1st to 3rd February – More than 7,500 seabirds in one day!

Tim Davis & Tim Jones walked the whole island perimeter on Sunday 3 Feb, beginning from the Castle at just before 8am, walking along the South End and West Side to North Light lookout, then back along the East Side, getting back to the Castle at 4.30pm. An overnight change in wind direction from a biting northerly to a milder WSW seemed to have stimulated huge numbers of auks to come ashore to visit the breeding colonies. Visibility was good throughout, with some warm sunny spells and only a drizzly shower during the afternoon, which helped with counting, though the numbers of auks were almost overwhelming at times. Whilst the Tims were on the West Side during mid-late morning, Dean Jones was scanning the Landing Bay and East Side from the Ugly at the same time, giving combined totals of over 7,500 seabirds for the day!

• Fulmar 227 (of which 93 on ledges on N-facing side of Gannets’ Rock)
• Gannet 5 (off North Light)
• Shag 22 (low numbers as usual in winter)
• Oystercatcher 52 (an exceptionally high count for winter; no large flocks, but pairs and small groups scattered around the entire coastline)
• Razorbill 2,159 (a minimum count and certainly an underestimate)
• Guillemot 3,126 (including 1,790 on ledges at Jenny’s Cove, and hundreds ashore at St Philip’s Stone, St Mark’s Stone and Long Roost)
• Kittiwake 2,556 (comprising 1,439 off the East Side and 1,117 off the West Side; birds visiting the breeding ledges at Jenny’s Cove and Three-quarter Wall colonies)
• Lesser Black-backed Gull 14
• Herring Gull 489
• Great Black-backed Gull 118
• Rock Pipit 19

There were 14 Red-throated Divers off the Landing Bay and a Great Northern Diver feeding close to the jetty, also two adult Mediterranean Gulls well out from the Ugly and a total of 20 Common Gulls.

Other notable records during the first three days of February have been: up to six Teal (mainly Pondsbury and Brick Field), the overwintering female Sparrowhawk on 1st & 2nd, a Lapwing on 1st & 2nd, two Golden Plovers on 2nd (one remaining on 3rd), two Snipe on 1st, a single Woodpigeon, the female Great Spotted Woodpecker on 1st & 2nd, a Jackdaw around the farm on 2nd & 3rd, up to two Chiffchaffs and two Goldcrests in Millcombe, one to three Skylarks daily, a Redwing on Ackland's Moor on 1st, a maximum of five Stonechats on 3rd, a female-type Black Redstart below Benjamin’s Chair on 2nd and a lone female Chaffinch in Smelly Gully on 3rd – apparently the only finch of any species on the entire island!