February 2025
/February sightings included a true historic moment for Guernsey birds, with the first ever pair of Great Crested Grebes nesting on the island and laying an egg. I had heard that the long-staying pair of GCGrebes had built a nest in the middle arm of the Reservoir, so with an hour or so spare on 15th February, I went to have a look. The nest was surprisingly easy to find, right at the start of the walk and right out in the middle of the inlet. I was pleased to see the single bird sitting there but was even more pleased, when the bird pushed off for a swim, there was a single white egg in the nest. This species has never bred here before, and if fact hardly ever gets seen in freshwater habitats, so this was superb to see. It is very early in the year, so whether the eggs hatch or not remains to be seen.
Great Crested Grebe - Reservoir, 15 Feb 25
Great Crested Grebe - Reservoir, 15 Feb 25
After here I visited a few spots in the pleasant late-winter sun, and saw some Cattle Egrets along Rue des Hougues, Castel in their usual fields, and saw the wintering Scaup bathing furiously in the new pond along Rue des Bergers, where the Mute Swan was hanging out.
Cattle Egret - Rue des Hougues, Castel, 15 Feb 25
Cattle Egret - Rue des Hougues, Castel, 15 Feb 25
Cattle Egret - Rue des Hougues, Castel, 15 Feb 25
Cattle Egrets - Rue des Hougues, Castel, 15 Feb 25
Scaup - Grande Mare GC, 15 FEB 25
Scaup - Grande Mare GC, 15 FEB 25
As usual, the rest of the month was pretty quiet for birds. There was a Little Grebe in the quarry near the house on 2nd - I’ve not seen one on there for ages. I drove past the Mute Swan on the way to work on 12th as it swam in Albecq Bay and Sandwich Tern, Razorbill and Great Northern Diver were all recorded on patch. On 27th I went to Foulon Cemetery to see one of the Hawfinches and hopefully photograph one but, as is my wont, all I got was a couple of brief flight views between trees.
65 Brent Geese - first light at a calm Vazon Bay, 11 Feb 25
Buzzard - Vazon, 18 Feb 25 - the Fort Hommet Buzzard is getting a little too cocky!
Buzzard - Vazon, 18 Feb 25 - a pic through the car window
A little time at the microscope looking at wasps was quite fruitful with 3 species of Cerceris identified, including Cerceris arenaria, new to me, and the non-British spider-hunting wasp Evagetes siculus. I also finally managed to identify, using a decent key found online, one of the large nocturnal orange wasps that I regularly see at windows, or at MV light. It turned out to be Enicospilus inflexus, a new species for Guernsey. ID wasn’t too tricky as it has a distinctively shaped, bendy vein in the wing.
Enicospilus inflexus - garden, 10 Aug 24, to MV
Fence lichens - reservoir, 15 Feb 25
Winter Heliotrope leaves - Reservoir, 15 Feb 25
