The start of a new year and with comes the cold, the wind and the rain! But that doesn’t stop the birds.
Good numbers of Lapwings arrive on the island due to the cold weather on the continent and along with them came a few Golden Plover, good numbers of Wigeon and Teal and best of all an Avocet, which was wearing colour-rings. This bird had been ringed in the Netherlands several years earlier and never left its wetland home until this recent cold spell. Unfortunately, it only stayed in Jersey for thirty minutes before carrying onto Guernsey.
Three Hen Harriers have been regularly hunting fields around Crabbé, a rarity these days due to ongoing persecution in the UK, so to have three is exceptional these days.
The Bittern, that winters at St Ouen’s Pond, usually a shy and reclusive bird of the reedbed has been very showy of late, delighting the lucky few who have managed to see it out in the open in front the wetlands centre, even if its only for a minute or two.
The ornithology section carried out its usual Brent Goose counts which show a record number were with us during December and early January. Sadly, they seem to have had a poor breeding season as there is only a handful of juveniles around.
As February comes along the first of the Spring migrants will start to pass through us in the form of Mediterranean and Black-headed Gulls.
Romano De Costa
Hen Harrier – Photo credit Mick Dryden
