Safeguard our sea life

We did it! Welcome to the new UK Marine Act.

kim barratt — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:06:00 GMT

After a decade of campaigning we can finally celebrate. Today, 12th November 2009, the UK Marine and Coastal Access Bill receives Royal Assent and becomes law. The UK's marine wildlife above and below the waves surrounding England and Wales, and in offshore waters around the whole UK, should now be afforded the level of protection that it so desperately needs.

Thank you to everyone who backed our campaign and help push this important legislation through Parliament. We know that RSPB supporters have played a big part in making this law a reality. Quite simply we could not acheived such a fantastic result without your support. Its time to celebrate and be proud.

The focus of the campaign now moves to ensuring that the Act is put into practice so that our marine wildlife and seabirds are protected and safeguarded for future generations.

We will be continuing our campaigns for a strong Scottish Marine Bill and the introduction of a Marine Bill for Northern Ireland's inshore waters.

Seal of approval

helen moncrieff — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:05:00 GMT

Some years, Shetland's weather goes from summer to winter and seems to skip autumn. Such is 2009! This photo, taken at West Voe in the south of Shetland, shows typical conditions at the moment. You can see Sumburgh Head RSPB reserve in the background. Long-tailed ducks have returned from their Arctic breeding grounds and can frequently be seen in the area.

At this time of year, we have to find a day between weathers to reach Mousa RSPB reserve. We go to assist Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) with their annual Shetland-wide survey of grey seal pups. Grey seals are protected by law, and Shetland has an important population of them. Mousa is a great place for grey seals to haul out and have their pups. It is largely undisturbed by people just now as there is no ferry service. The shore is perfect for them to haul out of the water. Keeping our distance, we walk around the coast of the island and map out the adults and pups we see. Just like seabirds, it is important monitor population trends to help understand what is going on in the seas around us. It all adds to the bigger picture.

Mousa is a very different island in winter compared to summer. Gone is the sound of Arctic terns, skuas, skylarks and the chatter of visitors. Instead, you mostly hear seals and the occassional rock pipit. This photograph shows adults and their pups, none of which were over 10 days old. Those of you who have visited the reserve might recognise this area. It is where your journey begins once stepping off the ferry. There are four pups in this photo, plus three adult females and a large snoozing bull.

Here you can see some seals lying up from the shore, with the famous Mousa Broch and distant Sumburgh Head RSPB reserve. You might be able to see a grey blob in the puddle beneath the wall. This is a young pup, seemingly enjoying a bath. I remember watching a pup hide her head in a puddle, whilst her body remained out, peering up through the water. It brought to mind when children hide their eyes to you can't see them!

It is amazing to think that within this dry stone wall, there might still be a storm petrel chick!

I love seals, particularly pups. This individual is one of the oldest on the island. Born on a small rocky beach bound by steep sided cliffs, I worry in case the wind were to change to a north westerly. This year there hasn't been any dead pups recorded, but we always loose a few. I feel a little attached to this one, and on nights like this can't help but think about it and the other seals on Mousa. I hope to get back later in the month to continue with the monitoring. But we need that day between weathers.

Killer whales shot near Shetland

helen moncrieff — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:18:00 GMT

I just heard that Gordon and Jesse have had success with shooting orca (on camera of course!!). Woohooo! On that website, you can also see a wee bit of Gordon going down memory lane at our RSPB reserve Sumburgh Head, puzzling over fulmars being around in the autumn. I'll write about fulmars in a future post (having gone on about projectile vomit previously!). The RSPB has an Autumnwatch related webpage here http://www.rspb.org.uk/autumnwatch/

Killer whales are at the top of the foodchain. They rely upon healthy seas. Working on seabird reserves and being a Shetlander (whose father was a fisherman) I need no convincing that we need to look after our sealife, for all sorts of reasons. However, if you are looking for a dramatic reason why we need to look after the marine ecosystem, make sure you tune into Autumwatch this Friday.

Of course, you can visit Shetland's RSPB reserves next year for the chance of seeing killer whales. It is only the fortunate few who get to experience whales in Shetland. However, if you visit at the right time of year, everyone can enjoy the seabird experience. If you cannot make it to Shetland, take a look through the RSPB website to find a seabird colony nearer to you. It's special.

Cheerio from the chilly north.

