Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

The two weekends in this time period both followed the same pattern - an extremely frustrating Saturday, followed by a much improved Sunday. After seeing the Chough on the Friday evening, I was busy all Saturday with the family and so was unable to go out birding. This, of course, coincided with something of a purple patch at Pleinmont, with the Choughs now increasing to 2 birds, a showy Hoopoe was seen and, worst of all, an Alpine Swift spent quite a while tearing around the headland before news got out. It would’ve been nice to see any of these but especially the latter as it would be a Guernsey and British* tick - most frustrating.

The next day, Sunday 27th March, I managed to get out mid-morning and went to see if I could find any of these birds. Driving up Valniquets, I pulled into the side of the road and looked over the gate into the garden where the Hoopoe had been seen yesterday, and it was just there, on the lawn, right in front of me! It was really close and didn’t seem bothered by me leaning on the garden gate and taking lots of photos. I don’t think that I have ever seen a Hoopoe this well anywhere, especially not locally.

This is the gate I was leaning on taking most of these pics, and the bird was on the lawn behind the Silver Birch.

Buoyed by this great sighting, I parked up on top of the headland, mostly to have a wide vista in case of the unlikely event of the Alpine Swift deciding to come back. Walking around, there wasn’t a great deal of migrants in but two Black Redstarts fed with two Wheatears on the cliff slope, one of the former a superb male bird. Apparently I just missed two Choughs which had just flown around the corner so I wandered off again. The original bird had been joined by a second bird from Jersey the day after I saw it. A breeding attempt was not likely though since the birds were both females. They had returned to Jersey in the mean time and so a 25 mile round-trip to feed isn’t much of a trip for a Chough it seems. The only other interesting migrant I saw was a Skylark but I had excellent views of a Peregrine. I also happened upon a nest of Glanville Fritillary larvae by the cliff path. It is very surprising that these are the first Glanville cats I have ever seen, despite knowing what to look for. There haven’t been many this far west along Pleinmont recently, so maybe they are making a comeback here. Returning to look for the Choughs again I apparently just missed them again, so I sat and waited for half an hour but they did not return.

Glanville Fritillary larva - Pleinmont, 27 Mar 22

Back at work on Monday and I was very unimpressed to hear that the Alpine Swift had not only turned up again but had been twitchable. Of course, by the time my work-day was over and I toddled on down to Perelle where it had been putting on a show, it was nowhere to be seen. During the week, there was a few Wheatears and Chiffchaffs new in on the patch but no extras.

The next Saturday, early afternoon, it was a huge surprise to get the grapevine message that the Alpine Swift had turned up again, after a five-day absence, and was feeding low around Rocquaine Bay. The timing of this could not really have been worse since I was just entering the cinema with my daughter to watch the Sonic the Hedgehog Movie! After a couple of hours of watching one speedy creature I was hoping to head down to tick off another but, by the time I was back out in the daylight, the bird had disappeared. It had been twitchable again but it chose the worst time to appear - I was not destined to see this bird. I went down later in the early evening in case it returned but there was no sign.

On Sunday 3rd April I was up early at Pleinmont to try and catch some migrants but it was pretty quiet, although I did see my first Willow Warbler and Swallow of the year. However, there was a Chough in the same area as last week but this was a different one than the one I saw last week. It was showing very well on the slope below me and was pretty close, but it didn’t seem to want to show the whole of its body for photos.

Mark G and I walked the fields at Mont Herault and had excellent views of the wintering Hen Harrier as well as a few more Swallows. We tried to get photos of a very pale Stonechat that Mark had found the previous week but it was very flighty and never gave us the chance. It was very sunny but quite chilly in the wind and it didn’t really look like any new migrants would appear so I headed off.

It was late morning, about 10 50 am, as I left Pleinmont and I thought that it might be worth waiting around Rocquaine for a while. If the Alpine Swift turned up just after lunch yesterday, there was a chance that it might do something similar today - an outside chance, but still a chance. So I pulled up at the fish factory as that was quite a central spot for scanning both north and south. As I envisaged a long, unsuccessful wait, I grabbed my flask of tea and stuck in my earphones to listen to a podcast, and settled down on the seawall for some scanning.

After just five minutes and barely a few sips of tea, I was scanning towards L’Eree when I saw something zip into my bins-view in the distance. Was it a falcon? No - it swooped round and I saw the clear swift shape and white belly - it was indeed the ALPINE SWIFT! The bird was about a kilometre away but it looked like it was showing really well from L’Eree. So rather than be satisfied with distant views, I jumped in the car and raced to Rocque Poisson. From here I saw it just a bit further north and drove round the corner to L’Eree beach car park when it suddenly appeared behind the cottages, before flying round over my head. What a result!

