Page 11 - Out Birding Autumn 2023

emerging in the dusk; however that needs to be booked well in advance – maybe a future idea for a GBC trip?
As it was, the most we saw of the Manx Shearwater, asleep in their burrows or out at sea during the day􏰀me, were the shredded remains (mostly wings) of some sca􏰁ering the path, from those which had been predated in the moonlight by the Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls, of which we saw many plump specimens. Nature at work, but clearly some carnage happens by night.
We paused for a picnic lunch on a rock overlooking the cli􏰂ops. A colony of many hundreds, if not thousands, of Guillemot and Razorbill perched on every crevice and shelf, with Ki􏰃wake, Fulmar, a pair of Raven and a brief pair of Chough flying below or circling overhead. A male Wheatear, his beak full of a juicy grub, posed for photo- graphs on a stone nearby, while a hun􏰀ng Peregrine was spo􏰁ed over the cli􏰂op.
Towards the end of our circular five hour walk around the island, we came to the main Puffin colony. The number one rule on Skomer, firmly given to us as we disembarked, is don’t step off the path. It was easy to see why. The shallow burrows in the fragile sandy soil scraped out by the Puffin were all around us, some even on the path itself guarded by white stones laid by the island’s volunteers and researchers. It’s fair to say that Puffin have li􏰁le fear of humans, and will quite happily pose for a camera as if on a catwalk, and we came away with many dozens of photos of these deligh􏰄ul birds taken on our phones and cameras. Due to the cold wet spring, hatching was a li􏰁le later this year, and the frene􏰀c ac􏰀vity of bringing sand eels in from the sea to hungry hatchlings was perhaps another week away. Nevertheless there were plenty of huge gulls nearby ever ready to pounce on the smaller Puffin in the hope of an easy meal.
We had a final stroll along the cli􏰂op back to the boat. A group photo taken by a sweet young volunteer with blue hair (and a pronoun badge) shows twelve very happy, smiling, and perhaps a li􏰁le sunburnt, GBC members.
It was a truly wonderful weekend, a chance for some to reconnect a􏰅er many years, and for newer members like myself to enjoy birding with an incredible group of friendly people, whose collec􏰀ve birding wisdom, wicked banter, extraordinary fash- ion sense, and fulsome enthusiasm was a real welcome to the GBC.
As for the wisdom of Puffin, who may couple together for as long as three decades, the secret to a lifelong partnership is to spend eight months apart at sea. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.
Jonathan
Fingringhoe Wick, Essex 20/05/2023
Fingringhoe Wick is a 210-acre reserve in North Essex owned and managed by Essex Wildlife Trust. The reserve, a worked-out gravel pit on the banks of the River Colne, includes saltmarsh, river estuary, heath and woodland. Saturday morning was bright
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