Autumnwatch's Gordon Buchanan returns to Shetland

helen moncrieff — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:18:00 GMT

This week I have been delighted to have the company of wildlife cameraman and television presenter Gordon Buchanan. A couple of years ago we met at Sumburgh Head, when Gordon was making a wildlife documentary for BBC2. "Killer Whales in the UK?" showcased much of Shetland's superb summer wildlife, including some great footage from Sumburgh Head - a Minke whale feeding just off the cliffs and (set to the 1980s pop hit "Jump!") guillemots chicks leaving the cliffs. Unfortunately, the killer whales (also known as orcas) just didn't show up when Gordon was here.

Gordon has returned to Shetland to try to film killer whales for Autumnwatch. However, this time he will mostly be bouncing about in a fishing boat, miles off the Shetland coast. Large groups of killer whales are known to approach fishing boats when catches of mackerel are being hauled in. What a challenge!

My friend Harriet and I spent some time with Gordon and his colleagues before they headed to sea. It was lovely to remember the past, but rather more exciting to look to the future. Harriet has much experience in studying killer whales in Shetland waters, and for two mackerel seasons went out on a fishing boat to photograph the massive mammals for a killer whale study. We had some useful discussions, including how to work out where the whales might surface and alleged cures for seasickness. Click on to this link www.nature-shetland.co.uk/naturelatest/latestcetaceans.htm and scroll down to the photographs of October 9 2008 to see some of Harriet's fantastic pictures. www.northatlantickillerwhales.com has lots of information. Scientist Andy Foote went to sea last week to continue his study. I heard from him that one particularly stormy day, the whales were actually three metres above the boat as the swell was so huge!

As I write this today (Monday), it is a beautiful calm day. So instead of being worried for Gordon and cameraman Jessie I am very excited for them. I can't wait to see Autumnwatch this Friday to see how the challenge goes. Make sure you tune in!

Cheerio for now.

Not a puffin in sight, tufted or otherwise.

helen moncrieff — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:40:00 GMT

Today feels like a spring day, with a cool air, bright sun, gentle breeze and similar daylight length. What a very different experience greets the September visitor compared to May. The only seabirds to be seen on the Sumburgh Head cliffs today were shags, fulmars and a couple of herring gulls. I notice at this time of year, some birds start displaying again. I believe it is a response to the daylight length, being similar to that of spring. I hear the weekend is to be calm, but strong winds are forecast for next week. I wonder if they shall blow in any unusual visitors?

The news of a tufted puffin down south has had me scanning the seas. Not a puffin to be seen. I met a couple from the USA at the Sumburgh Head reserve yesterday. They were hoping to see puffins, but got their timings wrong. They did however find a puffin on their coastal walk to the reserve, albeit in quite a state of the decay! In an effort to console them, I directed them towards Mousa Sound and Quendale Bay for the chance of seeing porpoises. Jenny, our administrator, saw around a hundred porpoises (or neesiks as they are known here) in Quendale, and I'd seen a very active group of twenty or so at Mousa. Neesik, I think, means "Sneezer" in Old Norse, on account of the animal sounding like it's sneezing when it comes to the surface for breath.

Before I go, I have to mention my encounter the other night - nothing to do with birds. Thanks to our Field Teacher Linda, I have been learning how to SCUBA dive. In the evening, we went for a dive off of Lerwick (Shetland's capital). I greatly enjoyed kelp forests, sea urchins, dead man's fingers, and various fish species. As we surface swam back to the boat, something greyish caught my eye, just a few feet beneath me. It was getting quite dark and difficult to see and I thought it first to be seaweed and my eyes playing tricks. It twisted and turned, and then I realised there were two eyes, a mouth, limbs... it was a seal! Well, I let out an almighty girly squeaky scream (even with the breathing aparatus in my mouth!) and found out that seals can hear you scream underwater as it disappeared. It surfaced behind me, and I am pretty sure I heard it laughing at me.

Stormy Day

helen moncrieff — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:54:00 GMT

Today was my first day back at work following some annual leave. I had taken some time off to go to Skye for my brother's wedding. I also managed a bit of time in Orkney, Harris and Lewis and a few places in between. It was great to walk amongst trees! Another highlight was not one but FOUR golden eagles on Harris and Lewis. I've only been off Shetland for ten days but can notice great changes. A gale has battered my trees, the sky is filled with the sound of meadow pipits and skylarks on their southerly migration and I haven't seen or heard an Arctic skua or tern.

