Lundy 1st - 11th May 2021 Warblers and Flycatchers

Following endless moths of lockdown and several cancelled holidays it was with real excitement that I was packing for a week on Lundy with a late 3 day extension. The crossing was smooth, though the island looked a bit foreboding on approach.

On arrival the sun came out and the Landing Bay looked idyllic - I could handle 11 days of this I thought ( little did I know what was in store ).

Millcombe had birds ! Blackcaps were feeding actively zipping all round Smelly Gully and with a bit of patience I managed to catch up with some. They have always been a very difficult bird for me to photograph, I just never seem to get the camera onto them in time. Incredibly active and never seem to sit still - finally though...........

a female sporting a shiny new ring - Mr Duncan had been active.

The males were more elusive and stayed out of camera shot with this more typical distant

and heading off image.........

Eventually however one came close enough and my Blackcap family was complete.

Other warblers present during the trip were Whitethroats with several singing in Millcombe. This bird was feeding along one of the small paths in Millcombe Wood always a bit hidden but then it popped out onto the middle of the path and turned to look at me.....

So onto a species I've never got decent pictures of... The Garden Warbler. Not only are they far a few between but normally massively skulking. I have a few images of birds on Lundy from previous years but all with bits in the way. There were two birds in Lower Millcombe feeding up and down Smelly Gully to the Pond. Yet again trying to get them in the open was proving difficult so I decided on a slither down near Smelly Gully to see if I could gain their confidence. I reckoned I had about 30 minutes tops, not for any reason other than the smell which was particularly pungent this day.

I recall reading somewhere that the distinguishing feature of the Garden Warbler is it's lack of distinguishing features, but for me I find them quite subtly beautiful and when they sing - wow. This bird had just caught an insect and had it firmly grasped in it's left claw.

There were two birds feeding close together and my challenge given to me by the Tims was to get both together in the frame. The stink from Smelly Gully won and I failed.

And so to the Flycatchers. Seeing the arrival of Spotted Flycatchers really epitomises migration for me - the fact they undergo one of the longest migrations of all summer visitors to Britain wintering from the Gulf of Guinea coast to South Africa makes them that bit special. Millcombe was host to some five individual birds during the stay and watching them dash out to catch insects was just great.

Pied Flycatchers do move through Lundy in the spring and are always a challenge to photograph but on this visit there was a bird present for a few days that was favouring the bottom of Barton Field using the fence to perch on and fly into the filed in search of insects. There began my long crawl. I slithered down the field very slowly (no doubt to the amusement of visitors as it was a boat day) as far as I felt the bird would not be disturbed and waited. It was still actively feeing and after a while seemed unphased by my presence while it went about it's business, as did I.............

Next up it's time for the bigger brutes of my Lundy trip..........................