Birds of Sark
Seventy seven species, recorded on Sark in 2024 and 2025. The list combines La Société Sercquaise's dated sighting logs with the species its 2024 report records, prepared by Lynda Higgins.
They were good years to be watching. Two pairs of barn owls bred successfully in 2024, with repeated sightings suggesting a possible third pair. Whole colony counts of guillemots averaged 364 birds at Les Burons and 335 at Les Autelets. Five pairs of kittiwakes displayed and carried nesting material at Les Burons in May 2024, the first time in recent record, though the single egg found failed to hatch. And on 28 April 2025, two chough were seen at L'Eperquerie, a species otherwise absent from the island's list.
Nest sites of rare or protected breeding species are deliberately left out of these records.
| Species | Scientific name | Recorded | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balearic shearwater | 2024 | Small numbers offshore July to September 2024, narrative report only. | |
| Barn owl | 2024 | Two breeding pairs bred successfully in 2024, with signs of a possible third pair, narrative report only, nest sites not published. | |
| Barn swallow | Hirundo rustica | 2024, 2025 | First 2024 arrivals on 22 March at Les Laches, a week earlier than 2023. |
| Black redstart | Phoenicurus ochruros | 2024, 2025 | |
| Blackbird | 2024 | Continental blackbirds arrived in the mid October 2024 thrush invasion, narrative report only. | |
| Blackcap | Sylvia atricapilla | 2024, 2025 | Singing on 14 February 2024; a pair nested in a hedge at Vallon d'Or in May 2025. |
| Blue tit | Cyanistes caeruleus | 2024, 2025 | 21 chicks fledged from two nest boxes in May 2025; the 2024 record is from the Big Garden Birdwatch top ten in the narrative report. |
| Cetti's warbler | Cettia cetti | 2024, 2025 | |
| Chaffinch | Fringilla coelebs | 2024 | Top bird in the 2024 RSPB Big Garden Bird Survey on Sark. |
| Chiffchaff | Phylloscopus collybita | 2024, 2025 | Singing as early as 14 February 2024; first pair back on 9 March 2024. |
| Chough | Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax | 2025 | Two seen on the west side of L'Eperquerie on 28 April 2025. |
| Collared dove | 2024 | 2024 Big Garden Birdwatch top ten, narrative report only. | |
| Common buzzard | Buteo buteo | 2024, 2025 | Four breeding pairs monitored in 2024. |
| Common raven | Corvus corax | 2024 | |
| Common scoter | Melanitta nigra | 2024 | Flock of 15 flying north offshore on 24 May 2024. |
| Common whitethroat | Curruca communis | 2025 | Bred at L'Eperquerie in 2025, young calling from the nest in June. |
| Cormorant | Phalacrocorax carbo | 2024 | |
| Cuckoo | Cuculus canorus | 2024, 2025 | Heard calling in spring in both years. |
| Curlew | Numenius arquata | 2024 | |
| Dunnock | Prunella modularis | 2024 | |
| Fieldfare | Turdus pilaris | 2024 | Part of the mid October 2024 thrush invasion. |
| Firecrest | Regulus ignicapilla | 2024 | |
| Fulmar | Fulmarus glacialis | 2024 | 30 breeding pairs in 2024, an increase of 87.5 percent on 2023. Spelt Fulmer in the source documents. |
| Gannet | Morus bassanus | 2024 | |
| Garden warbler | Sylvia borin | 2025 | |
| Goldcrest | Regulus regulus | 2024 | |
| Golden plover | 2024 | Few winter reports in February and March 2024, narrative report only. | |
| Goldfinch | Carduelis carduelis | 2024, 2025 | 2024 narrative notes goldfinch among farmland birds present in large flocks. |
| Great spotted woodpecker | Dendrocopos major | 2024 | Two pairs bred successfully in 2024. |
| Great tit | 2024 | 2024 Big Garden Birdwatch top ten, narrative report only. | |
| Greenfinch | Chloris chloris | 2024 | Numbers declined severely, possibly linked to an outbreak of trichomonosis. |
| Grey heron | Ardea cinerea | 2025 | |
| Grey wagtail | Motacilla cinerea | 2024 | |
| Guillemot | Uria aalge | 2024, 2025 | Whole colony counts: 2024 means of 364 at Les Burons and 335 at Les Autelets; 2025 counts peaked at 736 at Les Burons. |
| Hawfinch | Coccothraustes coccothraustes | 2025 | |
| Hobby | Falco subbuteo | 2025 | |
| Honey buzzard | Pernis apivorus | 2024 | Scarcity, recorded 2 to 4 October 2024 around Harbour Hill and Dixcart. |