Rather bizarrely, I couldn't get into the office today as the Norwegian version of East Enders were filming and the Local Authority closed the road. But I did make it to the lovely RSPB Mousa reserve. It was the last ferry of the year, as the weather is about to turn for the worse. I called on local volunteer Ray to help me tidy up for the winter and off we set around the island. Ray managed to fill me in on what I had missed on "Stormy Day" the previous weekend. Stormy day is the day that we visit Mousa to check on the storm petrel chicks. It is my favourite day of the year which I was vexed to miss, but couldn't miss my brothers wedding for the love of a seabird.

In the 1980s, the RSPB's Mark Bolton did a lot of research into storm petrels and installed nest boxes to help with his study. We check the nest boxes around the 11th of September with local ornithologists Dave Okill and Roger Riddington. It's fabulous that, whilst most birds are finished for the breeding season, on a small island straddling the 60 North line, tiny chicks are in their nests waiting their next feed. Storm petrels feed on plankton as they pitter patter across the sea surface. Ray told me that judging from the size and number of chicks, 2009 was a better breeding season for these tiny seabirds than 2008. There was the usual mix of tiny and well grown chicks. Mark found that chicks may still be present on Mousa in November! How amazing. It is entirely natural that the chicks are late fledgers, but climate change does seem to be having an impact on storm petrels also. Mark and Dave have found that the productivity of storm petrels relates to the surface sea temperatures in May. More research is required to better understand the effects of climate change on these superb wee birds.

The joy of hearing about the success of another of our seabirds was dampened when we spotted a seal pup suffering wounds around its neck. It was tangled up in fishing nets. Who knows whether this stuff ended up in the sea purposely or accidentally. I have contacted Ron, the local SSPCA Officer who has much experience in this sort of thing. Ideally the pup would be captured, assessed and the netting removed with minimal upset. We've removed a grey seal pup with similar injuries from Mousa, which went on to be cared for and released by the Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary. The seal today is not a simple case as currently it is mobile and strong enough to escape to the sea. Now that there is no more ferries to Mousa, the situation is even more difficult.

Not only do marine creatures have to battle against the effects of climate change but still, even in these days of heightened environmental awareness and responsibilty, still they have to deal with pollution from us - often with fatal consequences. I am not holding out much hope for the fate of this small pup, born on Mousa in June.

Should I risk being splattered with projectile vomit?

helen moncrieff — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:07:00 GMT

As I approached work at the Sumburgh Head RSPB reserve this morning, I noticed a fulmar by the side of the road. I assumed it was a recently fledged chick from one of the old quarries. They find it difficult to take off from ground, particularly when there is no wind, long grass, and dry-stone walls to contend with. I knew I ought to help the bird by putting it in the sea, but in the knowledge that fulmars can spew their guts up with gusto and the smell of the oily musty fishy stomach contents is pretty much unwashableoutable of any fabric. I think the word "fulmar" means "foul gull." I think that's a bit unfare as, apart from the spewing bit, they are rather attractive funky seabirds.

So, my dilemma this morning was whether to attempt to catch the wee fella, risking the clothes I was wearing and the company of my colleagues. Or pop home get appropriate tools for the job and prepare properly. I opted for the former. For one reason or another, I ended up with my trousers and sleeves rolled up and barefoot, almost performing an elaborate dance as I tried to catch the bird as it flapped away from me, ready to dodge the vomit. The fulmar made the appropriate gestures and sounds, but failed to produce any projectile vomit. Once I realised it's stomach was already empty I simply caught the bird and strolled down towards Grutness pier.

As I walked with the bird I had a moment to reflect on the species. Look up the RSPB website to find out more about them - http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/f/fulmar/index.asp.

Until the late 1800s, there were only a few pairs breeding in Shetland. Now there are around a quarter of a million individuals! This is for a variety of reasons, such as availability of food and breeding habitat, their impressive defense strategy and that they are long-lived. It truly vexes me to know that most fulmars in and around the North Sea will have an amount of plastic in their stomachs. We know this thanks to the results of Beach Bird Surveys (locally, these are organised by Martin Heubeck of SOTEAG/Aberdeen University) and subsequent analysis of corpses found on the monthly surveys. Plastic breaks down in to small pieces which may be mistaken by seabirds as plankton or other foodstuff. It appears that many people simply do not have any respect for the sea and life dependent on it. We all should make the effort to tidy up after ourselves and others. Here in Shetland we have a massive beach tidy up every spring, with thousands of volunteers walking miles of coastline gathering rubbish. I look forwards to the day we don't have to do it as there is no longer the need.

