30th March – First Willow Warblers

During the morning of Friday 30th Tony Taylor ringed 15 birds, including the first four Willow Warblers of the year. Other migrants present were: eight Goldcrests, eight Chiffchaffs and a male Brambling.

29th March – Spring still on a go slow

During the morning of Thursday 29th, Tony Taylor ringed a single Chiffchaff (the first of the year to be ringed) and two Goldcrests. He also managed to read the colour-ring combination of one of the island's returning Wheatears – a male ringed as a one-year-old bird in 2017 at exactly the same spot as Tony resighted it. Other sightings during yet another decidedly un-springlike day included six Teal, a flock of nine Cormorants flying north, seven Swallows (seen at Jenny's Cove by Darrin Dowding), the same female Merlin as reported previously, two Redwings in Millcombe and a pair of Stonechats.

27th & 28th March – One Swallow, less than one Woodcock, but plenty of Water Rails...

In Tony Taylor's words Tuesday 27th was "wet & windy with nothing to report beyond five Water Rails, two Chiffchaffs and seven Goldcrests."

On Wednesday 28th, "Ann saw a Swallow, but definitely not summer." Also seen were two Fieldfares, 11 Redwings, a pair of Stonechats and a female Bullfinch. Grant Sherman saw a Hooded Crow and there were fresh pluckings from a predated Woodcock in St John's Valley. There were four Water Rails that Tony says, "included a pair in Smelly Gully that stuck very closely together, as they did on 27th and one singing in St Helen's Field this evening."

25th & 26th March – Shearwaters return, Puffins on land

Tony Taylor spent the morning of Sunday 25th mist-netting and the afternoon checking Manx Shearwater nestboxes on the West Side. Among the birds ringed were three Goldcrests. The shearwater colony showed plenty of evidence of fresh activity this season already, with new excavations, droppings at burrow entrances, new nest material in a box used last year and three piles of feathers from predated birds. Other sightings included a Great Northern Diver, a Jackdaw (Tent Field), three Wheatears and two Harbour Porpoises (off South West Point).

Monday 26th brought hints of a small arrival of migrants, including seven Goldcrests, two Chiffchaffs and a Brambling in Millcombe during the morning. Elsewhere, there were six Teal (3m,3f), a Great Northern Diver, 106 Puffins at Jenny's Cove (with up to seven ashore), a female Merlin, a Jackdaw (St Helen's Field) and five Wheatears (including two colour-ringed birds, but neither seen well). Rain has now stopped play for the day.

23rd & 24th March – Resumption of something like spring...

Tony & Ann Taylor report single Great Northern Diver, Golden Plover and Redwing on 23rd March.

Their sightings on Saturday 24th included: four Teal (1m,3f), one Red-throated Diver, four Gannets (off South West Point), three Snipe, eight Oystercatchers, eight Woodpigeons, five Goldcrests, four Wheatears (low down on the sidelands – none seen well), three Dunnocks, five Pied Wagtails, 70 Meadow Pipits (including birds moving through towards the NW),  five Chaffinches (Millcombe), one Linnet and one Goldfinch. Also a Harbour Porpoise off South West Point.

17th to 19th March – Back into the deep freeze...

Over the weekend, Lundy was once again blasted by severe easterly gales accompanied by driving snow, though with something of an improvement today (Monday 19th). Dean Jones writes:

"There seemed to be a mass evacuation of migrants from the island just before the storm, luckily, but a few did linger including a beautiful female colour-ringed Wheatear below Benjamin’s Chair (see photo). All the seabirds disappeared from the cliffs and coastline too, bar some gangs of gulls which have been following Tom about to grab a quick meal of sheep feed in the Generator Field and on Ackland's Moor (c350 Herring Gulls today). Other than that there hasn’t been much about to count as the birds have hidden themselves well from the cold. I did have one Skylark singing its heart out in a snow flurry on Saturday afternoon which was a massive surprise – poor thing must be well eager to get on with breeding."

Tony Taylor reports that the Wheatear was ringed at Benjamin's Chair on 25 May 2014 and has been seen there regularly every year since, breeding successfully in 2015, 2016 and 2017. As Tony says, "Let's hope she has the reserves to see her through to some real spring weather."

Colour-ringed female Wheatear, Benjamin's Chair, 18 Mar © Dean Jones

Golden Hair Lichen in the snow, Dead Cow Point, 18 Mar © Dean Jones

Spring heavily disguised as winter on the plateau, 18 Mar © Dean Jones

Not Spitsbergen, but Jenny's Cove... 18 Mar © Dean Jones

8th to 16th March – First Wheatears, hirundines, Chiffchaffs and... Puffins!

The following is the latest round-up of sightings from Lundy Warden Dean Jones, including exciting news of the arrival of the first summer visitors. What a difference to two weeks ago!

Red-throated Diver: Five were feeding in the Landing Bay mid-afternoon on 14th, and four today (16th).
Sparrowhawk: A lone bird was perched on the rocks above the Old Light colony on 15th.
Puffin: 10 on the water in Jenny’s Cove on 14th were the first of the year.
Woodpigeon: A reasonably high count of 12 in Millcombe on 14th.
Merlin: Two seen together on 15th, just south of Threequarter Wall (photo).
Goldcrest: A very handsome male was seen feeding in the Turkey Oaks next to Smelly Gully on 9th – the first of the spring. One possible female was feeding in Smelly Gully today (16th).
Hirundines: The first Sand Martins were recorded yesterday (15th) too (a day earlier than the first of 2017). The count comprised three in total – one bird over Millcombe in the early morning (Dean Jones) and two feeding in St John’s in the mid-afternoon along with a gang of three Swallows (Rob Waterfield & Pete Lambden).
Chiffchaff: Two feeding along the margins of Millcombe Pond on 14th were the first for the year. Three were present on 15th & 16th, again in Millcombe.
Song Thrush: Only one record of a single bird in Millcombe on 15th & 16th.
Redwing: A mass evacuation of thrushes occurred over the weekend; only two Redwings have been recorded since 8th – one on 14th near Halfway Wall and one next to Quarters on 15th.
Wheatear: A single bird on 12th on Ackland’s Moor (near Quarter Wall) was the first of the spring (Zoë Barton). Three were present yesterday (15th), including an unringed bird near the Battery steps (photo) and the first returning colour-ringed bird at Benjamin’s Chair, together with an unringed female.
Pied Wagtail: Max of four on 15th & 16th with a singing male in the Village next to the Tavern on 14th.
Grey Wagtail: One in Millcombe on 14th (Nick Herbert) and one over St John’s Valley today (16th).
Meadow Pipit: c.150-200 were counted in a period of 10 minutes from the Castle Parade (Zoë Barton whilst on housekeeping duty!), 100+ over the village on 13th & 147 counted from the South End to Threequarter Wall on 15th, including large flocks of 50+ feeding birds near Benjamin’s Chair and St Mark’s Stone.

In addition Dean reports that "There was lots of breeding activity recorded yesterday, with many singing birds, gangs of Dunnocks chasing each other through the gorse and Blackbirds and House Sparrows collecting nest material. Oh, and not forgetting the non-avian highlights: the first Common Carder Bee was recorded on 13th and the first Peacock butterfly was seen sunning itself below Benjamin's Chair this afternoon (16th)."

Wheatear between The Battery & Dead Cow Point, 15 Mar © Dean Jones

Merlin near Threequarter Wall, 15 Mar © Dean Jones