Review of Birds in the Channel Islands, 1951-80 Roger Long

Review of birds in the Channel Islands, 1951-80 Roger Long ecords and observations on the flora and fauna in the Channel Islands Rare treated with confusing arbitrariness by British naturalists in the various branches of natural history. Botanists include the islands as part of the British Isles, mammalogists do not, and several subdivisions of entomo• logists adopt differing treatments. The BOU lists and records have always excluded the Channel Islands, but The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland (1976) included them, as do all the other distribution mapping schemes currently being prepared by the Biological Records Centre at Monks Wood Experimental Station, Huntingdon. The most notable occurrences of rarities have been published in British Birds, and this review has been compiled so that the other, less spectacular—but possibly more significant—observations are available as a complement to the British and Irish records. The late Roderick Dobson, an English naturalist resident in Jersey between 1935 and 1948 and from 1958 to his death in 1979, was the author of the invaluable Birds of the Channel Islands (1952). In this, he brought together the results of his meticulous fieldwork in all the islands, and his critical interpretation of every record—published or private—that he was able to unearth, fortunately just before the turmoil of the years of German Occupation (1940-45) dispersed much of the material, perhaps for ever. I concern myself here chiefly with the changes recorded during the approxi• mately 30 years since Dobson's record closed. Species considered to have shown little change in status over those years are not listed. The period covered has coincided with considerable growth both in numbers and competence of the local groups who maintain the islands' ornithological records. Initially, coverage lacked uniformity, the smaller [Brit. Birds 74: 327-344, August 1981] 327 328 Birds in the Channel Islands Fig. 1. Map showing position of Channel Islands in relation to Cherbourg Peninsula, France islands being, less well studied. Sark's birdwatching group emerged in the mid 1960s, and in Alderney a group is now established which, although not specifically ornithological, is expected to complete this coverage and match the societies in the other three main islands. In the past, Alderney has attracted ornithologists from Jersey, Guernsey and elsewhere, whose scattered published and unpublished records are sufficient for it to be included in this review, although a degree of unevenness is inevitable and should be borne in mind by the reader. In Jersey, the Ornithology Section of the Societe Jersiaise publish annual reports in the Society's Annual Bulletin, the report for 1950 being the first of the present series. The Report and Transactions of the Societe Guernesiaise Birds in the Channel Islands 329 similarly includes ornithological reports, in whjch records from Guernsey predominate over a lesser number of observations from Alderney and Sark. Sark's comparatively young organisation, La Societe Sercquiaise, issues duplicated annual reports and observations which keep up to date A List of the Birds of Sark by F. R. G. Rountree (1972). Alderney's birds have been summarised in A List of the Birds of Alderney by P. J. Conder and others (1972), which was disarmingly referred to by its authors as a cock-shy list. This has now been considerably enlarged and updated, principally by N. V. Mendham in Alderney, and has been reissued (1979). I have adopted an arbitrary division of the material presented here. The first part is a systematic record of the changes in status of birds breeding in the islands since Dobson's account closed in about 1951. The third part is a detailed list of the occurrences of rarities, and the second part gathers in all significant observations of species not covered by the other two. This paper provides an opportunity to correct certain errors in The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland (1976): Additions Cormorant WA50 (Alderney) confirmed breeding Swallow WA50 (Alderney) confirmed breeding Swallow WV38 (Herm) confirmed breeding Blue Tit WA50 (Alderney) confirmed breeding Stonechat WA50 (Alderney) confirmed breeding Cetti's Warbler WV65 (Jersey) confirmed breeding (the text for Cetti' s Warbler erroneously included Alderney) Garden Warbler WV27 (Guernsey) possible breeding Reed Bunting WV65 (Jersey) confirmed breeding Reed Bunting WV27 (Guernsey) confirmed breeding Correction Long-tailed Tit WA50 (Alderney) probable breeding only Breeding birds The long-awaited colonisation of the Channel Islands by Fulmars Fultnarus glacialis came in 1975, in Jersey and in Alderney. Individuals had been watched prospecting for many years and were first seen to alight on both islands in 1974, By 1980, there were more than a dozen pairs in Jersey and nearly as many in Alderney. Also, in 1980, it