Tag Archives: Channel Islands birds

Chough report – First Quarter (Jan-Mar)

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SNOW!
A surprising start to the year saw Jersey experience icy temperatures and a covering of snow across the island. Our chough student had the rare opportunity to see Sorel coated in snow with the island not having experienced notable snow fall for nearly ten years. To the team’s dismay, no photos were taken, but the picture below was taken back in 2015. Just as then, the birds had no problem dealing with the blanket of white covering much of the ground and readily foraged for grubs as the snow thawed.

Choughs foraging in the snow. Photograph by Harriet Clark.

PhD Sam
A PhD student (Sam) from Anglia Ruskin University has come over to Jersey to carry out research on our wild chough population. He will be monitoring the choughs by monitoring them around the Sorel area, conducting bird surveys and placing small passive acoustic devices to collect distinct vocalisations for the species. Sam’s main study aim is to quantify the effects of sound on the chough’s movements during the breeding season. The team have welcomed Sam to the team and believe his work will benefit the project greatly by finding new insights into the flock and providing an extra pair of eyes over the breeding season.

Sam, recording the choughs. Photography by Charlotte Dean.

Foraging for sheep
As we are coming into spring (the breeding season for choughs) it is clear that there has been a behavioural shift in the birds. No longer are they just seen foraging in the fields for delicious invertebrates. They are now foraging for sheep, specifically the Manx sheep who are sat in the fields minding their own business. The choughs are taking full advantage of any sheep lying down in the fields surrounding the aviary, pulling wool straight off their backs and sides. This is a great indication that the pairs are lining their nests ready for egg laying. Along with wool collecting, we have seen some of the males displaying to their partners as well as feeding their partners more regularly.

Choughs making use of the free wool. Photography by Charlotte Dean.

Renewing and replacing
As the aviary has been standing for over twelve years, it is understandable that it will have a few quirks from withstanding the wind and rain. Our biggest job currently is repairing and renewing the aviary framework and netting which will be carried out by Durrell’s maintenance team this spring-summer. Aside from this scheduled work, there is always work to do at the aviary, whether that be cutting the grass or replacing feed stands. This year, our original viewing bench collapsed. This bench is a focal point for monitoring the choughs in the aviary and is also used for catch-ups as it holds a hatch wire for the middle section of the aviary. Some of the original bench posts were salvaged as they were still in fair condition, but the majority was scrapped. The new bench seat pieces were sanded, stained and carried to the aviary to be reassembled. It might look a little wonky, but it will do the job!

Our old and new chough viewing bench! Photographs by Charlotte Dean.

New chough movements
From January through to March, we have received quite a few public sightings of chough activity, which is fantastic, keep them coming in! The majority of the sightings received were in March; not surprisingly, as choughs tend to start spreading out a bit more during the countdown to spring. We have received four sightings during March of a pair of choughs hanging around in St Saviour and St Helier parishes! The pair have been spotted above St Saviour Road, at the north edge border of St Helier, near Le Hocq and La Pouquelaye. It could be that a pair has found a new nesting spot a bit further afield than normal this year or it could be a younger pair of choughs finding new spots to forage in. Either way, this is very exciting news. The team will be spending time around these areas to see whether the pair can be identified.

A group of young choughs at Les Landes. Photograph by Mick Dryden.

Trinity Pair
At the beginning of March our contact from a stable in Trinity, contacted us about the arrival of a pair of choughs for the third year. This is breeding pair Vicq & Pinel. They shared a lovely video of the pair standing on the support beams inside their stables. The arrival of the pair gives the team a good indication that they are in search of, or at least thinking about nest building. Although this pair built a nest in the stables back in 2022, they only successfully fledged a chick last year from an unknown nest location. This year, the team are trying their best to locate the nesting spot for future monitoring and the potential of ringing chicks before they fledge.

