Jersey Birds

04.01.2024  A handsome Starling at St Ouen's Pond   MD.

A wet morning and a drier afternoon, winds increasing from strong to gale with gusts to 60 knots from the southwest, late afternoon

Movement past Corbiere this morning  depended on the intensity of the rain and seen by eleven o'clock were a Great Northern Diver, a Pomarine Skua, 361 Razorbills, 65 Guillemots, 32 Gannets, a Fulmar, 23 Kittiwakes, 28 Great Black-backed Gull and 2 Turnstones, with 18 Curlews in Petit Port Bay.

In St Ouen's Bay, a ring-tailed Hen Harrier was seen several times from the Scrape hide, with a Pink-footed Goose, 40 Lapwings and 6 Snipe also present. At Sands Slip were 33 Ringed Plovers, 28 Dunlin and a Sanderling while in the Sandpits were a Black-necked Grebe, 9 Little Grebes, a Great Crested Grebe, a Pochard and 15 Tufted Duck. A Peregrine was seen near the Airport and a Hen Harrier was seen at Les Charrieres in St Peter, perhaps a different bird to the Pond bird?

Birds around La Rocque included a Black-throated Diver, 3 Great Northern Divers, 2 Black-necked Grebes, 125 Brent Geese, 170 Turnstones and a Black Redstart and at La Sente were 22 Curlews, 63 Redshanks, 4 Greenshanks, a Shelduck, a Barnacle Goose, an Egyptian Goose, 350 Brent Geese including one pale-bellied Brent, 36 Cattle Egrets, 15 Grey Herons, 200 Black-headed Gulls and 4 Common Gulls.

Extra records from yesterday evening include 2 Short-eared Owls and 9 Woodcock at Le Catillon, 4 Woodcock and Redwings moving over  La Ferme, and a Short-eared Owl and 5 Woodcock at Mont au Pretre.