August 2023 — Just A Bird

The main birding story of the summer was the huge number of seabirds that were hanging around the western English Channel and adjacent Atlantic, just off the SW coasts of the UK. There are always plenty out there of course but the numbers were unprecedented, especially Cory’s Shearwater, with numbers in the many thousands feeding off Scilly and Cornwall. This recent change in seabird feeding areas has been sudden and obvious to birders and is no doubt linked to sea water warming and resultant re-distribution of food items. We hadn’t really been involved in this so far here in Guernsey, as we hadn’t had any real northerlies to push these birds towards us, but during the first week of August the wind did swing round for a few days, and someone had seen the first Cory’s past.

So on 4th August I made my way to Jaonneuse, fully expecting a few Cory’s at least, and the people already there had seen one just before I got there - easy-peasy I thought. I set up and started scanning and someone pointed out an interesting gull which I got onto, but it was very hard to hear what people were saying from my spot near the waves. I couldn’t really get the gull as anything obviously exciting but everyone was still keen on keeping people on it and shouting out directions etc. Then, as it approached the reef, a shearwater appeared in my scope and, although not that close it felt very obviously a Cory’s Shearwater from its flight and overall colouration. I shouted back over the noise that I was pretty certain I had a Cory’s, but turning round to the others learnt that they had not been excited about a bloney gull, but were trying to get everyone onto this same Cory’s and I had not heard them because of the noise! I felt a bit daft, but I was lucky that I had picked it up anyway, especially as we saw no more that day at all, just a single Arctic Skua and not much else. This is my first Cory’s from land and only the second I have seen in the UK/CI.

The next day, 5th August, was a bit more blowy and I managed to get out for a while in the afternoon to Chouet to try and see a few more Cory’s, since a couple more had been reported that morning. There were lots and lots of Manx and Balearic Shearwaters passing or blogging around, and I may have had the odd Cory’s way, way out but I could never be sure. Two Bonxies passing by close in were the highlight, and a rarer sight than usual since the breeding population seems to have majorly crashed due to avian flu.

One of the frustrating things about seawatching is, most of the time, not being able to get even record shots of the birds passing since you only have a short time for ID and faffing around with a camera is not ideal. So I had a think about this and worked out that I could probably clamp my camera to the tripod handle and line it up so that it was always pointing in exactly the same spot as my scope, moving in sync with my scanning. I could then set it on video mode and I could just press the record button when something interesting appeared and it would (hopefully!) film whatever I was looking at in the scope automatically. I gave it a go and was very satisfied with the results. With a few tweaks, I am sure this will be the way to go, and I’ll be able to record on film when the next albatross passes me. It will never be fabulous due to the limitations of my camera but its better to get some evidence than none.

The patented lawlor inc. camera/scope sync set-up

Two Bonxies passing Chouet, 5 Aug 23

Manx Shearwater passing Chouet, 5 Aug 23

The next day, 6th August, I tried again but it was quiet, the only real notable bird being a Storm Petrel. The northerlies then stopped and I didn’t seawatch again in August and so saw no more Cory’s (and I missed the massive influx of this species into Guernsey waters that happened at the end of the month as I was in the UK).

The middle of the month was quite uneventful for birds and I focussed on insects. There were a few waders passing through and I had a nice Tree Pipit feeding along a track at Pleinmont on 16th.

The weather was very changeable during August with calm, hot days and windy days and rainy days. On 20th August I thought I’d try Pleinmont as the winds were light and southerly, with a bit of mist in the air, and I thought I may get something drifting off the French coast. As soon as I got out of the car early morning, a wader was flying round the area, being chased by crows. It wasn’t the expected Golden Plover but in fact a Ruff and it kept trying to land in the field by the scramble tracks, but the corvids wouldn’t let it. I don’t know why they had such a problem with it but it eventually stopped trying and flew off. This is the first Ruff I have ever seen at Pleinmont. There was plenty of common warblers around, especially Willow Warblers, but not much variety. When I reached the camping field, I saw a pale bird fly across between the pines in the company of a few Blackcaps. When it eventually showed itself it revealed a bright yellow breast and face and a large bill of a Melodious Warbler. It hopped around a few times in the pine but then moved on through the vegetation never to be seen again. I didn’t even have time to get my camera out. Whether I saw enough features to 100% rule out an Icterine, I don’t really think so. But Icky is so rare here and Melodious so regular that, unless something stands out, then one presumes the latter, especially with the ideal weather conditions for one to cross over from the south.

