1st to 20th Dec – A pre-Christmas round-up

Lundy Warden Dean Jones provides an update covering the first 20 days of December:

"Unfortunately it has been super quiet bird-wise on the island bird since the last post. Unsurprisingly the weather hasn’t been the best with strong south-easterly winds dominating, then switching to the west, bringing with it some heavy downpours. There have been one or two really nice winter days in there though, which has allowed for better birding as well as a small night-time passage of thrushes, for example 35 Fieldfares on 12th Dec.

Birds of note through the period include:

A single Great Northern Diver busily feeding in the Landing Bay on most days up to 20th. Other than this beautiful bird there hasn’t been much else out at sea other than some distant auks, the odd Kittiwake, Gannet and a 1st-winter Common Gull on 12th. Grant Sherman has been out checking his Guillemot sites, resulting in some decent counts on the ledges at St Mark's and Jenny’s, along with good numbers of Fulmar arguing over ledges on a number of days. 

A female Sparrowhawk was present in Millcombe up until 16th at least (perhaps the same long-staying female from November). Other raptor sightings have included Merlin, Kestrel and Peregrine. 

There are still some Woodcock, Snipe and Water Rail skulking around the island (mainly in Millcombe and at Pondsbury), while on the passerine front the island has been graced with small numbers of Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, a number of glorious Goldcrests, a male Stonechat, a lone Chiffchaff in Millcombe on a number of dates, and a single Firecrest on 12th.

One highlight was the rediscovery of our lady Great Spotted Woodpecker in St Helen's Copse on  10th by Neil Trout. She has been heard/seen most days up until 19th when she was heard calling loudly in St Helen's Copse again.

We also had a rather special non-avian visitor in the form of a huge Basking Shark off Rat Island on  14th. This sighting came as quite a surprise to everyone on the island as observations of these leviathans through the hefty swell this late in the year are rather few and far between.

With me heading off home to the Emerald Isle on Saturday for some Christmas festivities, I am unsure if there will be any further updates until at least 29th Dec. Just in case there aren’t, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas from the island and to say thank you to everyone who has submitted sightings or photographs over the past year. It has been a truly special one with some fantastic birds and even better birders on the island.

Hope to see you all on the island in the New Year!"

And a big thank you to you, Dean, from all Lundybirds blog readers for all your updates through the year. A very Merry Christmas to you and Zoë from us all.