Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

“And the award for the most underwhelming twitch of the century goes to an Egyptian Goose at the Reservoir…..”

During mid-July an Egyptian Goose appeared briefly at Claire Mare three times but never settled, so I never needed to really think about it too much (although I did spend a short time searching for it one weekend). However, on 24th I heard that it was settled at the Reservoir and so I thought that I should really go and see it. I can’t really think of a particular reason why this bird cannot be counted as new to Guernsey since it is now so widespread in the UK and parts of NW Europe and is expanding all the time - we saw plenty in Hampshire when we went a few years ago. It is most likely to be a bird from one of these feral populations that has wandered post breeding season. It wasn’t ringed or clipped and we’ve not had a history of Egyptian Geese appearing before (unlike Mandarin which has a history of random records here). So I’ve provisionally added it to my Guernsey List but it depends on the deliberations of the Rarities committee.

Quite why I decided that walking along the length of this log was worth it to get decent photos of the egyptian Goose, I’ll never know. Due to my extensive gymnastic training I managed not to fall in the water.

July was as usual focussed on insects rather than birds, and so I rarely picked my bins out of my bag. I called in to Pulias a few times for some local-patching and saw a couple of Balearic Shearwaters on 15th and a group of 5 smart, returning Sanderlings on 22nd.

In preparation for autumn migration I made a purchase during the month - a sound recorder. I can record bird sounds on my phone fine but this is different. The idea is that this is a continuous recorder that records everything whilst you are out birding. I am still very basic when it comes to bird calls and songs and so many times when I’m out on the headlands I hear something and think “that sounds like an *uncommon species* ”. But the problem is that I can never remember the call, even just seconds later. I can go straight to the phone app, play the example call, but then I can’t decide whether the call I heard is the same or not just from my memory. I don’t know whether it’s a common thing, but I can’t hear sounds in my head. I can close my eyes and picture birds in my head in quite detail, but sounds are simply not there. When I’m out in the field I can pick out a call of a Tree Pipit overhead, which I guess is just from habit, but sitting here now and trying to think what a Tree Pipit sounds like, I cannot. So with this, if I do hear something I think might be good and the bird flies off, I can note down the time and look over the recording at home. Also, if a rare bird does turn up and only a recording of the call will clinch identification, I am more likely to catch it using this system, rather than fumbling for my phone in my pocket, by which time it will have shut up. I’ve attached a little pouch to my bag strap and so the recorder is sticking up above my back - it looks like I have a furry friend perched on my shoulder!

Anyway, I took the recorder out for a trial run on 11th July, walking to the Track from home and the first birds I recorded on it were a family party of Firecrests just 100 yards down the road from my house. The male bird which I could hear singing in the spring from the garden must have found itself a mate and I saw at east two juvenile Firecrests plus two more birds in the trees by the traffic lights - recording below. This is the first time I’ve heard of Firecrests breeding in my area and the species has now almost totally colonised the island.

Juvenile White Wagtail - Claire Mare, 17 Jul 20

Juvenile Black-headed Gulls - Jaonneuse beach, 31 Jul 20

Shag - Jaonneuse, 31 Jul 20 - note the mixture of fresher dark green feathers and old, worn browny ones on the mantle

For most of July moth trapping was quite poor for the time of year but an Enarmonia formosana (Cherry Bark Tortrix) on 20th was new for the garden. The last few days of the month were better and a new macro for me was Jersey Mocha on 26th which I have been expecting for the last few years due to the increase in local records. On 29th I saw only my second ever Wax Moth and the 30th it was a very busy night with warm muggy temperatures and about 90 species. Amongst these was an unfamiliar and unspectacular tortrix which turned out to be a Cydia medicaginis (Alfalfa Moth) which appears to be a new species for Guernsey.

Jersey Mocha - garden, 26 Jul 20 - note the white spots on the forewing with no dark borders

Cherry Bark Tortrix (Enarmonia formosana) - garden, 20 Jul 20

In the final week of July after breaking up for work for the holidays I went on a few insect hunting walks and one of the best was around Les Vardes Quarry nature trail on 20th when there was lots of activity. Some silvery mines on a White Poplar turned out to be Phyllocnistis xenia, a new species for the island - it may have been here a short while but never noticed, although it is quite a recent arrival in the UK too. There were lots of species of bees, wasps and flies on offer and I photographed a random small fly that turned out to be a White-barred Soldierfly (Oxycera morrisii) a new species for the island. A good plant discovery was a couple of sprigs of Yarrow Broomrape at Port Grat, a new location for the locally rare species.