is possible that up to five pairs bred in Sark for the first time; in Guernsey, although Fulmars have been seen on ledges, proof of breeding is still awaited. The present size of the colony of Storm Petrels Hydrobates pelagicus on Burhou, an islet off Alderney, is a matter of some uncertainty and concern. In the early 1960s, it was calculated to be of many thousands (R. W. Arnold in litt.), but recent visits to the island by local ornithologists have provided evidence, if not proof, of a catastrophic decline to hundreds or even dozens. Four consecutive trapping nights in 1963 produced about 1,100, but recent attempts by equally skilled ringers have resulted in only a few dozen in a season. No theory has yet been put forward to account for this. Little is known about the handful of pairs which are thought to breed on the other islets scattered around the larger islands,but they probably never total more than a few dozen. Periodic nest counts in the colonies of Gannets Sula bassana on Les Etacs 330 Birds in the Channel Islands and Ortac offAlderney showed a steady increase until about 1960, when they reached about 1,000 at both sites, since when the totals seem to have remained fairly constant. Apart from the ubiquitous Mallard Anas platyrhynchos, the only wildfowl known to have bred are one pair of Garganeys A. querquedula at St Ouen's Pond, Jersey, in 1952, a pair of Shelducks Tadorna ladorna on Lihou, Guernsey, in 1968, and some Tufted Ducks Aythyafuligula since 1975 at one reservoir in Jersey. By 1980, this last species had spread to at least three other sites. Mandarins Aix galericulata and Wood Ducks Aix sponsa from either the Jersey Zoo or private collections have both bred in the wild on a few occasions, the former now apparently becoming established. Both Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus and Peregrine Falco peregrinus ceased to breed in any of the islands during the late 1950s and as yet show no sign of recolonising them, although individuals are occasionally seen. The nest of a Quail Coturnix cotumix with 13 eggs was found on Longy Common, Alderney, in 1964, and there was an unsubstantiated report of one at the same place the following year. According to the criteria applied by the Atlas organisers, Water Rail Rallus aquaticus qualified as possibly breeding in Jersey. On at least two occasions in the early 1970s, one was seen in suitable habitat during part of the breeding season, but no further evidence of breeding was obtained. Coots Fulica atra seem to be becoming established in small numbers in Guernsey, and over the past three years nesting has been recorded at at least three sites. The struggle by Kentish Plovers Charadrius alexandrinus to maintain a foothold in the islands seems to have come to its inevitable conclusion. The pressure of increasing tourism caused a gradual reduction in numbers, and in 1975, for the first time, no nest was found in Guernsey, Alderney or Herm. The prospect of their resuming breeding in the Channel Islands appears to be slight. In 1959 and 1960, when a number of Kentish still bred in Alderney, one pair of Ringed Plovers C. hiaticula bred among them, and a pair raised one young in Guernsey in 1980. Tantalising reports of Lapwings Vanellus vanellus in Jersey in summer are sprinkled through the records, but none of those claims of breeding has stood up to investigation. In 1979, however, four pairs nested successfully at a site in the west of the island, and at least two pairs did so in 1980. Herring Lams argentatus and Lesser Black-backed Gulls L.fuscus have become more numerous over the last two decades, the latter to the extent that about ten pairs now breed on the Jersey mainland where none did before 1960, probably as a result of competition for space in the burgeoning offshore colonies. Great Black-backed Gulls L. marinas have, at a conserva• tive estimate, trebled their numbers over the same period, which may have been an important factor in the decline of the Puffin Fratercula arctica in the islands, particularly on Burhou. Although Dobson reported Kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla as having bred in five or six sites around various islands, Ortac, between Alderney and the Casquets, has the sole remaining colony of about 15 pairs. Terns are less easy to categorise briefly. Sandwich Terns Sterna sandvi- censis were thought to have ceased breeding in Jersey after 1961, but in 1978 Birds in the Channel Islands 331 eggs were found again on one of the island's outlying reefs. Although breeding was unsuccessful that year, two or three dozen young were fledged in 1979, followed by a rather smaller number in 1980. The numbers of Common Terns S. himndo appear to fluctuate widely, with some islets being abandoned and others colonised for no obvious reason. The main colony of Puffins is centred with the Storm Petrels on Burhou and has suffered a comparable decline.

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