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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

In an Island garden (1 Viewer)

It's been a disappointing weekend on the migration front... plenty of wee willow-chaffs in the woods... but little else that I can see.

So I turned my attention to the sea birds. The Guillemot rock is now crowded with birds... making a huge racket... and rafts of the just offshore waiting to come in.. On the other coast rafts of Razorbills are sitting on the water... I didn't get close enough to their breeding stacks.. but I'm sure they'll be on there soon, if not already.

I'm yet to see a puffin... but I will!

The Fulmars have taken up positions on wee ledges on the most precipitous cliffs, the herring gulls and Lessr black-backs are dotted in their hundreds of the steep, but vegetated slopes.

I'm told that Manx shearwaters and Storm Petrels probably breed on Sark, both species have been seen and heard on land here... but breeding has never been proven!
 
That incident with the Peregrine must really have been amazing.

Isn't it exciting being somewhere new and watching and waiting to see what turns up - I hope you manage to get proof that Petrel and Shearwater breed there. Do you have a likely area to check out?

D
 
delia todd said:
That incident with the Peregrine must really have been amazing.

Isn't it exciting being somewhere new and watching and waiting to see what turns up - I hope you manage to get proof that Petrel and Shearwater breed there. Do you have a likely area to check out?

D
Click to expand...

There'a a guy called Paul Vernon.. who's Guernsey's Seabird expert... He's been over several times and has heard them, caught Petrels in mist nets, seen them off shore in the late evenings... so they are definately here at both the South end (on Little Sark) and the North End if the Island... he has never found a nest of either though. Both areas have healthy populations of feral cats... which for most of the year live off the healthy population of black rats (and rabbits)... not ideal for ground nesting birds!

I'm told I should go up to the probable areas on a dark moonless night... and listen!

I'm not going anywhere near rare nesting birds.... so I'll probably never prove their breeding!
 
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Bird quiz time.......

What makes a sound like a cat being throttled.. or a muffled herring gull sceeching... in the middle of the night... on a wee island... that might have Manx shearwaters... or Long-eared owls... or a cat throttler!
 
That's just it.. I don't!

What could it be.. in the middle of the night on a smal island that has no wild mamals bigger than a rabbit, there are long-eared owls..,but I've never heard an owl sound like that (there is a Snowy Owl on a neighbouring island!)
 
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During the late Spring and Summer, we mist-net Storm Petrels on the north coast in Jersey, which is about 15 miles from Sark. We use a tape lure to attract Stormies to the nets.

We almost always hear what we believe are Manx Shearwaters calling from a nearby cliff face, and occasionally catch the odd individual - they may be attracted by the Stormie tape. The calls are raucous cacklings / gurglings / guffaws - hard to describe objectively.

What both these species are doing on the Jersey coast in Summer is a mystery. The Stormies come from all over the place (we've re-trapped birds from Cornwall, Ireland, W Scotland, Brittany and Alderney). Some of our birds have been re-trapped at the colony on Burhou, off Alderney. Some have large brood patches.

There is, however, no direct evidence to suggest that either breed on Jersey. Maybe the Manx are Sark breeders. Who knows!
 
I had time for a short bit of birding yesterday... 6 Wheatears, swallows, Sand martins, Small focks of Linnets. Blackcaps ticking in the hedges.

The duck pond had two broods of newly hatched Mallards 11 and 15 per family.

Spring has arrived in force, the hedgerows are full of celendines, primroses, violets and daisies. The first bluebells are out... they look darker here! I found a few sand crocuses Romulea columnae, a Channel Island speciality.. tiny we things... but all the better for it! The Blackthorn that covers the upper cliffs has gone snowy white... contrasting with bright yellow gorse.

I should take photos!

I'm off for a trip "round the bottom" today
 
Quercus said:
That's just it.. I don't!

What could it be.. in the middle of the night on a smal island that has no wild mamals bigger than a rabbit, there are long-eared owls..,but I've never heard an owl sound like that (there is a Snowy Owl on a neighbouring island!)
Click to expand...

I went for that Snowy a couple of weeks ago - spectacular if you get a chance.
http://tai-haku.blogspot.com/2010/03/snowy-in-march.html
The way they were doing the rounds last year though it'll probably turn up somewhere nearby anyway.
 
The Snowy owl was on Herm.. I tried looking for it.. but my binoculars aren't strong enough for a 6 mile twitch.. even if it is big n white!

I assume it's an escape!

Give me a shout if you're coming across.. weekends are best for me!
 
I just had a stunning migration experience. Sark is full of Swallows, Sand martins and a few House Martins today, all of which are feeding but steadily heading North. (Imagine the island is a diamond shape on N-S axis) Gradually getting funneled and concentrated, til they reach the far north point, where you can stand on the headland with them zipping past as they head out to sea without a moment's hesitation. A rough guess would be a constant stream of about 100 every minute...I felt a bit worried for them... it's a long way to Dorset... but it must be near perfect conditions today.

Plenty of Wheatears standing around in fields.... waiting... for what... I don't know!

I'm off on an auk hunt!
 
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Quercus said:
The Snowy owl was on Herm.. I tried looking for it.. but my binoculars aren't strong enough for a 6 mile twitch.. even if it is big n white!

I assume it's an escape!

Give me a shout if you're coming across.. weekends are best for me!
Click to expand...

Didn't one of them make it across to Sark last year when we had (bizarrely) 2 or 3 kicking around or was it Alderney? It was putting the fear of god into the gulls when I saw it (on Lihou)

Will definitely give you a shout. Need to go to Sark at some point as I still haven't been - seabird nesting season sounds like an ideal time
 
I love my job!...But one of the drawbacks of being a Professional gardener is that at this time of year..... it's head down and get on with it. Tempting as it is to check out every movenment in the shrubberies, every unfamiliar tweet in the trees... if I did the work wouldn't get done! ..And after a 10 hour day enjoying the fresh air and sunshine.. the thought of "taking the evening air" somehow doesn't tempt me!

I don't know why I should apologise to you lot for being a crap birder... but there.. I just did!

Anyroad.. this Morning I caught sight of an unfamiliar LBJ on the rose pergola.. Immediately thought.. Redstart.. she flew across the lawn.. red tail glinting in the sunshine.. I took chase... lost her.. saw a wee brown thingy hopping around in the tree.. Redstart.. Nope... Garden warbler! ... two island firsts (for me) in 20 seconds!

73, Redstart.
74, Garden warbler.
 
76, Coot... looking totally out of place on a choppy sea!

The thickets are full of Whitethroats, Blackcaps and Chiff-chaffs!
 
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