Phyllocnistis xenia - larval mines in leaf of White Poplar - Les Vardes, 20 Jul 20

Colletes Fodiens - Les Vardes, 20 Jul 20 - a new species for me that was common on the ragwort, where also a Pantaloon Bee was seen, also new for me.

Epeolus variegatus - Les Vardes, 20 Jul 20 - only my second sighting of this species

Oxycera morrisii (White-barred Soldierfly) - Les Vardes, 20 Jul 20 - a new species for Guernsey

Noon Fly (Mesembrina meridiana) - Reservoir, 24 Jul 20

Ectophasia crassipennis (female) - St. Sampsons HS area, 28 Jul 20

Gymnosoma rotundatum - Les Vardes, 20 Jul 20

Prickly Saltwort flower - Jaonneuse, 31 Jul 20

Of course something else important happened during the month but I can’t quite remember what it was….

June came along and sprinkled some late garnish onto the spring of 2020, which I was about to consign to the garbage dump of history since, apart from the kite day, it had been a prolonged period of dips and misses. During the first week of the month a few late Wheatears were about and I found a tame female at Vazon on 1st. Habitat-wise, there is no reason that breeding should not occur on the headlands, but of course the disturbance levels are too great and we never get any, apart from the odd pair every now and again on Lihou or Herm Common (two of the few undisturbed locations). Also at the start of June, the Reed Warbler continued to sing in the reeds at Pulias Pond which is unusual there. I didn’t get the impression it found a mate though I will keep an eye out for juveniles nonetheless.

Pulias Pond, 1 Jun 20, looking like a Mediterranean salt pan after a week or so of small high tides. Only the highest tides are able to come in and replenish the water, so hot days and evaporation can make the pond almost red in colour.

A notable feature of late spring 2020 was the influx of Rose-coloured Starlings into Western Europe and the UK. Flocks had even been seen in southern France so I made it my mission to find one on the patch. However, after one week of checking every usual Starling flock along my route, there was no sign. So, on 10th June I decided to extend the search to areas away from the patch, and thought to myself where the next likely location would be. I decided that there would definitely be one with Starlings at Jaonneuse and so I drove straight there after work to find it.

And so I pulled up in the car park at Jaonneuse, saw a small group of Starlings on the beach, lifted my bins and saw a pinky Rose-coloured Starling feeding on the sand. That almost never happens!

This was actually the 50th record for Guernsey, which continues to be probably the best site in western Europe for the species (taking into account observer bias) and I think this is the 5th time I have found one. It is the first time I have had a good look at a pink bird since the last one I saw was for literally a second as I whizzed past in the car. This bird was not an adult male though and had dull plumage, with very brown nape feathers. It didn’t stay much more than a few hours and was not seen the next day. I might have got better photos than these distant snaps but whilst I was taking these, my camera broke - never to work again! Luckily some better photographers got onto the bird and you can see some pics here by Dave C and here by Tony L.

Rose-coloured Starling - Jaonneuse Bay, 10 Jun 20

The next unexpected bit of excitement happened on 13th June when, at about 9 pm, I was just settling down to start to watch a film and the Bird Alert went off. Someone had posted a video clip of a tree, but more interesting was the audio, as it was of a churring Nightjar - blimey! So I jumped in the car and headed down to Pleinmont as quick as possible arriving in the car park at Portelet just before half past. A group of us congregated on the bottom path just above Pezeries Bay where the bird had been heard from, but there was no churring audible. A couple of times we thought we may have heard something in the distance but we weren’t sure - I predicted another dip. Then a message came down from the original finder, who had returned to his vehicle at the top of Pleinmont, saying that he could hear it from up there.

Of course, we then set off in hot pursuit, scrambling up the narrow path towards the camping field in the half-light of dusk. I was at the front and, right in front of me, a chunky bird flew across the path, landing in a track-side tree - it was a still-fluffy, young Long-eared Owl. It was so close to me that I managed to pull my phone out of my pocket and take a couple of snaps as it stood there disgruntled. A second youngster also flew up just after.

