Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

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

As April came around, I was totally recovered from my cold but COVID-19 cases were increasing on the island and everyone was very worried. Unlike the UK, the authorities here were testing and tracing, so the number of cases appeared to be rising quite fast. We were all trying to stay at home as much as possible, and school was already closed for an early Easter holidays. Of course, one thing that can be done at home without having to go any further than the bottom of the garden was moth trapping - and I made the most of it.

In recent years, I had more or less stopped moth trapping until the second half of May as the numbers are generally very low at that time of year in my garden and I was always more focussed on spring birding anyway. However, this year I managed to get the trap out on 6 occasions before mid-April, which is more than the whole last decade put together! And I was rewarded with 4 new species for the garden in this time. Three of them were geometers, with a Dotted Border on 5th April, and both Water Carpet and Streamer on 10th. All of these I’d seen previously in Guernsey but not for years. The fourth was a micro - Caloptilia semifascia which is pretty rare here and a lifer for me. It feeds on Maple mainly which is a rare tree here, but there are plenty planted quite close to me to screen the prison (it sometimes feeds on Sycamore as well). Other decent species recorded were Agonopterix alstromeriana, Pine Beauty and Blair’s Mocha, plus plenty of Orthosias that I hadn’t seen for ages.

Caloptilia semifascia - garden, 7 Apr 20

Bird-wise, my garden is pretty much desolate, but I do spend a lot of time looking up. I was rewarded on 1st April when the large raptor to the east was not a Buzzard for a change, but a fine Osprey migrating north. Other wildlife seen included some tawny-backed bees which kept coming to the same little patch of Stinking Onions for nectar every day Persistence meant I managed to get some decent pictures and was able to identify them as Andrena nigroaenea (or the Buffish Mining-bee). The ones we get on the island are of the race sarnia (named after Guernsey of course) which are not actually so buffy and have a very black abdomen most of the time.

Of course, one of the things about ‘lockdown’ was being encouraged to change behaviour and not go far from home, and exercise in the local environs as much as possible. My house is mostly surrounded by other houses with very little open areas, however, there is a little slither of green just down the road which I endeavoured to explore during the crisis. The closest decent bird I saw was just 100 yards from the front door when I discovered a fine little Firecrest singing its heart out from a conifer by the traffic lights, the closest I’ve seen one from home so far.

The first bit of green I come to on my, now regular, local walk is the small conservation area by St. Sampsons High School. There isn’t much bird life there but it has been productive for insects in the past. I did find a new species of Shieldbug there on the 4th when I lifted up a small bit of broken branch - a Turtle Shieldbug (Podops inunctus).

Turtle Shieldbug - SSHS conservation area, 4 Apr 20

Fruit tree blossoms, SSHS conservation area - I gave myself a challenge of taking pictures of the blooms of these planted trees to see if I could differentiate them - best I could do was: a - Plum (unless they planted a Blackthorn), b, d, and g - al… — Fruit tree blossoms, SSHS conservation area - I gave myself a challenge of taking pictures of the blooms of these planted trees to see if I could differentiate them - best I could do was: a - Plum (unless they planted a Blackthorn), b, d, and g - all Pear I think with the purple anthers, c - Cherry, e - Juneberry, which I’d never heard of, and f - apple.

If I carry on walking round the school field I get to the walking path that joins the school with town and skirts the prison. I have been calling this path “Les Nicolles” because it doesn’t seem to have a proper name. It is a really nice track to walk with lots of vegetation and insects about, and sheltered from the wind. There was plenty of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs along here, but I was certainly surprised to hear a Cetti’s Warbler belting its heart out here on 11th April. Although the species is usually present at the Track Marais which is at about 5 - 600m away, I think this would be classed as a new site for the species. It certainly is an obvious range expansion at least, and I was chuffed to find it there.

The lockdown local patch - the track to the Track, or perhaps “Track Track”, although I will probably call it ‘Les Nicolles’ track

‘Neapolitan Garlic’ - Les Nicolles path, 7 Apr 20

The path eventually joins the lane behind the Bowl and then you are close to the St. Sampsons or Track Marais. This site is an excellent wetland but is so difficult to get to it is practically never checked. I hoped to be able to check it regularly this spring but, even though I managed to fight my way in, it was through waist high vegetation and I got very wet feet (as I discovered my wellies had perished since I last used them!). I don’t think it’ll be long before the vegetation gets so high it will be totally impenetrable. Nevertheless I plan to try and walk to the Track area a couple of times a week during the spring to dig out something good even if it is just looking from afar.

During the few visits I made there I didn’t see anything unexpected but there was also a Cetti’s Warbler singing there. It was easy to locate as it was loud enough to be audible from the road beside the sports field. I could also hear Sedge Warbler singing from the marsh on 7th April and Reed Warblers arrived from 9th which is pretty early for me. On 14th I saw my first Yellow Wagtail of the year there feeding round some horses.

Rustyback Fern - Track Stadium wall, 1 Apr 20

We did travel a little bit further a couple of times as a family, mainly to get the dog some proper exercise that she can’t get near home. We went up to Pleinmont as we could park in the family field and walk from there away from everyone. We didn’t see any unusual migrants but on 10th there were at least 3 different Firecrests singing in the Vaux de Monel/Pezeries area. The other good sightings of the month so far were of a pair of Barn Owls that have taken up residence quite close to where we live. I took the kids out on 6th and we had great views in the half-light of dusk of both birds.

Greenhouse shadows - Les Nicolles, Apr 20

Nature re-taking a greenhouse - Les Nicolles, Apr 20

Just A Bird

Just A Bird

Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

Just A Bird

April 2020 part ii

April 2020 part i

Just A Bird