With the cold spell at the start of the month the island received a small influx of the usual cold weather migrants, these included some Wigeon, Gadwall, Lapwings, Golden Plovers and a rare White-fronted Goose of the Russian subspecies Anser a. albifrons but what was most surprising was a Rock Pipit in Grouville Bay that was wearing a colour-ring put on it on Giske Island in Norway. A common bird that’s usually overlooked and even though they do migrate, they’re not usually noticeable with our good population of locals.
A few other rarities were noted, the juvenile Hen Harrier remained at St Ouen’s Pond until mid-month, a Red Kite flew past Corbière heading south on the 11th, a first winter Caspian Gull was at La Saline on the 25th and a Bittern has shown itself on a few sporadic occasions at St Ouen’s Pond.
Other than that, it was business as usual, with not much change, the long-staying Barnacle Goose and Pink-footed Goose were still here at La Sente and St Ouen’s Pond, fantastic numbers of Razorbills, Guillemots, Gannets and Kittiwakes were feeding off our west coast and a trip to La Rocque on a high tide would still get you good views of Great Northern Divers and Black-necked Grebes.
