Jan 26th to Feb 8th – stormbound Greenland Whitefronts!

The latest winter highlights from Lundy Warden Dean Jones include three Greenland (flavirostris) White-fronted Geese, initially found grazing on the Airfield, just north of the water tanks, on 26th Jan. Obviously they are enjoying their time up there as they have remained on the island since – though they might be regretting it now that Storm Ciara has picked up steam!

White-fronted Geese, Airfield, 26th Jan © Dean Jones

White-fronted Geese, Airfield, 26th Jan © Dean Jones

A first-winter Little Gull was seen foraging offshore along the east coast on 28th Jan, perhaps the same bird seen earlier in the month, on 20th. Also the presence of some spectacular flocks of feeding seabirds continued up until the end of January – including up to 10 Mediterranean Gulls, 29 Common Gulls, peak counts of 2,766 Kittiwakes and 2,113 auk spp on 29th, a Cormorant on 29th and a Great Northern Diver on three dates within the period.

Red-throated Divers have also been seen almost daily throughout the period, with a peak count of 17 seen on 27th – seven birds were present offshore along the east coast yesterday (8th).

Other than these star birds, it has been much of the same with regard to other Lundy winter residents, though there have been some signs of spring passage in the past few days, Shag numbers increasing along the east coast (32 on 8th Feb), Lesser Black-backed Gulls periodically staging in breeding areas (52 around Miller’s Cake on 29th), Skylark moving through in small flocks (30 on 8th Feb) and a small arrival of Meadow Pipits in some of the farm fields.

A least one Chiffchaff and up to two Goldcrests have continued to sustain themselves in Millcombe throughout the period, being joined by a Redwing on 29th Jan and a Fieldfare yesterday (8th).