A pair of choughs carrying nesting material. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

More choughs on the move
We have received plenty of public sightings from St Ouen indicating what a great foraging site it is for the birds. They have been spotted foraging in pairs and groups along many stretches including Les Laveurs, Kempt Tower, Jersey Pearl, Les Landes, Mont Matthieu, Chemin Des Hativeaux and near Les Mielles nature reserve. We have also had reports of a pair of choughs flying around Plemont in recent months; we are hoping this means the Plemont pair, Minty & Rey, are settling to nest again this year.

Plemont pair spotted on the cliffs. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

Channel Islands bird list updated

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Working list of Channel Islands birds to December 2022

Each year we update the list of all the bird species recorded in the (British) Channel Islands of Jersey (including Les Écréhous and Les Minquiers), Guernsey (including Herm, Jethou and Lihou), Alderney (including Burhou and the Casquets) and Sark (including Brecqhou) that have been
accepted by the islands’ respective ornithological committees. We get reminded of what we’ve seen and what we missed. We see what changes are happening in our bird fauna and, of course, we might think, only very briefly of course, on which island has seen the most. 

2022 saw the islands’ first bridled tern, in Jersey, and Blyth’s pipit in Guernsey. Alderney continue to build their Island list up with firsts of Caspian gull, western Bonelli’s warbler and Eurasian treecreeper. Sark saw their first fan-tailed warbler, a species that has bred sporadically across the other islands since the first in 2001. Jersey recorded the islands’ first Iberian wagtail, a distinctive race of the yellow wagtail, the fifth race of this beautiful bird to be recorded across the islands. 

With many of our bird populations in decline it is good to report successes. Roseate tern and European nightjar bred again in Jersey and great spotted woodpecker bred for the second consecutive year in Sark. Cirl bunting records are increasing in Guernsey and Alderney and, with our seabird populations looking so fragile, it is exciting to see that common guillemot is thriving in Sark. 

Some birds we know but can still be surprised by. The first glossy ibis in the islands was likely recorded in Jersey in 2007 (there is a report of one shot on Sark in 1909) but, with a flock of 10 in Guernsey in 2017, the wintering flock of 13 in Jersey in 2022 looks like a sign of things to come. This long-legged waterbird joins that list of other elegant wetland species increasing in numbers across the islands that includes egrets, herons, spoonbills and black-winged stilts. 

Another surprise in 2022 came further out to sea. Jersey had one record of great shearwater, in 1995, with others recorded occasionally from Guernsey and Alderney. “Sizeable flocks” were reported from Guernsey in July 1950 but the 400+ birds seen from Jersey in September and October 2022 was a shock. Will this species be seen, like Balearic shearwater, more often in our waters? 

No summary is complete without noting Alderney’s further visiting great bustard. The bird that visited in May was their fifth visitor from the UK since 2014 (see the Great Bustard Group). Mind you, two of Jersey’s red-billed choughs paid visits to Guernsey and Sark last year. And went home!

And the island totals? Jersey have recorded 341 species, Guernsey 333, Alderney 312 and Sark 226. See and download the full list here. 

 

 

Channel Islands birds in 2021

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Our bird lists updated

At around this time every year we update the list of all those bird species recorded in the Channel Islands. Records will have been verified by each island’s ornithological committees. Where once birds may have been shot to confirm ID, records of new species and rarities became submitted through detailed notes and, today, they are often shown to us in high quality photos that leave little doubt about identification. We still like the notes.

Interestingly, while our overall bird list and those of the islands continue to increase, there have also been some species lost. We are always revising our opinions and, sometimes, we learn more about a species and question older records’ validity. Jersey’s first black-eared (in 1980) was scrubbed when we started to consider that it had almost certainly been a desert wheatear but that the observer was no longer confident. We also lose species to taxonomic splits.

As bird taxonomy becomes more and more detailed through use of some very fine, molecular level, ways of determining differences between species, we are often seeing traditional sub-species ‘elevated’ to species level. Then, that warbler for instance that we recorded but didn’t get a photo of may become several different warblers. But, which one was ours? Did we get sufficient detail noted to know which it was? You’ll see the problem in the full list. Especially in the warblers!

