More than 90 species spotted in bird race

Three teams of four people took part in the race that challenged participants to spot as many different species of local birds as possible from dusk to dawn at the end of April. It has been running for more than 30 years.

The Sultans of String, who walked over 16,000 steps each, took gold with 89, beating the Spice Invaders by six species, as third place recorded 77.

‘It was a good year with the scores. The rain made things a bit miserable at the start, however that weather does ground birds that have flown past so we were able to get quite a few early on,’ said La Societe conservation officer Jamie Hooper, who was part of the Spice Invaders.

‘The start was a flurry of activity.’

Among the 25-plus locations that were visited, the most successful proved to be the Rue des Bergers nature reserve and Pleinmont, where the winning team spotted 35 out of its 89 following multiple visits.

Herm was also visited in an attempt to see puffins, which for the Spice Invaders nearly turned out to be a waste of time.

‘We stayed on the boat to get the various seabirds but we had not seen a puffin when we reached Herm,’ said Mr Hooper.

‘However when going back we managed to spot one on the west side of Jethou.’

Among the wide variety of birds spotted, a handful of exciting migrants were recorded, including a hobby falcon, peregrine falcon and a honey buzzard

The Sultans of String listed their birds of the day as short-toed lark, nightingale, mistle thrush and a skylark.

Mr Hooper said the falcons were a particularly interesting spot.

‘The hobby falcon zips through on migration – it’s an agile hunter that eats swallows and dragonflies.’

The winners said their decision of the day, which may have led to their victory, was when an elderly UK tourist recommended the team go to Chouet as he had spotted four purple sandpipers. The group acted on this information and although did not spot any sandpipers, they saw a turnstone, which was the only one of their day.