I managed to watch it for only about five minutes and it was very difficult to photograph as it raced round so fast. It was surprisingly low and regularly whizzed past me at eye level. Such astounding views of a species I’d only ever seen flying high in the sky. This was my first Alpine Swift for Guernsey and I have never seen one in the UK either - not even had a sniff of one. It flew off to the south but it was seen on and off for a couple of hours after this. It seems that this was the final sighting of this bird and I consider myself very lucky to have finally seen it - perseverance paid off in this case.

Alpine Swift - L’Eree, 3 Apr 22 - showing how low the bird flew on occasion

A rare selfie whilst waiting for the Choughs to appear

The weather may have been as miserable as heck, but I had a great start to the month on 1st March. I pulled into the car park at Vazon/Ft Hommet after work and noticed that one of the crows was flying a bit funny. Putting the bins on it I saw it was in fact a Short-eared Owl getting some stick from the aforementioned corvidian bullies. It flapped towards Vazon before turning round and disappearing behind the headland at Albecq.

A few minutes later I stopped to take a look at the Great Crested Grebe at Grandes Rocques and the Short-eared Owl again appeared, from behind the houses, this time getting some grief from the local larrikin gulls. It flapped over the beach and then circled the sea before again turning north. I managed to follow it in the car as far as Port Soif where it may have gone inland. Only my third record for the patch I think.

Short-eared Owl - Grandes Rocques, 1 Mar 22

The start of March was slow to pick up with migrants, a group of 8 Sandwich Terns powering across Grandes Havres on 7th being the only signs of spring approaching. It wasn’t until 13th that I saw my first Wheatear, in the predictable spot on the beach at Jaonneuse, probably a little later than my recent average date. I think there is an ancient law that requires all birders to take a photo of their first Wheatear of the year and post it online.

Wheatear - Jaonneuse Bay, 13 Mar 22 - first of the year

The next weekend saw the sun come out properly for the first time, with insects flying and a bit of warmth in the air. I went out for a walk round Grand Pre on 20th and there was a lot of bird songs and calls echoing round the reedbed. This included a singing Firecrest, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a few Chiffchaffs and at least 3 male Cetti’s Warblers. One of the latter started singing from the brambles literally 5 feet from me and I managed to get a really clear recording of a burst of song. Also, a migrant Skylark flew over.

Scandinavian Rock Pipit - Miellette, 20 Mar 22 - probably grey and buffy and super’ed enough to be a Scandie

Rock Pipit - Miellette, 20 Mar 22 - this was with the last bird and could be either a Scandie or a local bird I suppose

During the week there were a few migrants to see on the patch. I had Sand Martin at Pulias on 22nd and 24th, with a Firecrest at Fort Hommet on 21st, two new Black Redstarts at Rousse on 25th, and the first migrant Blackcap at Portinfer on 23rd. On 22nd there was a male Ring Ouzel at Pulias which someone had reported earlier in the day, but I only saw it briefly as it flew into a gorse bush never to exit - they can be true skulkers at times. I photographed a Song Thrush at Pulias as it stood out from the other two birds of the same species that were present. I have seen similar birds on the patch at this time of year - practically no warm buff or brown colouration, very grey, especially around face and rump, seem to look smaller, and are generally more content with being under and inside trees and vegetation than the local birds. Not sure where these come from, but I reckon probably eastern Europe or beyond, returning home in the spring from wherever they have been wintering.

Portinfer/Pecqueries - 23 Mar 22 - the coastal path flanked on either side by Triquetrous Garlic.

In the morning of Friday 25th March, a grapevine came in of a brief sighting of Chough from the west coast, but the bird was seen to fly off. It was not a surprise to get a second grapevine message in the evening after work saying it had been seen again at Pleinmont. I wasn’t sure whether to set out on such a long trek after a full week of work, especially since the bird would be no doubt from the Jersey reintroduction scheme. I am glad I decided to though, as the bird was soon pinned down, and we had really good views of it on the cliff slope below Mabel’s. It fed quite contently, picking grubs out of the turf before flying off north after a while.

The rings proved it was indeed from the Jersey scheme - a female bird apparently, which was bred in the wild from released parents. I didn’t know whether to add it to my Guernsey List but decided that I might as well as it wasn’t a captive bred bird and life’s too short to worry about nonsense like that. I probably wouldn’t have added it to my life list. It was an enjoyable bird and was calling quite a lot. I managed to record a few of the calls despite the noisy wind. I can’t remember the last time I saw a Chough properly - I saw a few in Europe over the last few years but all were distant and brief.

I like to think that this bird was scouting for good breeding sites and will fly back and tell its Jersey crew that the grass is indeed greener on the other side(island), and a mass exodus will follow, and the species will soon be breeding all along the cliffs like it used to do a hundred years ago.

Just A Bird

Just A Bird

Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

Just A Bird

March/April 2022

March 2022

Just A Bird