Conditions this morning were a carbon copy of yesterday, perhaps a slightly harder frost. At first light 10 Little Egrets left Longis Bay. There were 10 Teal, 1 Water Rail and 15 Snipe on Longis pond. On Longis common about 60 Greenfinches and 200 Starlings. On Longis reserve a Swallow present from mid morning to at least mid day. We are the British Isles most southerly bird observatory and we should expect late records for migrants but I did not expect to be recording Swallow in December. Other reports were a Firecrest at the community woodland 3 Bar-tailed Godwits on Braye beach. Bird of the day was another addition to the island year total. A Lapland Bunting made 2 passes over Longis common calling as it went. There are only a handful of records here for this species but like so much else it is likely heavily under recorded.
Ringing: 51 Birds were processed today 45 of which were new ringed. Redwing the prominent species again with 19. See ringing totals page for full details. Both yesterday and today we caught the very pale form of Chiffchaff, on island we have been split between the identification of what subspecies we are seeing. This Autumn have now processed 6 of these pale Chiffs in total, each on the back of prelonged East winds. Feathers will be sent for DNA testing to set the record straight.
Chiffchaffs – Longis Common – Photo – ABO