| Hoopoe | 2024, 2025 | One at Dixcart Lane on 15 September 2024, per the narrative report; two 2025 records. The 2025 appendix gives its latin name as Numenius arquata, which is the curlew, an apparent data entry error, so no scientific name is recorded here. | |
| House martin | Delichon urbicum | 2025 | Over 100 flying over Cae de Mat on 4 April 2025. |
| House sparrow | 2024 | Disappeared from the Avenue after severe hedge cutting in the 2024 breeding season; small colonies remain at Pomme de Chien and La Vert. Narrative report only. | |
| Jackdaw | Coloeus monedula | 2024 | |
| Kestrel | Falco tinnunculus | 2024, 2025 | |
| Kittiwake | Rissa tridactyla | 2024 | Five pairs displayed courtship at Les Burons in May 2024; a single egg failed to hatch and the birds left the site around 10 July. |
| Lapwing | Vanellus vanellus | 2024, 2025 | Few winter reports early in 2024; one near Sark Henge in April 2025. |
| Lesser whitethroat | Curruca curruca | 2025 | |
| Linnet | Linaria cannabina | 2024, 2025 | |
| Little egret | Egretta garzetta | 2024 | The bird resident since the previous winter left with its mate. |
| Long-tailed tit | Aegithalos caudatus | 2024 | |
| Manx shearwater | Puffinus puffinus | 2024 | Small numbers offshore in spring and from July to September. |
| Marsh harrier | Circus aeruginosus | 2024, 2025 | 2024 breeding status unclear, the female was later seen with a juvenile; a pair performed a courtship skydance in April 2025. |
| Meadow pipit | Anthus pratensis | 2024, 2025 | Flocks of 50 plus on spring passage in March 2024. |
| Moorhen | Gallinula chloropus | 2024 | Juvenile in the pond at La Forge in September 2024. |
| Northern wheatear | Oenanthe oenanthe | 2024, 2025 | First 2024 bird on 20 March. |
| Osprey | Pandion haliaetus | 2024, 2025 | Scarcity, passage birds in September in both years. |
| Oystercatcher | Haematopus ostralegus | 2024 | |
| Peregrine falcon | 2024 | Three breeding pairs in 2024, narrative report only, nest sites omitted here. | |
| Puffin | Fratercula arctica | 2024, 2025 | Around 20 at L'Etac in June 2024, similar to 2022 and 2023; seen again at L'Etac in May 2025. |
| Razorbill | Alca torda | 2024 | 65 breeding pairs in 2024, numbers stable, including a new colony of 40 pairs at Les Fontaines. |
| Redwing | Turdus iliacus | 2024, 2025 | Part of the mid October 2024 thrush invasion. |
| Ring-necked pheasant | 2024 | 2024 Big Garden Birdwatch top ten, narrative report only. | |
| Robin | 2024 | 2024 Big Garden Birdwatch top ten, narrative report only. | |
| Sand martin | Riparia riparia | 2024 | |
| Serin | Serinus serinus | 2024 | |
| Siskin | Spinus spinus | 2024 | |
| Snipe | 2024 | Few winter reports in February and March 2024, narrative report only. | |
| Song thrush | Turdus philomelos | 2025 | |
| Spotted flycatcher | Muscicapa striata | 2025 | |
| Starling | Sturnus vulgaris | 2025 | Flock of 45 plus over La Vallette in November 2025. |
| Stonechat | Saxicola rubicola | 2025 | |
| Water rail | Rallus aquaticus | 2025 | One in a garden at Far Horizon in January 2025. |
| White stork | Ciconia ciconia | 2024 | The only 2024 rarity: a pair flew east over Sark on 20 April and passed over Guernsey an hour later. |
| White wagtail | Motacilla alba | 2024 | |
| Willow warbler | Phylloscopus trochilus | 2025 | |
| Woodcock | 2024 | Few winter reports in February and March 2024, narrative report only. | |
| Woodpigeon | 2024 | 2024 Big Garden Birdwatch top ten, narrative report only. | |
| Wren | Troglodytes troglodytes | 2024, 2025 | The 2024 record is from the Big Garden Birdwatch top ten in the narrative report. |
| Wryneck | Jynx torquilla | 2025 | One killed by a window strike and one live bird at Beau Rivage in August 2025. |
The one true rarity
The Bailiwick of Guernsey Rarities Committee's 2024 report, by Mark Lawlor, covers the whole Bailiwick, mostly Guernsey. Its one Sark record is the pair of White Storks that flew east over the island on 20 April 2024, passing over Guernsey an hour later. The rest of that report belongs to the other islands, so it is not reproduced here.
From the 2024 Sark Recorded Bird Sightings report and the 2024 and 2025 sighting appendices, La Société Sercquaise, prepared by Lynda Higgins.