I've always had a fondness for fulmars. They are a joy to watch as they fly around surfing the wind, have lovely expressions, and I think they have a sense of humour (but that's for another blog entry sometime). It's funny to think that the birds I see nesting near to my parents house are likely the same individuals as was there when I was a bairn, and may be there for another decade or so. I reached the pier and placed the fulmar on the water. It quickly spread its wings and ran out across the surface of the sea. Not the most graceful of starts, but it's always a good feeling to see a bird set free, particularly when not covered in spew. The sweet smell of success!

Rathlin round-up

Jess McVicar — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:40:00 GMT

We thought all of the auks (puffins, guillemots and razorbills) had left the colony at Rathlin, but then someone spotted a guillemot carrying a fish back to the cliffs. When we trained the telescope onto it, we discovered that it was still feeding a chick! One guillemot pair left out of thousands, with only the kittiwakes and fulmars for company.

The fulmar chicks are starting to change from grey, amorphous, fluffy, fat blobs into fine-feathered flying machines. There are now lots of young kittiwakes, with their distinctive black 'W' wing patterns, flying to and from their nests. Some kittiwakes have already fledged and have been seen in Ballycastle Harbour, only a few miles away on the mainland. It is heartening to see so many young, healthy birds leaving the nest after many disastrous breeding seasons.

This year seems to have been a good year for seabird breeding success all over Britain and Ireland and Rathlin Island has been no exception.

Bye for now.
Lorraine

Puffins to Nuffin

helen moncrieff — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:28:00 GMT

Well, it's been a while since I posted an update - so apologies for that. I thought I'd give you a quick update on how our puffins got on this year.

Puffins, known as Tammy Nories in Shetland, are many folks favourite seabird. They are bold in character and appearance, great to watch, and simply adorable. I have the great fortune of being based at Sumburgh Head RSPB reserve, where the Shetland Office is located, and have been working there on and off since 2001. Puffins are generally quite predictable. They arrive onshore in April, though we wouldn't recommend folk to come to see them specifically until May. The first birds arriving back are believed to be the breeding population. The numbers of birds increase throughout summer as non-breeding birds join the colony. For a variety of reasons, puffins may not be seen on every day of the summer, certainly not in their thousands. For all my years at SUmburgh Head though, puffins remain in good numbers on the cliffs until mid-August. I usually tell folk that to get good views of puffins at the reserve come before August the 15th. Indeed, the last handful we saw last year were seen on the cliffs on the 15th and no later. WIth that in mind, back in September I set a date for a "Puffin Party" for August 8th. This was to encourage folk to get out to see the birds before they leave the shore for a winter at sea. How wrong I was...

Around the 25th July we noticed that there were only a few puffins to be seen. It's not uncommon for the majority of the birds to be away for a couple of days. However, six days on I was feeling concern - Have the birds failed to breed or has it actually been a good year? For these seabirds to depart the cliffs a full two weeks early is unheard of. As it happens, this was our first year of a new puffin productivity monitoring programme. Assistant Warden Rob has spent over 100hours observing and recording puffins at a new study plot. It is difficult and time consuming to get a good idea of how well puffins are doing when it comes to fledging chicks on account of them nesting in burrows on inaccessible cliffs. However, we believe that the productivty of our puffins was 0.456. That means that almost half the birds in the study plot succeeded in fledging their chick. I contacted Derick Shaw at Fair Isle Bird Observatory (FIBO). FIBO have a long-term monitoring programme of puffins. The number we came to is similar to the average that Fair Isle has had for the past ten years. Although it is important to note that 2007 and 2008 were dreadfully poor seasons for puffins on Fair Isle (about one in ten fledging), and the previous ten years, back through to the 1990s, around 6-7 out of ten birds fledged a chick. So, there is something going on within the seas around us meaning the birds are not finding enough food to raise their chicks. The FIBO long-term monitoring plot was checked on the 20th July, and many of the young had fledged. This is earlier than usual.

With our Sumburgh Head puffins seemingly departed, I sent out a press release about them and said that the party would still go ahead, but perhaps with no puffins. Well, imagine my surprise in the day that the newspaper went to print 2000 puffins appeared on the cliffs!! Where they remained for three days. Then, only half a dozen were seen for a couple of days, then a couple of hundred. The day before the party (7th August), I saw a total of seven. Seven is more tha none, so I had to be content with that but busied myself making puffin related activities such as painting puffin pebbles. August the 8th arrived. The event had been well advertised throughout the isles and the weather was surprisingly calm. At 9am, I checked over the walls and managed to find a dozen or so puffins - some showing off remarkably close to the dry-stone walls. I could also see a few dozen flying around, and the fulmar chicks were looking gorgeous in their grey fluffy down. As the day progressed, more and more puffins arrived and some almost looked to be showing off for the cameras and the children. I think my sigh of gleeful relief could be heard from miles away! ALmost 370 people came to the reserve between 11am and 4pm, and I am pretty sure each one of them felt better for having had close contact with puffins and having taken part in our activities and games. STV and BBC filmed and recorded the puffin story, and I heard I was even quoted in the Daily Mail.