I went out again the next day, 21st August, but it was even quieter on the headland with just a Tree Pipit at Mont Herault of note, and I mainly ended up looking for insects. On the way though I did see a nice Knot on the rising tide at Rocquaine.

Knot, Common Sandpiper & Turnstone - ROCQuaine, 21 Aug 23

My favourite sighting of the month though was at Fort Doyle on 20th August when I went out in the hot sun to look for seabirds. I find that Fort Doyle is one of the few places where everything is not too far away at low tide, although saying that, all the shearwaters I saw were too far off to be more than probable Balearics. After a while, I saw a dorsal fin and back break the surface and I eventually realised that there were Risso’s Dolphins out there. I’ve seen Bottlenose and Common from Guernsey but this was a new species for me (apart from the dead one at Vazon last year). There were about 5 or 6 altogether in two separate groups including some smaller ones. They were quite lethargic and could be identified, even at distance, by their blunt white heads, pale grey bodies and tall fin. I managed to get a few quick video clips of them holding my phone against my scope.

With the variable weather conditions in August, I managed just 8 nights of moth-trapping during the month. However, my new plan of only choosing promising nights meant that there practically no duds, and each trap contained some interesting and rare species. The first of these good nights was 9th with a Jersey Mocha, a Rosy Underwing and the shiny new species, Spiny Hook-tip. This last one was something no-one had heard of until they were discovered in another Guernsey moth trap by Phil and David when they came over last month. It appears that our “Oak” Hook-tips are really this continental species, and explains why a rare-ish species suddenly became relatively common. Up until about ten years ago, I had only caught Oak Hook-tip a handful of times. Then they suddenly increased to as many as 30-odd in a single year. No doubt it wasn’t the Oaks that had surged but in fact the Spiny Hook-tip that had colonised the island, boosting the numbers. It isn’t identical as there are slight differences in the wing tips but, as with many continental moths, we have not much idea as what there is out there. I had at least four more by the end of the month.

The 10th was a real red-letter night with a Wax Moth, a Rush Veneer and another Jersey Mocha of note. I then turned over an egg tray and came face to face with a hulking, very dark-coloured prominent moth. As is usual when confronted with an unfamiliar new species, I had to race to the books, thinking maybe Iron or Great Prominent as possibilities. A quick check revealed it actually to be a Three-humped Prominent, a much rarer species in the UK and a definite first for Guernsey. Exciting stuff.

Three-humped Prominent - Garden, 10 Aug 23

Phycita roborella (a dark form) - garden, 10 Aug 23 - I hadn’t a clue what this was. The species is regular here but I’ve never seen one like this. All the others I’ve seen have had some kind of patterning but this had only brown scales over its whole wing, even though it was a bit worn. I had to dissect to make an ID as I was totally flummoxed.

The highlights for the rest of the month included a Duponchelia fovealis on 16th, which was a lifer for me, continuing the run of smashing crambid/pyralid moths this summer. On 17th I had 5 immigrant Cydia amplana, a Blair’s Mocha, a Rosy Underwing and a rarely-seen Clouded Buff. More migrants on 19th included a Vestal and a Palpita vitrealis, with both of these also on 22nd alongside Oncocera semirubella, Rosy Underwing and only my second ever Radford’s Flame Shoulder.

Duponchelia fovealis - Garden, 16 Aug 23

Radford's Flame Shoulder - Garden, 22 Aug 23

A nice milestone was reached during the month, with my UK and Channel Is “pan-species” list reaching 3000 species, and a pretty good species it was, the quite tremendous, crazy-legged, and tiny assassin bug, Empicoris vagabundus.

Just A Bird

Just A Bird

Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

Just A Bird

Just A Bird