Day trip 30 July 2014 – Puffin extravaganza

We took advantage of an "earlyish out, lateish back" boat from Bideford for a spur-of the-moment day trip. Light NW wind on the outward crossing, backing to a westerly for the return. In both directions saw several individual adult Guillemots accompanied by recently-fledged (it would be more accurate to say "recently-jumped", as not yet capable of flight) young, perhaps most likely to have come from the Lundy colonies. Only about 20 Manx Shearwaters on the way out, and just one in the evening; many fewer than would normally be expected at this time of year. Maybe inshore waters are too warm this summer for good feeding? Very evident on the island were at least 50 mainly juvenile Willow Warblers, already migrating south and scattered all along the East Side combes, as well as in the bracken inbetween, with a few along dry-stone walls and even out in the middle of St Helen's Field. We didn't have time to spend long in any particular area, and left large parts of the island unvisited, so there could have been many more. Other migrants included two or three Sedge Warblers (Millcombe and Pondsbury), a Chiffchaff (Millcombe), a handful of Sand Martins, and one House Martin. Among 'resident' species, juveniles likely to have been hatched on the island included Robin, Blackbird, Pied Wagtail, Goldfinch & Linnet. A Grey Heron flying over Millcombe as we walked up from the boat was on Pondsbury later on, when it revealed itself to be a first-year bird. The undoubted highlight was an astonishing count of at least 240 Puffins in Jenny's Cove. We arrived there at 2pm, not normally an auspicious time of day for Puffin watching, but could see straight away that there were plenty on both land and water. A Peregrine helpfully flew in at this point, causing all the Puffins to fly out from the sidelands and settle on the water, where they were more easily counted. All appeared to be adults. We didn't have the opportunity to check through the 2014 island logbook in detail, but 240 is certainly an increase on the 2013 peak and seems to be a new post-rat-eradication record and a further boost to restoring Lundy's fortunes as a seabird capital. It's even more remarkable given that we only had time to visit the main site on the island. Who knows how many we missed at other key areas, such as St Philip's Stone, Long Roost, and the north-east coast? That some Puffin chicks are yet to fledge was shown by adults taking food into burrows. By contrast, all Guillemots and Razorbills have fledged and the breeding ledges are virtually abandoned for another year. We saw just one Razorbill on land and a grand total of 8 Guillemots – all adults on the water. Among other sightings were three dragonfly, two damselfly and 8 butterfly species, the latter including Small Copper and Grayling, and around 15 day-flying Oak Eggar moths. All in all, a great day, with almost unbroken sunshine.

14/7/14 Guillemot updates

14th July 2014

• "Mica" has fledged leaving "Erratic" as the only chick remaining on the ledge.
• 1 chick (E)
• 4 feeds (E,E,E,E)
• 50 Puffins seen on land at St Philip's Stone, including one with fish.
• Herring Gull activity around St Philip's Stone, but no predation observed.

14/7/14 Summary 

 11th July 2014

• Six more Guillemot chicks have fledged. "Aplite", "Basalt", "Dolerite", "Igneous", "Neolithic, and "Struvite" have joined the others out at sea.
• Egg G is still abandoned.
• 2 chicks (E,M)
• 4 feeds (E,E,E,M)
• 36 Puffins seen on land at St Philip's Stone, including one with fish.
• Great Black-back and Herring Gull activity around St Philip's Stone, but no predation observed.

11/07/14 Summary 

8th July 2014

• Three more Guillemot chicks have fledged. "Copper", "Feldspar", and "Quartz" have joined "Regolith" out at sea.
• The pair at site G seem to have abandoned their egg. Only one adult was present throughout the 2 hours and it was standing, ignoring its uncovered egg.
• 8 chicks (A,B,D,E,I,M,N,S)
• 4 feeds (A,E,A,S) Preliminary provisioning rate of 0.29 feeds per chick hour (61/214).
• 35 Puffins seen on land at St Philip's Stone.
• Great Black-back and Herring Gull activity around St Philip's Stone, but no predation observed.

08/07/14 Summary

Two "firsts" for Lundy confirmed by BBRC

The British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC) has accepted the records of the Booted Warbler and Blyth's Reed Warbler trapped and ringed on Lundy in the first week of October last year by John Horton and John Haddaway. These are the first confirmed records of either species for the island, and the Blyth's Reed Warbler was also a species new to the County of Devon. The Booted Warbler was mist-netted in Millcombe on 1st October, swiftly followed by the Blyth's Reed Warbler on 3rd.

6/7/14 My first Guillemot chick has fledged.

6th July 2014

• My first Guillemot chick has fledged, "Regolith" was not on the ledge this morning. Initially site R was empty, but then a single adult returned with a large fish. She continued to hold the fish in her beak for almost 2 hours before dropping it. I'm assuming that the male adult is at sea with "Regolith". The presence of two adults and no chick would have meant that fledging had been unsuccessful, either through predation, or failure of communication between "Regolith" and its father. I'm hoping that I don't see two adults on this site in the next few days.
• 11 chicks (A,B,C,D,E,F,I,M,N,Q,S)
• 9 feeds (E,E,A,N,B,I,E,M,E)
• 35 Puffins seen on land at St Philip's Stone.

R arriving with fish

6/7/14 Summary 

5/7/14 More Guillemot updates

4th July 2014

• 12 chicks (A,B,C,D,E,F,I,M,N,Q,R,S) The older chicks are becoming more active. "Feldspar" stood close to the edge looking out to sea - but then returned to the warmth and safety underneath its parent's wing. "Struvite" continues to roam a short distance from its parents. Today, it was brooded under the right wing of the site R adult - while "Regolith" was under the left wing.
• 7 feeds (B,C,D,Ex2,I,M) As well as these 7 feeds, there was one feed before I started filming (N or E) and one after I stopped filming (site S, medium to large fish). The parents of "Basalt" and "Feldspar" both returned once without a fish.
• The damp weather meant that I spent most of the two hours under an umbrella, so there were no Puffin counts today, and I did not observe the Yellow-orange footed Razorbill.

4th July Summary

3rd July 2014

• 12 chicks (A,B,C,D,E,F,I,M,N,Q,R,S) One new chick "Erratic", hatched since yesterday. A fight between two adults (M2 and N1) resulted in N1 falling off the ledge. "Neolithic" was left unattended for 4m34s until N1 returned. "Struvite" moved around its area of the ledge. The R2 stood on "Struvite" leading to a fight between R2 and S1
• 7 feeds (C,E,F,I,N,Q,S)
• 32 Puffins seen on the land at St Philip's Stone.
• Great Black-back and Herring Gull activity around St Philip's Stone, but no predation observed.
• Yellow-orange footed Razorbill again present at F5.

3rd July Summary

2nd July 2014

• 11 chicks (A,B,C,D,F,I,M,N,Q,R,S)
• 5 feeds (Ax2,I,M,S)
• 39 Puffins seen on the land at St Philip's Stone, including one with a metal ring on its right leg.
• 105 Puffins seen on the land at Jenny's Cove.
• Great Black-back and Herring Gull activity around St Philip's Stone, but no predation observed.
• Yellow-orange footed Razorbill again present at F5.

2nd July Summary