April 2024
/April is an exciting month for birds with most of the new spring migrant species arriving, often in large numbers, but this year I found it difficult to get out for any long birding sessions and most of my sightings were snatched from short visits. The month did not seem to start very strongly in Guernsey and, apart from a few small flocks of Swallows, Sand Martins and Sandwich Terns, I saw very little - not even many Wheatears were coming through.
By 13th April things had started to move and there were plenty of Wheatears, White Wagtails and a singing Sedge Warbler at Jaonneuse headland. On the rocks in the bay I counted an incredible 12 Purple Sandpipers. This has been the main location for the species recently, especially in spring when they move north, but I’d never seen this many before. It was only when I looked on the island database that I realised how good a count it was - the last double-figure count was 11 at Fort Hommet in March 2006 and the last time there was more than 12 was in January 1999. During the 90s there were regular counts of 15-30, then things tailed off slowly until a low of just 1 or 2 per winter around 2015. Nice to see things are picking up.
12 Purple Sandpipers - Jaonneuse Bay, 13 Apr 24 - a record modern count
The next day, 14th April, was a quiet day for me until mid-afternoon when the bird alert went off that a Golden Oriole had been seen. This was my most-wanted species in Guernsey, a.k.a. my biggest “tart”, so I thought it was worth a shot, even though they are notorious for buggering off whenever they feel my presence. I pulled up at the horseshoe at the Reservoir and searched the trees thereabouts to no avail, although my first Common Sandpiper of the spring was present. When Vic arrived we soon discovered that we were looking in totally the wrong place and, after a phone call, relocated ourselves to the top of the hill along Rue des Hougues, Castel where some other birders were. They were scanning the tops of the trees across the valley but there was no sign. I walked down the track to get a bit closer and waited, but all I saw was a Bullfinch. That dipping feeling started to well up in my tum.
I started to walk back and noticed that all the other birders had gone from the roadside and I simultaneously received a grapevine alert that there had now just been two Golden Orioles seen further along Rue des Hougues. I scurried down the road and found the other birders and they indicated where they had last seen them. There was no sign and things were not looking good, then all of a sudden one was sat there in the tree across the field in front of us and I got it in my bins! Finally, after 25 years, Golden Oriole was on my Guernsey list (and indeed my *British List, as I have never even been close to one in the UK before). Unfortunately, just as the camera reached my eye, the bird flew down and away and back into the valley.
Golden Oriole - Rue Des Hougues, Castel, 14 Apr 24 - Can you find it?
Golden Oriole - Rue Des Hougues, Castel, 14 Apr 24 - Can you see it now?
Golden Oriole - Rue Des Hougues, Castel, 14 Apr 24
Golden Oriole - Rue Des Hougues, Castel, 14 Apr 24 - got the tail!
We continued searching for them but they seemed to be moving very fast through the area, and I’d only seen the one so far. We soon saw them both again briefly in the trees alongside the garden of the first house. But again they very quickly took off and we watched as both birds flew north across the road ahead of us, and across the next field and dropped over the hill, probably heading towards Grand Mare. The bright yellow of the male Golden O is so intense, it is a fabulous sight. Another notable feature of this sighting was the very early date. Almost all Golden Oriole records from Guernsey are in May or early June. I can find only two April sightings, both on 21st April, in ‘84 and ‘92. This is a full week earlier than those birds and a whole month earlier than an average sighting. These two males were part of a very early influx into southern UK of about 20 birds.
Golden Oriole makes 279 for my Guernsey List and completes all the non-rarities (at last). As for the next new species, it isn’t obvious and is as likely to be a proper rarity as it is something predictable. Aquatic Warbler is numerically the most likely but the circumstances do not suggest that will happen as I do not generally hang around mist nets in August. My next best guesses are perhaps a Velvet Scoter on a seawatch or, probably more likely due to their increasing trajectory, a Western Bonelli’s Warbler or Little Bunting in the autumn.
Things got quiet again during the rest of the working week but I saw some early Swifts from the house on 20th with one in the morning then a flock of 4 feeding over the tall trees in the evening. These appear to be my second earliest sightings and earliest multiple-arrival, and I had another the next day.
I stopped at the usual car park at Vazon/Ft Hommet, before work on 25th April for my usual quick scan of the area, when I heard a weird “honk!”. I looked up and saw a goose flying away towards Cobo. I could tell from the sound it wasn’t a Greylag and I also knew that it was going to be the Pink-footed Goose that Wayne had seen a couple of days prior on Grande Mare, and it was. A new species for my coastal-strip patch and still very rare in Guernsey with single-figure records. I thought it may be going off but it turned round and headed back overhead when I took a couple of snaps. It carried on across the bay and seemed to turn round again over Richmond probably looking to re-land back on the golf course.
Pink-footed Goose - over Vazon, 25 Apr 24
Pink-footed Goose - over Vazon, 25 Apr 24
The next morning, 26th, I stopped again at Vazon and just in the bushes round the car park, I saw 3 Willow and 2 Sedge Warblers in just a few minutes. It is mornings like these that make me wish I could just sack off work and head into the field. I am sure that there would have been quite a bit to see on the west coast headlands. The last birding of the month was on 27th April and I tried a few spots in the Vale. More Sedgies at Grand Pre and Pembroke, finally a first Yellow Wagtail at Jaonneuse and still 7 Purple Sandpipers hanging on there.
Chiffchaff - Rue des Bergers, 25 Apr 24 - a very pale, brown above and white below bird but not enough to be Siberian - perhaps one from north-easterly Europe though rather than a local bird?
Blair's Mocha - Garden, 26 Apr 24 - the only moth of note from april, waiting on the garden wall when I came home from work.
Our new dog, Charlie - was found wandering the streets of Cyprus, then spent more than a year in a shelter there - after a long journey, he has finally found a home with us - he is the most handsomest and goodest boy ever!
It was a Honour to accept this in April - a most unexpected Surprise.