We also, well those of us of a certain age, grew up with a very set, long-established, view of the order that species occur in. We start with divers and grebes and end with crows. Well, actually that went out years ago as we learn more about relationships between birds and can even age when particular groups evolved. As a duck enthusiast, I’m pleased that they now rightly start off the CI List. They followed the pheasant, partridges and quail last year. So, species you are looking for may not always be where you expect them. They may also not be with old friends in the list and may have new company – have you got used to hawks and falcons not being related? Or that falcons and shrikes are next to each other in the list?  And that grebes and divers aren’t closely related, and that crows are nowhere near the end?

So, back to the updated list. After being restricted to home over most of 2020, we began to travel again in 2021. However, the birds at home were still a draw it seems and records came in in good numbers. 

We had two additions to the list which strangely went up by five! Guernsey’s Bonaparte’s gull in February and March and an October eastern olivaceous warbler in Jersey were the proper additions. The other increases came from re-organising warblers. However, as some of the older records of Bonelli’s and subalpine warbler are not identified to newer species, the list total could go down again in future.

Other notable birds were first ruddy shelduck and green-winged teal in Jersey (the former most likely from the establishing population in northern Europe) and a first rustic bunting in Alderney. Alderney saw their first corn crake in 43 years and first stone curlew in 134 years! Remarkably Alderney also saw their fourth great bustard in seven years, all from the UK reintroduction project, and the only bustards (of two European species) likely to have enjoyed their visit to the Channel Islands! 

Breeding species continue to have mixed fortunes but it is very pleasing to note that short-eared owl bred in Guernsey and nightjars bred for a second year in Jersey.

And the individual islands’ totals? Jersey now has 340 recorded species, Guernsey 331, Alderney 308 and Sark 226. 

Read and download the full list Working List of Birds of the Channel Islands 2021

 

Birds of Conservation Concern

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From British Trust for Ornithology, British Ornithologists’ Union and British Birds

The fifth edition of Birds of Conservation Concern (BoCC) has been published. Undertaken every five years, BoCC covers the population status of birds regularly found in the UK, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man to provide an up-to-date assessment of conservation priorities. This fifth review has assessed a total of 246 species and placed them onto one of three lists, red, amber or green, according to their level of conservation concern (see RSPB for explanation of categories). 52 species are red-listed (up from 40 at the previous review), 126 are amber-listed (previously 121) and 68 are green-listed (down from 86).

Seven quantitative criteria have been used to assess the population status of each species and to place it on the red, amber or green list: global conservation status, recent decline, historical decline, European conservation status, rare breeders, localised species and international importance.

Most of the data for these assessments are based on bird surveys undertaken by volunteers, such as those run by the British Trust for Ornithology.

A parallel exercise was undertaken to assess the extinction risk of all bird species for Great Britain (the geographical area at which all other taxa are assessed) using the criteria and protocols established globally by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This resulted in the assessment of 235 regularly occurring species (breeding or wintering or both), the total number assessed differing slightly from BOCC5 due to different rules on the inclusion of scarce breeders and colonisation patterns. The results of this second IUCN assessment (IUCN2) are provided in the same paper as BOCC5.

How the lists are decided

The BOCC assessment is based on the most up-to-date evidence available. Criteria include conservation status at global and European levels and, within the UK: historical decline, trends in population and range, rarity, localised distribution and international importance. Golden oriole (previously Red-listed but which has not bred in the UK since 2009) now joins a Black List of eight other species now considered to have ceased breeding in the UK (including serin, Temminck’s stint and the once widespread wryneck). Four new species that have more recently become sufficiently established, as well as yellow-browed warbler (no longer considered a scarce migrant), were assessed by BOCC5 – little bittern, cattle egret, great white egret and black-winged stilt – and all went onto the Amber list due to criteria related to scarcity and localisation.

The IUCN assessment process uses the same underlying data on population trends and population size but the time periods over which change is assessed differs and is linked to generation length and also population size. With their focus on extinction risk, the IUCN assessments also consider the potential for populations in Great Britain to be rescued by immigration from increasing populations in surrounding geographical areas.

