August 2024 — Just A Bird

Nothing much too unexpected was observed bird-wise in August. However, this may have been more to do with finding time to spend out in the field is becoming increasingly difficult at present. A Caspian Gull was present on L’Eree beach mid-month and was one of two birds on the island that was colour-ringed from the same colony in Czechia this spring. A Great Crested Grebe at the Reservoir was one of the few I’ve seen here in breeding plumage. I did try a wee seawatch on 24th August but a Sooty Shearwater and a Storm Petrel was all that was noted. August can be quite busy here but it just never happened this year.

Great Crested Grebe - Reservoir, 17 Aug 24

Gannet - Chouet, 8 Aug 24 - I had visions of a booby when I came round the corner and saw this hauled up on the rocks, but alas…

The garden moth trap had some great nights during August, a time of year when I have total flexibility when I can put it out and only do so on the best of conditions. A new micro was seen on 11th - Teleiopsis diffinis - a small brown critter which I didn’t even take a picture of. Conditions were poor mid-month but a warm spell later on threw up some great species. On 26th I had a Musotima nitidalis (Australian Fern Moth) which has only just colonised the island after raging through the UK in the last few years.

Golden Fern Moth (musotima nitidalis) - garden, 26 Aug 24

The next night on 27th was even better and quite a few belters was hauled out of the trap amongst the thousands of ants. A Garden Tiger was the first I have seen for 19 years. It was a touch of a shabby one but what a beast! It used to be more common in Guernsey but is really rare nowadays. A species that seems to be being seen a little more often here though is Golden Twin-spot and a superb shiny gold one was present - a lifer for me. Other good species that night were Latticed Heath, Engrailed, Coleophora salicorniae and an Ant-lion, only my 4th of these and first for a few years.

With the warm weather and time to spend at the microscope, I managed to find plenty of new species for the pan-species list which brought me above 3100 for the UK and above 2600 for Guernsey. Some interesting new things are shown below.