Puffins are indeed a special bird. You find puffin images throughout the islands, be it on holiday brochures, cartoons, shop fronts. They are no doubt responsible for attracting many people to SHeltand each year, and play a role in the islands economy. The many school children we take around the reserve as a part of our field teaching service get great joy from puffin experiences. However, it is important to note that from FIBO's long-term monitoring of puffins, they have discovered that the puffin population has almost halved in less than ten years. This is not down to chicks not fledging, this is due to adult puffins (the breeding population) dying. I look forwards to Martin Heubecks' forthcoming publication about winter survival of puffins. Without the long-term monitoring programmes of not only puffins, but many different kinds of seabirds by organisations such as SOTEAG/Aberdeen University, FIBO, SNH, RSPB and many others we simply would not have evidence of what is happening within the sea. It is not just important but essential that we each do what we can to tackle the issues which affect our wonderful sea life. Look through the RSPB website to find out more about what you can do.

I believe also that is of great importance folk make that wee bit of an effort to go experience a seabird colony - take your family and friends even if they don't seem interested. They'll never forget it. We're fortuante in Shetland, I have great skuas flying over my garden and indeed had a young puffin at my door a couple of weeks ago! But words can't rightly express the feeling you get from seeing, hearing and smelling a busy seabird colony. To quote one of the schoolchildren who visited "It was the best school trip ever! Everything was good!"

The cliffs are eerily quiet now, but I am already looking forwards to next spring.

Rathlin's fledge-fest

Jess McVicar — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:13:00 GMT

The Rathlin colony is really busy with lots of seabird noise and smells! Razorbills have been fledging in large numbers. We were lucky enough to see one chick jumping off the cliff onto the rocks below, fluttering its wings and diving into the water where it met its parent and swam away. Both razorbills and guillemots have produced plenty of chicks this year and 'pufflings' (fledgling puffins) have also been spotted at the mouths of their burrows. All fledglings wait for darkness to fall before taking to the waves. They do this to avoid predators such as large gulls and ravens.

Kittiwake chicks here have some way to go before they will fledge. They spend around 40 days at the nest and even come back after taking their first few flights. Most chicks are still quite small and fluffy. Some are being taken by predators but there is no evidence of starvation which was a big problem for these birds last year. I'm hoping the majority fledge safely this year.

More soon! Lorraine

Chicks, chicks, chicks!

ruth porter — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:32:00 GMT

Hello!

What a busy few weeks I have had in June, finally things are slowing down as the razorbill and guillemot chicks finish fledging. Just thought I should give you all an update on this fantastic colony.

Firstly, for a comparison to the Shetland update last month, the first razorbill and guillemot chicks at Bempton were spotted around 29 May, I remember spotting my first razorbill chick, it was very emotional! No matter how many chicks I see I still can't help saying 'aah' every time! Nearly all the razorbill and guillemot chicks have now succesfully fledged with just a few late breeders left, most of the adult birds have also gone with just a few females remaining. I thought I would share a few of my favourite chick photos that I have taken whilst out surveying.

Top left: a pair of razorbills feeding their chick which successfully fledged around the 20 June. Top right: This is my favourite photo of an extremely chilled guillemot chick and another successful fledgling venturing out to sea on 24 June. Bottom: guillemot chick that is very close to fledging, it has developed the black eye stripe which indicates that it is over 12 days old, the earliest the chicks start fledging is at 15 days old, this chick was quite happy on it's ledge not leaving until it was around 22 days old, making the jump on the 22 June.

We think the puffins have done ok this season, although we do not monitor them as we do for other species as the nest sites are inaccessible. Locals have said that it feels like there are more around this year than in previous years. Below is the only glimpse that I have had this season of a puffin chick - it is quite large so I think it must have been close to fledging.

The kittiwakes and gannets are still in full swing. The first kittiwake chicks were seen around the 6 June, and started fledging in the past week. Here is a photo of a kittiwake chick that is a few days old asking for some food!

