October 2020 part i

Once October gets around I feel as though I can’t waste a single opportunity to get out in the field. On 3rd, despite the awfully wet weather, I dragged myself out Saturday afternoon since it was my only free slot during the whole weekend. Driving past L’Eree I scanned the scrape to see a Pintail and 2 Black-tailed Godwits there, both of which were new in - no doubt due to the arrival of the rain. Rushing onwards to Pleinmont I was pleased that there was a little break in the rain and I headed first for the weedy corridor. Apart from 4 Skylarks which came up off the grass, one of the first birds I saw was a perky little Yellow-browed Warbler along the hedge-line. I think this is the first one of these I have seen actually “on top” of Pleinmont headland rather than in the valleys and I managed to get a nice picture despite the very dull grey afternoon skies.

Yellow-browed Warbler - Pleinmont, 3 Oct 20

It was a pretty good day Blackcaps with more than 20 seen and with these, along the steep path down to Pezeries, a Garden Warbler showed very nicely out in the open on the ivy. As I poked my head above the slope by the green bench at Pezeries, a second Yellow-browed Warbler flew up and into the Sycamores. Unfortunately, just as I reached the furthest point from the car down on the bottom road, the skies opened and the rain alternated between deluge and torrent and the water started to seep. I trudged back up the slope, only noting a couple of Chiffchaffs and a Firecrest on the way, and sacked it off as a bad job. I cannot remember the last time I was so wet, the water percolating into every single one of my clothing items. Good job it is just a short drive home.

The next week was a total wipe-out for birding but I found myself back out at Pleinmont on 10th for another attempt to find the boy. There wasn’t especially much to see although there was a notable increase in Firecrests and Chiffchaffs, with more than ten of each present. The weather was at least dry this time but apart from a few Siskins and the returning wintering Whimbrel, it was disappointingly quiet for uncommon species. Although, by the side of the road at Valniquets I did see a new species for me - Red Cage Fungus. Rather an odd species indeed, I’ve never seen anything like it before. A quick call in at Prevote on the way back didn’t add anything but there was a nice feeding flock of 20 Swallows and House Martins feeding in the sheltered valley.

Pleinmont woods, 10 Oct 20

Red Cage Fungus - Pleinmont, 10 Oct 20

Red Cage Fungus - Pleinmont, 10 Oct 20

The next working week was much more ‘birdable’ and I was able to spot a few birds on the way or the way home from work. On 13th there was a nice trio of Grey Wagtail, Golden Plover and Wheatear at Pulias. The next day there seemed to have been some movement overnight and, as I got into my car on the driveway early morning both my first Redwing of the autumn and a Siskin went overhead. Stopping briefly at Fort Hommet car park there was both a Wheatear and a new-in Brent Goose on the beach, then a Lapwing came in off the sea and headed inland. On the way back two more Brent Geese followed me up the coast all the way from Cobo to Rousse, where a flock of 6 Ravens was probably my biggest count. Not a bad selection for the day since I hadn’t strayed more than 3 yards from the car.

On 15th more birds had arrived and there was a flock of c.30 Redwings flying round the school car park when I arrived. After work, driving home there were still plenty of Swallows around the Vazon and Cobo area, quite a lot for this late in the month. Whilst on the way back, the grapevine fired up to say that a Great White Egret had just appeared at Vale Pond. It would be rude not to call and see it I thought, but when I got into the hide I found that the GWE was actually a Cattle Egret - well they both have yellow beaks I suppose. A Cetti’s Warbler was singing at the pond which I haven’t heard there for a while. The next day was Friday and a Skylark was the oddest sighting, flying up from the gorse below the pines at Fort Hommet.

presumed Lesser Black-backed Gulls - migrating SW really, really high over the garden, 11 Oct 20

Cattle Egret - Vale Pond, 15 Oct 20

Saturday 17th October and I was again up at Pleinmont rarity hunting with Mark and Wayne. We had a great few hour’s birding but a cherry on the top would have been nice. Just walking round the lanes we could see that there had been plenty of thrushes new in and small numbers of other species swirling around. Not a massive arrival but very encouraging. Walking along the weedy corridor there were a few Chiffchaffs feeding along the hedge and one was pretty brown looking and feeding on the floor. I was hoping that it could have been a Dusky Warbler from its colouration and behaviour but it flew ahead a little way and into the bushes. We waited and it appeared again but it immediately seemed to pale for Dusky. It showed a few more times and it was almost certainly a Siberian Chiffchaff with its brown and whitish colouration and very distinct creamy eyebrow. Unfortunately we didn’t get either a call or a photo as it soon crossed over into a private garden where it disappeared.

As we were concentrating on relocating this bird we didn’t see that a Great White Egret had just flown over us and we only managed a rear end view as it headed away from us and north from the headland. This bird had been in the island for a week or so and perhaps longer but was typically elusive, popping up in different spots every few days. Only the second time I have seen the species in Guernsey.

Great White Egret - Pleinmont, 17 Oct 20

Heading into the camping field/NT path area we could see that thrushes and other birds seemed to be still arriving. We had some Fieldfares drop into the tops of the camping pines, my first of the winter, and so many Song Thrushes exploding out of the Blackthorn bushes near the end car park. As we rounded a corner and more thrushes went up, a bullet of a Merlin raced by, then u-turned, giving us a great view, albeit brief. Walking back up the slope a bit we heard an unfamiliar call and two Ring Ouzels appeared from nowhere and flew past us. This was not the call I expect from an Ouzel, which I associate with a hard “chukk” note, and I managed to passively record it on my digital recorder.

Almost immediately after these two birds, three more Ring Ouzels seemed to come in from the west and they perched on some bushes briefly, and then a flock of 20-odd Swallows appeared from nowhere. Surely something good would be arriving today? But alas we didn’t pick out anything exciting. There were a few Siskins and Skylarks about and a Snipe flew East. More hirundines arrived and we must have seen at least 50 Swallows and 5 House Martins during the morning. A Mistle Thrush flying across the Societe fields meant it was a six-thrush morning for us. It was the kind of day which we knew must have held a rare bird on the headland somewhere but there was not enough bodies around to find it.

Mushroom - Rousse, 7 Oct 20