April 25th

April 25th

Still lots of birds around today but the gusting winds were certainly not ideal birding conditions. A flock of 8 Dunlin (not a common bird here) were reported by the Naturetrek group and 2 Whimbrel spotted by Dr.S Robertson beside the road to Bibette. I had a female Siskin feeding on the ground under the conifers beside Longis car park just after lunch. There was an increase in Wheatears with birds reported from several locations and having taken a quick look on Longis beach from the Obs ramparts before attending to this report, I saw 2 Brent Geese on the beach.

Ringing today was with the assistance of one of the Obs helper/trainee’s Heike Peck, we were able to keep the nets running and fit in another ringing demo for Naturetrek who again got lucky seeing Pied Fly and Common Redstart males amongst some 25 birds they saw processed.  The days return came from just 4 nets around Essex farm where the terrain afforded good shelter from the winds. Another good fall of migrants saw 121 birds processed. There was a much more even split of the two common phyllosc species: 39 Willow Warblers and 20 Chiffchaffs (yesterday 125 against 6). The good numbers of Common Redstart seen and ringed over the last few days improved still further with 10 new individuals ringed today along with singles of Wood Warbler, Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat and Goldcrest, also 28 Blackcap, 2 male Pied Flycatchers and 5 Sedge Warblers made for another quality days ringing on Alderney.

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Hoopoe Barrackmasters Lane  – Photo Richard Wilby (24th March)

 

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Whimbrels beside the road to Bibette today – Photo Dr. S Roberstson