We have not seen any obvious signs of starvation i.e. dead chicks in nest which has been seen in previous years, however we are noticing a large percentage of kittiwake chicks being left unattended at the nest, which might be an indication of poor food supply and the adults having to decide between guarding their chick and finding food. A couple of weeks ago myself and a colleague satellite tagged five kittiwakes to see if we could get some critical information about where the birds at Flamborough Head are going to feed. Unfortunately we lost four of the tags, but one we did recover showed us some amazing information. The kittiwake had flown for four hours and covered 150km to reach an area called Dogger Bank to feed, it then spent over an hour and twenty minutes feeding in a two km area, unfortunately the tag then failed. This information is another indication that local food supply might be low and that birds are having to travel further to get food. This work is fascinating and gives us a real understanding about what might be happening with food supplies. Next year we hope to do more of this work to try and build a thorough picture about where the birds are having to go to gather food to feed their young.

Onto the splendid gannets, here are a couple of my favourite photos:

This chick is a week or two old, it has not developed the fluffy white down that the bird below has. The bird in the photo below is about four weeks old. The gannets are doing very well again this year with a very low loss of chicks. The first gannet chicks should be fledging in the first couple of weeks of August.

And last, but most definitely not least are the herring gulls. The herring gulls at this site are in decline. This they seem to have done quite well. Here is a great photo of an adult and it's two healthy chicks.

Well, that was a long entry, hope you have enjoyed my piccies! It's a great place to be when the breeding season is in full swing, well worth a visit. I always try to imagine the amount of fish that must be consumed by a colony of this size, let's hope the food supply continues so that these amazing birds can be enjoyed for years to come.

Celebrity Jumplings

helen moncrieff — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:22:00 GMT

Guillemots are great. They spend the winter at sea, returning to shore for the breeding season. They are well adapted for life at sea, and able to dive to great depths to feed. They've had their share of trouble in recent years, what with the lack of sandeels to feed their chick on and also not having enough food to sustain them in good health through winter. Add to the food shortage is the threat of being attacked by aerial predators such as skuas or large gulls. They are, however, one of natures wee toughies. Last night though, I witnessed a few vulnerable wee souls taking to the sea - jumplings.

"Jumplings" is the name given to the chicks as they depart the colony. Simon King and his wife and fellow broadcaster Marguerite were at Sumburgh Head to film the action. They were filming the guillemots for a sequence in "Shetland Diaries with Simon King" to be broadcast 2010. I've a dreadful habit of yapping the whole time, so I stayed well away at the other end of the reserve. You may have seen some of Sumbrugh Head's jumplings on "Killer Whales in the UK?" presented by Gordon Buchanan. It was broadcast three times on BBC2 in 2008. They used the 1980s pop hit "Jump" (can't remember who it was by - Van Halen or Aerosmith maybe?) as a theme tune.

At around 9pm, I noticed I'd missed my first jumpling jump! On the surface of the sea was an adult guillemot (it is always the male which accompanies the chick) with it's three week old chick by its side. Together they started paddling on the flat calm sea, heading south east. I continued scanning the stack and cliffs, which are crammed with thousands of guillemots. At the base of the stack was a looming presence of a great black-backed gull. Now and then, a herring gull would land in the colony often to be shooed away by daggerlike beaks. The fog was gently lifting and falling, adding to the midsummer atmosphere that is so special to Shetland. After a while, I spotted an adult bird, carefully leading its chick down the slope and ledges of the stack. Five minutes passed, until the chick was almost at the waters edge a few metres above the sea. It hesitated, then "Hop" it leapt of the edge and had it's first contact with the sea. Immediately, the father took to its side and they too headed south east. A moment later, I spotted a single chick all on its own in the sea paddling this way and that. I felt anxious for it, wondering what had become of its parent who could help protect it from the omnipresent black backed gull. I could see various birds on the water a few metres away. The chick seemed to gather itself together and headed towards the group of birds. I saw one with a fish swimming towards it, only to totally ignore it! But relief came a few seconds later when another bird approached the bird and father and chick were reunited and left the reserve.

When I went home, I couldn't help but worry and wonder for the tiny balls of fluff that were now making their way towards Norway. It is such a joy to see that the chicks have actually survived the breeding season. There are still a large number of chicks within the colony, some incredibly small. These younger birds are likely hatched from re-laying pairs which had lost their eggs in the two southwesterly gales earlier in the season. It was heartening to see guillemots coming in with their single fish for their young. Meanwhile up at the top of the cliffs, puffins were returning with beaks crammed full with sandeels. I will no doubt go up again tonight to watch the birds go. If you have a guillemot colony near you, why not pop along and see the action for yourself?

