Jersey Birds

01.01.2024  Pink-footed Goose at the Scrape this morning  MD

A day of strong southwest winds in variable amounts of cloud with rain later

A Happy New Year to all, from Jerseybirds. Year lists raised their heads today, so a good range of species were seen.

Early bird of the day was a Great Northern Diver flying west over First Tower in St Aubin's Bay.  The usual early rush of auks was on show again at Corbiere. Most were Razorbills today with 4,435 seen, also 38 Guillemots, plus a Red-throated Diver, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 27 Gannets, 2 Fulmars, 347 Kittiwakes, 17 Mediterranean Gulls and a Lesser Black-backed Gull. One Purple Sandpiper, a Turnstone and 18 Shags were also seen. 30 Curlews were at Petit Port.

On St Ouen's Pond and at the Scrape were a Pink-footed Goose, 3 Grey Herons, 4  Marsh Harriers, 36 Lapwings, 2 Redshanks, 7 Shovelers, 5 Snipe, a Water Pipit and 2 Stonechats. In the backfields behind St Ouen's Pond were a ring-tailed Hen Harrier and a flock of 40 Linnets and in the Sandpits were 2 Little Grebes, a Black-necked Grebe, a Great Crested Grebe, 2 Pochard, 6 Tufted Duck and a Lesser Black-backed Gull. At L'Etacq and Le Pulec were 183 Oystercatchers, 4 Curlews, a Black Redstart, a Peregrine and 2 Pied Wagtails.

Seen at Le Sente were 2 Shelduck, a Barnacle Goose, 525 Brent Geese, 56 Redshanks, 5 Greenshanks, a Common Gull, 13 Black-headed Gulls, 28 Grey Herons, 30 Little Egrets and 3 Pied Wagtails and at Rue du Parcq were 26 Cattle Egrets, 32 Curlews, 14 Common Gulls and a Sparrowhawk and a further 10 Cattle Egrets were at Grouville Marsh.

At La Rocque were a Great Northern Diver, 2 Black-necked Grebes, a Great Crested Grebe, 12 Red-breasted Mergansers, 112 Turnstones, a Water Pipit, a Black Redstart and 8 Pied Wagtails and at Le Hurel in Grouville Bay, were 126 Turnstones, 10 Sanderlings and 2 Dunlin.

In St Aubin's Bay, 240 Brent Geese including 18 pale-bellied Brent, 3 Blackcaps, a Curlew, a Pied Wagtail, a Grey Wagtail and 44 Black-headed Gulls were at Beaumont Marsh.

Below: Two more images of the very photogenic Pink Footed Goose at the Scrape   MD