Kingfisher!

Yes, I know, people are always surprised when we say that we get kingfisher here on the island. We do indeed feel very lucky to see these jewel-like birds, especially in the depth of winter. In fact, they are often recorded in the winter by the coast, where it is milder. There’s been plenty of recent sightings – either perched around the east side of the island or zipping fast and low over the water towards the mainland. Local birder and island volunteer Derek Spooner has photographed a kingfisher here on the island as well as along the shore at Hannafore – perhaps it’s the same bird?

As usual in December we see cormorants building nests on the southern cliffs – they really put on a great display in their breeding plumage. Then there’s also the ravens who regularly nest here – they have been cronking, displaying and defending their territory over the island so we expect to spot them at their nest soon. It’s always great to see these signs of breeding in the depth of winter and makes us look forward to the spring.

One of the best spectacles though are the roosting gulls. Last year we contributed to the BTO’s winter gull survey (WinGS) and counted around 5,000 gulls coming here to safely spend the night around the island’s shores. Perhaps at dusk, you’ve noticed gulls streaming down Looe harbour and heading this way? They are mainly a mix of great black-backed and herring Gulls. Experts have listed both these birds as being of ‘conservation concern’, with herring gulls, a bird we tend to think of as ‘common’ being on the red list (of greatest concern) as numbers have been declining for decades. So it’s both a joy and reassuring to witness large numbers of gulls in the area.

All year round we monitor seals. Some of the monitoring is ad hoc. For example, the resting grey seal (an adult male called One Spot 2) in the photograph was recorded by us as we were working outside back in December. All our records are shared with Cornwall Seal Group Research Trust. They collate all the sightings and are able to create calendars of each identified seal. So we know that One Spot 2 was first identified around the island back in 2014. Since then he has been identified 197 times! 11 of these occasions was during our monthly surveys and he’s also been identified by 21 different volunteers at 5 different sites east and west of Looe. So, despite his wound he’s still with us – what a survivor! 

And what about plants and insects? There are plenty of yellow catkins dangling from the hazel trees. Hazel are wind pollinated and catkins are actually the male flowers. The female flowers are much less obvious, being small buds with tiny little pinky red ‘tendrils’. As they are wind pollinated they don’t produce nectar to attract pollinating insects, but with little else in flower in the winter insects still visit the catkins and collect protein rich pollen. Indeed, we have seen a few early emerging bumblebees, although they’ve mainly been feeding on the purple flowers of the garden hebe shrubs.

Finally we have recently had some lovely clear skies so we thought we’d share these moon photos with you all. 

Here’s to a bright and wildlife filled 2025!

Claire Lewis, Warden’s Assistant for Looe Island Nature Reserve

Find out more about Looe Island nature reserve