Due to atrocious weather on the 06/06/2026, with limited visibility and limited birds to boot, this blog entry comes from the 05/06/2026.
By Jessie Dermody,
Selfie of Jessie and Chloë before our seal disturbance survey taken by Chloë
Hello sightings report readers! This is Jessie, the newest addition to the conservation volunteer team, coming to you live from the island with our sightings of the day! I am a research student and intertidal marine biologist, so on my days off you will find me in the sea or with my head in a rockpool. I came out to Lundy to expand my horizons, improve my bird identification knowledge and gain some experience. My first few days have been amazing, including watching the puffins, helping to ring some Manx shearwaters at night and doing some exploratory rockpooling!
Lackey moth caterpillar photo by me
Today began with Greg and Chloë showing me the transect route for our regular butterfly surveys. It was a lovely and scenic walk, starting in Millcombe and working our way up around the east side of the island. Unfortunately, many of the butterflies did not show themselves, but we were able to record two moth species, several Small heath butterflies, and 1 Common blue. We also saw a beautiful Lackey moth caterpillar. The highlights of the route today were not butterflies, but an Emperor Dragonfly and a Blue-tailed damselfly.
Cow photo by Chloe
After a quick lunch at the lodge, Chloë and I headed off to the north east side of the island for our seal disturbance survey. Along the way to our survey site we ran into some of the new cows on the island, who seemed very friendly, as well as the Feral goats. Chloë also pointed out a beautiful Stonechat on our way back.
Dolphin photo through binoculars by Chloe
During our survey we did witness some disturbance, but we also saw plenty of happy Seals! Our maximum count was 33 at one time, 5 seals in the water and 28 seals resting on the rocks. Eagle eyed Chloë also spotted a male Kestrel above the cliffs, and counted 22 Razorbills rafting in the water. Towards the end of our survey time we enjoyed a welcome distraction as I spotted two common dolphins hunting and playing in the bay! We were both very excited as these were our first Common Dolphins seen whilst on the island.
In terms of news from the rest of the island, our keen eyed visitors spotted a pair of Golden Orioles in Millcombe, as well as a Whimbrel! In our regular census, Greg reported a lone Siskin and our first juvenile Wheatear (on census at least). We have some exciting news to report from our Manx shearwater colony; a new egg and a new pair of ringed birds at one of our productive sites! Hopefully this new pair will return to breed next year. We also recorded good numbers of auks around the island today.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed my first sightings report!