March 2020

As one might have expected, March 2020 was pretty much a write-off in terms of birding. The final week or so of the month, everyone was getting used to COVID-19 virus “lockdown” restrictions and we mostly stayed inside as I worked from home. During the middle two weeks of March I was off work anyway with (an unrelated!!) illness, but because of the self-isolating situation I had to stay away from school for a long time until any trace of ‘symptoms’ disappeared. Which all meant that I barely left the house after the first week (which was a quiet week anyway).

So I recorded just 2 Wheatear all month (at Rousse on 14th March) and very little else apart from what was seen from the car during a few drives out for provisions etc. I counted a total of 70 Brent Geese at Bordeaux on 15th, which is a good single-flock count for recent years, and we also drove past the Avocet at L’Eree on 23rd.

So, with all this, I don’t really have any decent pics to post, but here’s a photo of a white-faced Blackbird that visited the garden, and a photo of me ringing a Graceful Warbler back in Eilat in Spring 1994 when I was a mere boy.

February 2020

February was wet wet and wet - I think it came out as the rainiest February ever by the end. I managed a couple of trips out in the odd sunny break but I barely pointed the camera at any birds all month. At Grand Pre on 8th Feb two different Cetti’s Warblers were singing away, one very close to the car park, and in the orchard opposite there was a Firecrest and a Fieldfare. The patch Long-tailed Duck reappeared and I saw it at Grandes Rocques on 13th. On 21st I had a quick scoot around the west coast, the highlights being Water Pipit and Red-breasted Merganser at Richmond. So an unsurprisingly quiet month finished off with the Royal Tern visiting my patch for the 4th year running when I saw it fight its way past Rousse in high winds on 29th Feb.

Willow flower - Grand Pre, 8 Feb 20

Presumed Snipe feeding holes, Grand Pre, 8 Feb 20

Gulls making the most of the sea inundation at Vazon, 10 Feb 20

A few-inch tall Portuguese Man’o’war - Rocquaine, 21 Feb 20

By-the-wind-sailor - Roquaine, 21 Feb 20

Water Pipit - Vazon, 21 Feb 20

Behind the Water Pipit I spotted a suitcase washed up on the beach which I was so sure was going to be the start of a very exciting adventure!! However, the name tag was too faded and the case was empty, apart from a small swiss army knife - I left it be.

Anaptychia runcinate - Albecq, 21 Feb 20

Cushion Bracket - Talbot Valley, 21 Feb 20

Of course, with the bad weather I was able to make decent inroads into the specimens in the freezer, with the two beasties below I think being new to Guernsey.

Ophonus ardosiacus - in garden moth trap, 5 Jul 2019

Gypsonoma oppressana - garden moth trap, 28 Jun 2019