Cheerio

Helen

Trials of an (unlucky) razorbill chick

Jess McVicar — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:31:00 GMT

We were delighted when we spotted the first fluffy grey razorbill chicks on the cliffs of Rathlin Island on 15 June. This is the same date as the previous earliest recorded hatching date at this colony.

Chicks that hatch early are generally considered to belong to good quality parents but for one, this was certainly not the case. Firstly, the brooding adult fell off its ledge taking the chick with it. Luckily both had a soft landing on a patch of grass. However, as soon as both settled down, a lesser black-backed gull came along, scared the parents away and quickly gobbled up the chick. The majority of razorbill chicks have survived the first traumatic weeks of life and parents are frantically providing them with mouthfuls of juicy sandeels, just like you see in the classic 'puffin with fish' photos. One parent was so keen to take advantage of the abundant fish that it even tried to feed a bill-full to an egg! The chick hatched the next day.

The first guillemot chick was seen on 19 June which was 10 days earlier than last year. Most guillemot chicks are being fed small fish from the cod family as well as sprats and herrings.

Despite everyone assuming that most kittiwakes are nesting later this year, with many still building nests only last week, the first kittiwake chick was seen on exactly the same day as last year (27 June).

Killer whales at two RSPB reserves!!

helen moncrieff — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:37:00 GMT

On my day off yesterday, I has planned a leisurely day of housework, gardening, dog walking and beached bird surveys. Beach bird surveys take place on the last Sunday of every month in Shetland. Organised by SOTEAG/Aberdeen University, people walk various lengths of coastline in Shetland, recording dead birds. Birds are identified (species and where possible age), checked for signs of oil (which is seldomly seen these days), and rings (there are a number of seabird ringing programmes in the North Atlantic area). In the case of fulmars which are intact we collect them for stomach content analysis, and eiders are collected for DNA sampling. Martin Heubeck works with the data gathered and is in regular communication with other scientists overseas. This adds to the picture of what is going on in the sea.

Anyhow, all plans for the day were ditched when at midday I heard there were killer whales (orca) of Sumburgh Head. A tour company had briefly spotted a group of five or so indivduals beneath the cliffs, but the elusive whales had vanished. Malcie and Martha (our North Isles wardens) happened to be at my house, so with them and my pal Harriet we trotted off hoping to see them. I contacted a couple of folk (including natural history broadcaster Simon King and his wife Marguerite), and we positioned ourselves at various points around the coast. However, an hour or so of watching from Sumburgh Head and nearby Scatness was fruitless,so we headed to our respective homes.

Half an hour later or so, I get a phone call - the whales had been spotted far offshore about two miles north of Sumburgh Head!! Harriet and I headed to my parents house, and managed to get reasonable but distant views of the whales which appeared to be "playing" next to a yacht. Yesterday, I should mention, had the calmest seas and sunniest skies I've seen in a long time, and the presence of many sailing boats made it easier to point out the group of whales to passing walkers and day-trippers. The whales seemed to lose interest in the yacht, making their way slowly north. I met up with Simon, Marguerite and camerawoman Alison in a passing place a mile north of my parents house. From here we could see the whales (again way off in the distance), breaching, tail flapping and being fairly active. With Simon's superduper megazoom camera, he could see that it looked like the whales had a porpoise or dolphin with them, either leaping or being whacked out of the sea.

The whales seemed to be making their way north again, so we contacted Tom Jamieson of Mousa Boat Trips (the passenger ferry which takes people to Mousa RSPB reserve) to see if we could get off in his boat with him for a wee while. It was a bit of a risk, because the whales could decide to do anything (head south, speed north or offshore) and our trip would be wasted time. Well, thank goodness for mobile phones. We made contact with the Scottish Killer Whale Research Team, who had launched their RIB (Ridgid Inflatable Boat). They told us that they were with a group of around FIFTEEN indivduals, just south of Mousa Sound. Seven of us boarded the Solan IV (AKA the Mousa Ferry) motored south, gleefull with nervous excitement. After ten minutes or so, someone spotted the RIB. We carried on approaching a moment longer, then Tom cut the engines. All we could hear was the lapping of the sea and the sound of Arctic terns feeding on sandeels. Mousa was gloriously bathed in sunshine, with the 2000 year old broch looked golden. Cameras were all poised. Then someone spotted a fin ahead of us on the port side, and another and another.... We could see a group of five whales, which were a distance away but still an awesome sight. Well, I couldn't believe it when the whales approached us, closer, closer, closer. They made their way right up to the boat, within five metres, surfacing, swimming on their sides under the surface. I can't communicate the atmosphere (thankfully, it's been captured on camera and will be on your television screen sometime in 2010 as a part of the BBC "Shetland Diaries with Simon King" series). It was jaw dropping stomach flipping pure brilliant.