As we crested the ridge, the Nightjar suddenly burst into “song” again and we could all hear it really well. It wasn’t too far away, somewhere near the camping field. We crept out of the vegetation quietly in case it flew but it was happy just to sit there, invisibly, churring away for us as we stood in the camping field. It appeared to be in the pines that overlook the Pezeries. I was not expecting to tick off a Nightjar this evening but it made up for us missing out on last year’s bird at Bigard which we searched for the evening after its one-night appearance. Previous to last year, there had not been an accepted Nightjar since the 1990s so this was a very welcome addition to most people’s Guernsey list.

I was quite content to tick off Nightjar as a heard-only bird and wasn’t really expecting to see the bird since it was now getting very dark and I wasn’t really thinking that a newly-arrived bird would be displaying at all. However, it suddenly took flight from the pine tree and I managed to record our exclamations as this bird first showed itself for our small band of ten or so birders (see audio clip below). It goes to show that, even after 30 years of birding I still get over-excited by it all.

We were then treated to some excellent views of the bird flying and displaying between two song posts, albeit always in silhouette. The way it swooped and glided was astounding, using its fanned tail like some kind of rudder. We couldn’t have asked for much better given the circumstances, and we all went away extremely happy - photo by Tony L here.. I can’t remember returning from a local twitch after 10 30 pm before. As it happened, the bird was to be seen in the same area all month on and off (although I never got round to going back down) and some people were lucky enough to see it perched in the daytime. I wonder if the species is attempting to colonise the Channel Islands since Sark has had a singing bird for the last couple of springs, and Jersey has had a pair being seen this year also.

Watching the Nightjar, Pleinmont, 13 Jun 20

The second half of the month was quiet for birds but I went to check out a few of the rarer breeding species in my neck of the woods. Was pleased to see that a single juvenile Little Grebe remained at Gallotin Quarry, the first island breeding pair for a number of years. I confirmed that there were definitely two singing Cetti’s Warblers at Grand Pre, which means that probably 10 males are around on the island in 2020, record numbers at least since last century. I checked out the nearby Common Tern colony and was pleased to see at least 14 birds flying around the area, although it is unlikely that many will breed here as it is not the best location as the island is accessible at low tide for both predators and human beings.

Juvenile Little Grebe - Gallotin Quarry, 20 Jun 20

Kestrel youngsters - Les Vardes, 23 Jun 20 - the pair at the quarry seem to have done well with four juveniles seen.

The moth trap was not very productive in June overall with few surprises. The only new species for the garden was Freyer’s Pug which the large individual below appears to be with its multiple, angled cross lines and narrowly-elliptical spot. I had more success searching for new micro moths in the field. I found an interesting larval case on an oak tree at La Garenne which matched with Coleophora ibipennella, a new species for me. I wasn’t sure whether the case had already been vacated, but after keeping it in a pot, a couple of weeks later a fresh adult appeared. This was also the case with Phyllonorycter maestingella, also collected from La Graenne, in a mine in a Beech leaf.

Coleophora ibipennella larval case - Oak leaf, Garenne, 7 Jun 20

Coleophora ibipennella - adult emerged from above case on 28 Jun 20

Ectoedemia subbimaculella (or less likely heringi) - perched on Oak leaf, La Garenne, 7 Jun 20

Phyllonorycter maestingella mine Garenne Jun20.jpg

Phyllonorycter maestingella - from mine from La Garenne, emerged 21 Jun 20

Stigmella tityrella larva - mining a beech leaf, 15 Jun 20

Nemapogon cloacella (Cork Moth) - garden, 21 Jun 20

During the periods of warm weather I managed to find a few new species for me and it meant that my total ‘British* Pan-species List’ managed to hit 2800 species. One of the best for me was the couple of Wool Carder Bees that I found at Les Vardes, a species that I have never happened upon before despite them being not too rare here - was about time that I saw some.

Paidiscura pallens with egg case - La Garenne, 7 Jun 20

Kleidocerys resedae (Birch Catkin Bug) - Garenne, 7 Jun 20

Just A Bird

Just A Bird

Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

Just A Bird

July 2020

June 2020

Just A Bird