January/February 2024 — Just A Bird

I didn’t manage to get out for some New Year birding until 3rd January when I trawled the patch. A few Kittiwakes and a Razorbill were off shore in the rough seas and a brief Purple Sandpiper was probably the first I have seen on Pulias Headland as far as I can remember. January and February turned out to be wet and mild, very much so during certain periods, conditions which don’t help the arrival of new birds. Ideally were want it cold, as cold as possible. So most of the decent birds I saw were already here wintering, such as the ringtail Hen Harrier at Tielles, Water Pipit at Vazon and the Canada Geese. Two Great Crested Grebes were seen at Vazon on 11th January, an unusual non-singular sighting for recent years. On 28th January I found a Black-throated Diver close in off the Imperial which was too dive-y for the camera. During February I more or less laid low and few other birds of interest were seen. Two Common Scoter spent the month at Vazon and I had a Red-breasted Merganser.

The middle part of February was so mild that I actually dusted off the moth trap on 15th and caught a few things. The best was a Chestnut which was a new species for the garden, probably because I do not trap at this time of year usually (I do get Dark Chestnut occasionally). The southerly winds brought in two Dark Sword-grass as migrants amongst the ten species I caught.

Velvet Mite, Trombidiidae sp. - garden, 16Feb24

The winter period is often a time that I catch up with identification of specimens and their display. Below are a few that I identified these months, all of which were new to me, the first and last I think were also new to Guernsey.

Just A Bird

Just A Bird

Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

Just A Bird

Just A Bird