It all is a bit of a blur after that. The whales grouped, separated, came up to the boat, moved ahead, disappeared only to reappear in a row of seven in a sort of killer whale sychronised swimming leap. They were belly up, tail flapping, spy hopping... Eyes were all fixed to the starboard side, only to hear the blows of a group coming up from the port side. We heard from the Research Team that they had a hydrophone and were recording lots of vocalisations. From the amazingly close encounters, some of the whales were recognisable (by fins and markings) from previous visits to Shetland, though five or so were new. One of the bulls, known as Bigga, has a dorsal fin of about 6foot tall. After the most amazing couple of hours at sea, it was time to collect the visitors to Mousa and deliver them back to the mainland. We were treated to superb views of porpoises on the crossing. What a contrast to the dramatic powerful predator which we had just enjoyed. Highlighted by the squeals of the children aboard, the porpoises were still a joy to watch.

We then headed down towards Sumburgh Head by car. We stopped at Grutness pier (where you catch the Good Shepherd ferry to Fair Isle), where we could see that a pod of whales were near to a small fishing boat, just beside Sumburgh Airport. A group of us ran towards the point, but lost sight of them. Initially, we assumed the whales had sped past. I glanced back to the way we had come from, only to see three massive fins. They'd headed inshore rather than out. We dashed back to the pier, to see people still looking right but the fins were to the left. "BEHIND YOU BEHIND YOU!!" - almost like a pantomime sketch. A small common seal kept close to the pier, and was left undiscovered. The sandy bay at Grutness is really shallow, and I was most surprised to see how close to the shore the killer whales ventured. They approached the pier and you could see the 'footprints' of the whales as they swam beneath the surface. That helped predict where they would come up for air. They moved on, towards Sumburgh Head. We made our way up to the reserve and could see that not only were there the group on the east side, but another to the west. Around a hundred or so people managed to get superb views of the creatures. I hope to get sent some photos of the days drama, but in the meantime, my brother has sent some photos into this website - http://www.nature-shetland.co.uk/naturelatest/latestcetaceans.htm .

If you are visiting or living in Shetland, there is no guarantee of seeing any whales, dolphins or porpoises. But there is always the chance. I am pleased to know they around, but thrilled when treated to the spectacle. Killer whales are top predators, like us, at the top of the foodchain. If we wish to continue seeing these spectacular creatures in our waters, there has to be producitve seas and no breakdown in the marine foodweb. Research is showing that the whales that frequent Shetland waters (unlike those in the north Pacific), eat both seals and fish. Sandeels are perhaps the most important foodsource in our local waters. In recent years, sandeels have not been so available to their predators, be it fish, bird or mammal. This is believed to be due to the effects of climate change. So, we must all act to help look after our seas - be it do your own bit to reduce your effect on climate change or lobby government for better protection through a sturdy Marine Bill. The RSPB website has loads of ideas and information for you to find out more.

With every experience you can learn something. The lesson I learned from yesterday is "Never stay home to do the housework."

Cheers

Helen

Pitbull Puffin

helen moncrieff — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:19:00 GMT

It's yet another beautiful day in Shetland, with temperatures hitting 20degrees!! I've been in the office this morning, but did have an interesting interuption. A young holidaying Dutch couple knocked at the door to alert us that a puffin had flown into the telegraph wire, crashed to the ground and was wandering around trying to find a route back to the clifftop. Much of Sumburgh Head reserve is bordered by dry-stone walls and it was unable to find its way. I accompanied the couple to the viewing platform where the puffin was now standing, and with their help managed to catch the puffin. It was able to move rather quickly, but unable to take flight fully. Once I had a hold of it, a quick check revealed it was uninjured. The feisty spirit was certainly intact, and it managed to grip my hand in a vice-like grip with its fantastic beak. The puffin had no intention of releasing its grip, and the gentleman carefully prised it off my hand. I released the bird over the wall, and it immediately launched itself from the cliff top looking non the worse. Unlike me, as I am now proudly sporting two puncture marks on my left hand.

Have a good weekend!

Helen