Tuesday 31st December 2019

For me, early December birding typically consists of half-heartedly checking the odd bay from the car either on the way to, or way back from work. It’s not very ambitious but it’s not a very productive time of year historically. Nevertheless, the habit keeps me going and persistence does come up trumps every now and then. So on 3rd December I had a few spare minutes before work and so I had a quick scan from the car park at Vazon whilst I listened to the news on the radio. I picked up a brownish blob bobbing on the sea and thought it looked quite duckish. It was a little too far away in the bins and my best guess was that the Common Scoter had moved from Grandes Rocques and it was the same, long-staying bird. It needed checking though, so I set up my ‘scope for a better look although I was now running out of time. When I found the bird in the ‘scope, I was certainly surprised to see that it was actually a female-type LONG-TAILED DUCK. With its white head and dark cheek spot, it was very distinctive. I had to dash though and managed a quick grapevine message before leaving. This species is a rarity in Guernsey with only 14 previous records ever, even though this was my fourth here. Really chuffed that I had found something good I called back in at the end of school and the bird was still present, albeit at great distance on the lower tide.

Long-tailed Duck - Vazon, 3 Dec 19 - (the little smudge in the sea at the bottom)

The bird stayed around for the rest of the month but it could be very elusive, and it sometimes went missing for a few days. The aforementioned Common Scoter did in fact move from Grandes Rocques to join this bird in Vazon. The next time I saw the Long-tailed Duck was on 16th December, when I managed to get closer to it as it was feeding in the bay at low tide and I scampered down the beach. The skies were pretty dusky but I at least got identifiable shots.

Long-tailed Duck - Vazon, 16 Dec 19

Long-tailed Duck - Vazon, 16 Dec 19

Long-tailed Duck with Common Scoter - Vazon, 16 Dec 19

On 17th December I found a female Red-breasted Merganser swimming off Rousse, my first of the year. I celebrated breaking up for Xmas on20th by having a quick scoot around after work. I finally caught up with the Whooper Swan at L’Eree that had been here a while and I saw a variety of other birds in various bays - Grey Wagtails, Black Redstarts, Sandwich Terns & Great Crested Grebe.

Whooper Swan - L’Eree, 20 Dec 19

Brent Goose - Vazon, 20 Dec 19

On 23rd December, I noticed from Pulias that there were birds passing out at sea. They were too far away from there so I hurried round to the seawatching hide at Chouet where I squeezed in an hour’s seawatch. Late December is not classic seawatching time but I thought there was a chance of a possible Red-throated Diver passing by, the largest hole in my Guernsey list (alas, that hole was not filled). I gave it an hour and it was an unexpectedly exciting hour since there was a large, constant auk passage going on, with birds flying west in small groups all the time. There were too many to count individually so, during the hour (10 to 11 am) I did ten random 60 second counts of how many birds were passing the same point on the reef. Taking an average of these counts and then multiplying up, this gave an estimate of 1068 auks passing in an hour, which is a pretty big count for here. If this continued all day, then as many as 10,000 birds may have gone through. The only other notable species was Kittiwake, with the 40 birds recorded no doubt being an underestimate.

On 27th December I had another run round a few west coast sites. I noticed that the Whooper Swan was quite close to the road behind the Claire Mare so I went round for a better look and managed a few pics in the gloom. The Spoonbill was also sleeping behind the reeds. Great Northern Divers were seen at both L’Eree and Rousse.

Whooper Swan - L’Eree, 27 Dec 19

Whooper Swan - L’Eree, 27 Dec 19

The next day, the grapevine news was that the same Whooper Swan had appeared in Grandes Havres and so I unashamedly drove up for a patch-year tick. I saw the bird distantly from Rousse as it rested on the beach at Chouet. On a quest for any final 2019 patch ticks, I spent a couple of hours within the borders of the patch on 30th December. There was nothing new to see but an adult Kittiwake flying over the car park at Pulias was most unusual - I cannot remember seeing any Kittiwakes close into shore before along this coastline. I rarely get the time to stroll round the Port Soif Nature Trail despite it being part of my official patch. The trees have grown much taller along the path there and I will definitely try to get more visits in during migration time. There was a wintering Chiffchaff flycatching over the pond but the highlight for me was definitely the cock Pheasant in the Rovers football dug-out clucking like some exasperated Premier League manager.

Sanderlings (& a Dunlin) - Rousse, 30 Dec 19

Grey Plover - Rousse, 30 Dec 19

Kittiwake - Pulias, 30 Dec 19

Pheasant in a dug out! - Watching the game, looking out for fowls - Marcelo Beakelsa….

Flecked Snout (a soldier fly) - specimen collected from L’Eree saltmarsh in August - my final new species of 2019

And then, all of a sudden it was the end of the decade!

I’ve had 26 new Guernsey species in the last ten years, including such crackers as Pacific Diver, Little Swift & Royal Tern. According to my calculations this means that I should hit 300 by the time I am 60 (I won’t).

Also, I have hit 400 species for my British* List which was not really something that I expected to happen - maybe I should join a 400-club or something……

One of the major changes over the last decade has been my increased knowledge of other wildlife. Previous to 2010 I knew nothing about beetles, or bugs, or bees & wasps, or lichens - I feel a much more well-rounded naturalist rather than just a birder.

The most significant change for me though has been that I have finally been able to go birding abroad again. My recent trips to Poland, Corsica and Spain may not sound very exotic to those globe-trotting birders out there but I had about a 15 year period where I didn’t leave the UK, so I really appreciate these chances to travel and see new things. Let’s hope this continues.

Happy New Year folks!

End-of-the-decade selfie with Whooper Swan - here’s to another decade of excellent nature (if it lasts that long!)