between Pulias and Rousse during the month. On 7th, after a hard day at work, I went to Vazon as the light was getting low and could see a G N Diver feeding in the bay. It was low tide and I walked across the sand to the water’s edge. The air was still and the sea was like a mirror and it was great experience to watch the bird feeding in the shallows.

Little else of excitement was noted during the month. An adult Kittiwake briefly flew round Grandes Havres on 1st and the Pink-footed and Canada Geese were still at Barras Lane on 19th. Ravens built up to 7 birds on the patch, perhaps more. The Xmas holidays were poor weather-wise and there wasn’t a chance to really get out in the field. The year ended on a bit of a damp squib, which pretty much sums up 2020 as a whole - here’s to a better 2021.

gull flock - L’Eree Shingle Bank, 12 Dec 20

Black Swan with Canada Geese - Barras Lane, 19 Dec 20

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

Just A Bird

Just A Bird

Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

Just A Bird

December 2020

November 2020

Just A Bird