Least Adders-tongue - Fort Hommet, 6 Jan 26

I knew that there was a population of the rare and weird fern, the Least Adder’s-tongue, on the patch, but I didn’t know where exactly it was. I even knew the approximate location, within 10 metres or so, and I had casually looked for it in the past but with no success. The problem is that it is so very small, just a cm or two high, and it only grows in about a metre square of turf on the island. I am sure that I could have asked someone to tell me exactly where it was, but I never have done. So pretty tricky to find, and it is also a mid-winter species, growing before it gets swamped by other vegetation. Someone had put a pic online during the week, which reminded me to go have another look and, one cold afternoon after work, I wandered around the turf in the vicinity of the relevant outcrop of rocks. As usual, I was aimlessly blundering, when a lady walking her dog stopped and assumed what I was looking for. She very kindly pointed out the exact spot for me and we saw a few “tongues” poking up through the moss. So, so small, it is a definite hands and knees job. The photos show the weird spore-release slits, and the small, single, rubbery leaf.

There were no drastic cold snaps nearby in January, so no hard-weather bird influxes. However, there had been a bit of a White-fronted Goose influx into the UK and a small flock of 9 birds arrived in Guernsey so I went to take a look. The fields of Barras Lane are our equivalent to Slimbridge and I found the White-fronts there, feeding with 5 Canada Geese, a few feral Barnacle Geese and 30+ Greylags. I was more interested in a weird sleeping bird which was greyish with a darker brown head. I couldn’t tell what it was until it started wandering around and revealed itself to be an escapee Australian Maned Duck, a species I had never seen before in Guernsey. this shows why we still have to be very wary of “wild” species of rare wildfowl suddenly appearing. We are an isolated island, but we still get wandering fence-hoppers appearing every now and again.

goose flock - Barras Lane Fields, 3 Jan 26

goose flock - Barras Lane Fields, 3 Jan 26 - the Maned Duck is the greyish blob on the right

It seems to be a good winter for Great Northern Diver with numerous birds seen round the coast this year so far. I’ve seen birds at Vazon, Cobo and these two, close together off Rousse. The numbers seems to be decline a few years ago but they seem to be making a comeback. I didn’t see a great deal else during January, especially because the weather was awful - it rained every single day in January on Guernsey! I did pop in to see a few Purple Sandpipers at Fort Hommet late in the month which is always a good species to get on the patch list.

Great Northern Divers - Rousse, 9 Jan 26

White-Fronted Geese - Barras Lane Fields, 23 Jan 26 - the birds stayed all month in the fields and got a bit closer by the end

White-Fronted Geese - Barras Lane Fields, 23 Jan 26

2025 was a very quiet year for birding. The couple of really exciting birds that were seen on the island were not seen by me! The avian highlights were finding the Pallas’s and the Dotterel - any birds that surprise you, appearing in front of your eyes are always the best. The American Herring Gull was interesting, and I was grateful it reappeared after missing it the first time. It was exciting to come across a Black Kite out on a drive, even though it arrived on the island a couple of days before, and bumping into a White Stork three times in one day was bizarre, even though it was probably a reintroduced bird.

In contrast, Moths were superb, with lots of new species added to the list. What was great was ticking off a few of the rarer scarce species that I have been looking out for for a long time, such as Pine-tree Lappet. Trapping more regularly on the cliffs with the entomology group meant more excitement and potential for good species, the highlight here being the Dusky Scalloped Oak which I have wanted to see for 20 years since arriving in Guernsey. Other local insects that I was particularly pleased to see included the continental fly species Coenosia tigrina, and finally seeing both Red-veined Darter and Asian Hornet, which were both giant gaps in the local list.

Of course, a full week of wildlife-hunting with the BUBO lads in Norfolk, plus a solo day in New Forest, was filled with lots of amazing critters, and I picked up a whopping 166 new species. Technically, the highlight was picking out Hemp Tortrix, only a second record for Britain. But my favourite times from that week were the moth-trapping session at Strumpshaw, along with the walk there the next morning, chasing moths round the amazing field in the Brecks and getting caught in the deluge at Wheatfen! My favourite morning of the whole year was wandering slowly, off-path down to Crockford Stream in the New Forest, amongst the bogs and the ponies, without a single person in sight, surrounded by hundreds of dragonflies and other creatures.

STATS

1 new bird for the World List - American Herring Gull - on 800.

1 new bird for Britain (inc. C.Is.) - American Herring Gull - on 408.

1 new bird for Guernsey - American Herring Gull - on 278.

(All these three totals have actually gone down due to the taxonomic spoilsports doing some “lumping”)

1 new 'self-found' bird - Pallas’s Warbler - on 280.

(Although Dotterel could probably be counted as this as I have only previously “found” birds on Cairngorm.)

0 new garden birds (in or from) - still on 98.

(It has been 3 full years now since the last new bird from the garden - maybe I’ll never get to 100!)

2025 Guernsey year list total - 135.

(Another poor year but totally my fault. Sometimes I don’t bother driving 1 minute out of my way to see a bird that has turned up, or even stop the car when that’s all I have to do! I must try harder this year)