April 2020 part ii — Just A Bird

During the first half of the month, many people here were very scared about leaving the house and the everywhere was very quiet. The vibe seemed to change a lot in the second half of April when there appeared to be much more activity out and about. It may have been to do with sunnier weather or that the virus did not appear to be spreading much on the island, but there were a lot more people spending their 2 hours exercise in their favourite haunts and it was almost busy in some areas. I suppose that people thought that, so long as you stay away from people it would be fine, although from my observations plenty of folk have no idea what two metres is - especially the older folk (but that may be something to do with decimalisation). We shall see I suppose.

On 17th April, I got up very early to spend my two hours at Pleinmont and it was really quiet up there. Usually it is a case of dodge the dog-walker but not this time and I was pleased to see a nice selection of spring migrants. In my dash round the headland I saw 2 Whinchat, 2 Yellow Wagtails, 4 Tree Pipits, Whitethroats, Willow Warblers and Wheatears. The highlight though was the three Ring Ouzels which were flying round the cliffs, clearly just arrived. I love looking down from the cliff tops watching Ring Ouzels down below, at home in the rocky habitat. If you can’t watch them on an upland Yorkshire hillside, then this is almost as good.

Dog walker-free Mont Herault fields, 17 Apr 20

Driving back I called in at a couple of car parks. At the shingle bank a group of 14 Whimbrel were new in, feeding in the vraic with the White Wagtails. In the field at Pulias a Tree Pipit flew up and landed in the Tamarisks, a much-valued addition to the appallingly impoverished patch year list. Back at home, in the quiet still air I could here the same Firecrest singing away from the conifer down the street. This was another addition to the house list and, with distantly-calling Pheasant and flyover Greylag Goose also added this month, that made five new birds this year, after none at all new in the previous two years.

On 19th April I was up early for a walk down to the Track Marais. My original plans of visiting every couple of days this spring don’t look very likely, especially since restrictions on movements were not as strict as originally thought, and so I would not be totally limited to walks from home. Nevertheless I am determined to visit at least weekly to keep fit and keep an eye on the birds there. Today the Cetti’s Warbler was still singing near the prison, a Tree Pipit flew over the football ground and a Bullfinch was new for the route. Later on that day, when I took Anais out for a drive, as we passed Perelle I looked out of the car window and recognised a familiar shape flying distantly over the water. Pulling up in the Catioroc car park I scanned across to see the famous Royal Tern fishing the bay. I watched it for a while through the car window and managed a few snaps from my seat. Then as usual it suddenly disappeared - it always seems to vanish without warning.

The Easter holidays ended and I was back at work on 20th. But not actually back at work of course since the schools were all still closed. I was working from home, sorting out the “virtual schooling”, or distance learning as we call it, for all the year 10 Science students. It means a lot of sitting at the desk at home staring at a computer screen, but it does mean that I have a little bit of flexibility when I do the necessary work. On 21st I took my lunch break at L’Ancresse. It was a lovely day and I thought I’d try the golf course since there would be no golfers on it. L’Ancresse golf course would be an excellent area to bird more regularly but usually it has golfers on almost every hole from dawn ‘til dusk, and being a public area too has the obligatory dog walkers too. Today, apart from a few Wheatear, I saw my first Swifts of the year feeding over the fairways - always a thrill.

Golfer-free L’Ancresse golf course, 21 Apr 20

The first Swift of the year - L’Ancresse GC, 21 Apr 20

On 23rd April I had another bash at Track Marais. There was nothing much new but I was really chuffed to hear at least 4 different singing Cetti’s Warblers, perhaps even 5. This is a huge number locally and more than was known about on the whole island last year. As well as the regular one along the prison path, I explored the scrub to the east of the marsh where an extra bird was singing, then on my way back I heard one from over the road by the Chateau des Marais. I have tried to plot these on the map below, a red X where I have heard singers. I am not sure whether bird C is actually just birds A and D moving around a lot, hence why not definitely five birds. Studying these birds properly, it is amazing how quickly they move between singing spots, and it would be very easy to overestimate numbers.

Pond with Water Dock, Track Marais, Apr 20

I saw a few bits and bats in the final week, including the long-staying Whooper Swan still at Claire Mare on 23rd April, and on 24th a Reed Warbler was singing in the small reedbed at Pulias Pond and a cracking male Redstart was feeding in the gardens at Rousse.

Some nice early-year moth trapping continued and undoubtedly the highlight was a splendid Lunar Thorn on 16th April. A new species for me with only a handful of previous Guernsey records. The same night I had my second Dotted Border of the spring but the rest of the month was quite ordinary for species.

Willow at sunset, Les Amarreurs, 23 Apr 20

Just A Bird

Just A Bird

Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

Just A Bird

Just A Bird