by John Horton | Aug 11, 2016
Overnight NW winds turned further to the west during today, there were noticeably fewer migrants around. A female Sparrowhawk passed over Obs around midday and there were two Kestrels hunting around Longis Reserve early this morning and 3 House Martins over the pond. A single Grey Heron, a Whimbrel and 11 Curlew were in Longis Bay with the rising pm tide.This evening a Wheatear was at Bibettes.
Ringing was undertaken at Longis and Mannez this morning with only 19 new birds ringed in total, reflecting the lull in migrants.
Paul Veron reports: Crabby Beach – 1 ad Yellow-legged Gull, Braye Beach – 13 Mediterranean Gulls, Fort Houmet Herbé – 2 Med Gulls, 2 Balearic Shearwaters, Mannez – 1 Redshank over.
by John Horton | Aug 10, 2016
Northwesterly winds were strong overnight and eased this morning but, despite it remaining blustery, we were able to open several of the nets around Essex Farm at locations where the nets were nicely sheltered from the conditions. Ringing demonstrations were popular again this morning with about 40 people attending the Observatory for our weekly ‘open morning’. We had 42 new birds, a good variety with Willow Warbler again the most common bird. We have had 250 of these already this month and I understand the passage through the Channel Islands continues in good numbers for this species until the month end. We are beginning to see passage Blackcaps and Whitethroats and we also had another early migration mover this morning in the shape of a Garden Warbler. Information from Channel Islands ringing group gurus Richmond and Margaret Austin is that this week is also prime time here for Aquatic Warbler.
A late addition to today’s blog is of a Barn Owl passing through the Obs at 10pm, over the Obs outbuildings towards Essex Farm.
by John Horton | Aug 9, 2016
Another great morning ringing saw our first Garden Warbler of the autumn, first juvenile Long-tailed Tit of the year and a magnificent female Sparrowhawk all caught around Essex Farm. Willow Warblers were again prominent with 49 new birds, including our first ‘control’ of the reverse migration, a Willow Warbler with a UK ring. A total of 105 birds (84 new) of 18 species were processed -see ringing totals page.
Female Sparrowhawk – Essex Farm
by John Horton | Aug 8, 2016
A busy day of non birding duties today but managed a quick stop to check the gull roost at high tide on Braye Bay late this afternoon. There were 18 Mediterranean Gulls, 9 Black-headed Gulls, 3 Sandwich Terns and 4 Whimbrels.
Green Arches
by John Horton | Aug 7, 2016
A promising start at first light went steadily downhill as mists came in followed by light drizzle and then increasing winds and showers. A couple of net rounds at Longis reserve were all that was possible and 16 birds were processed 15 of which were new.
There was a Sparrowhawk through the reserve at first light and just as I packed up a couple of hours later a Hobby came in low over the reserve pond then rapidly gained height heading south.
Some exciting information has come back to us from The Channel Islands ringing group concerning one of the 3 Storm Petrels we caught on Burhou this year that had a French ring on. (so originally ringed in France) One of these ‘controlled’ by Alderney Bird observatory 29/07/16 on Burhou had French ring number SA890835. The details of this bird were sent to our French counterparts and they have confirmed that the bird was originally ringed 242km away on Beniguet Island on 25.07.1997, some 19 years ago ! See map below. We are checking our records to see if this is a new longevity record for Storm Petrel for the Channel islands.
White-line Dart moth.