The growing Red List

This update shows that the UK’s bird species are increasingly at risk, with the Red List growing from 67 to 70. By contrast, the first Red List, published in 1996, had only 36 species. Eleven species have been Red-listed for the first time in 2021, six due to worsening declines in breeding populations (greenfinch, swift, house martin, ptarmigan, purple sandpiper and Montagu’s harrier), four due to worsening declines in non-breeding wintering populations (Bewick’s  swan, goldeneye, smew and dunlin) and one (Leach’s storm-petrel) because it is assessed according to IUCN criteria as Globally Vulnerable, and due to evidence of severe declines since 2000 based on new surveys on St Kilda, which holds more than 90% of the UK’s populations. The evidence for the changes in the other species come from the UK’s key monitoring schemes such as BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) for terrestrial birds, the BTO/RSPB/JNCC Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) for wintering populations and the Rare Breeding Bird Panel (RBBP) for scarce breeding species such as purple sandpiper.

From green to red

Two species moved directly from the Green to Red List: greenfinch and ptarmigan. Increasingly severe declines in greenfinch numbers have been reported in BBS reports for more than a decade, and the initial regional pattern of declines was associated with outbreaks of the disease Trichomonosis. This disease of the digestive tract is widespread in greenfinch populations across Europe and may also be starting to affect other species such as collared dove, sparrowhawk and chaffinch.

The IUCN assessment resulted in 108 (46%) of regularly occurring species being assessed as threatened with extinction in Great Britain, meaning that their population status was classed as Critically Endangered, Endangered, or Vulnerable, as opposed to Near Threatened or of Least Concern. Of those 108 species, 21 were considered Critically Endangered, 41 Endangered and 46 Vulnerable. There is considerable overlap between the lists but unlike the Red List in BOCC5, IUCN2 highlights the vulnerability of some stable but small and hence vulnerable populations as well as declines in species over much shorter recent time periods, as seen for chaffinch and swallow.

What kinds of birds are in the most trouble?

How does the Red List break down across habitats or taxonomic groupings? Unlike previous BOCC assessments, where there was a clearer pattern of influx to the Red List, with upland and woodland species joining the already listed farmland species, this update is more of a mixed bag. However, the worsening status of Afro-Palearctic migrants continues with two aerial insectivores – swift and house martin – joining other migrants such as cuckoo and nightingale on the Red List. Although deteriorating conditions on the wintering grounds and on stopover sites are likely factors, the reliance of many long-distance migrants on insects and other invertebrates suggests that declines in those could also play a role.

The other group joining the Red List also encompasses migrants, in this case, wintering wildfowl and waders that breed at higher latitudes and to the east, but winter in the UK. Climate change and milder winters in regions such as the Baltic Sea have resulted in many of these species being less likely to migrate as far west and south as the UK, in a pattern termed ‘short-stopping’. This is likely the case for Red List newcomers dunlin and smew, but can be further complicated by broader declines in populations, as is known for the Eastern flyway populations of Bewick’s swan.

Can conservation action work?

There is also better news. In addition to white-tailed eagle, which no longer qualifies for ‘historical decline’ thanks to further recovery of the breeding population and intense conservation efforts, five previously Red-listed species (pied flycatcher, song thrush, black redstart, grey wagtail and redwing) have shown modest but sufficient improvements in breeding population status to have moved from Red to Amber. Red grouse, mute swan and kingfisher also move from the Amber to Green. Overall, the Amber List has increased from 96 in BOCC4 to 103 in BOCC5, this difference reflecting both negative (moves to the Red List) and positive changes (moves to the Green List). The Green list, now 72 species long, includes a range of common garden species such as blue tit, blackbird and robin, and saw a net loss of nine species since BOCC4.

The full lists are available in the Birds of Conservation Concern 5 – Summary leaflet here and the full paper The status of our bird populations: the fifth Birds of Conservation Concern in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man and second IUCN Red List assessment of extinction risk for Great Britain here