This summer at Fowlsheugh, you may well come across a couple of people catching our seabirds. Don’t be alarmed by this, it’s all part of an important RSPB seabird research project. The most important thing to say, is that the birds are not harmed in anyway and it will not disturb them from their busy breeding season.
Fulmars, kittiwakes, razorbills and guillemots will be subtly removed from their nest sites for just a few minutes and quickly fitted with state of the art tracking devices that will measure two things:
A few days later the birds will be re caught and the tracking device removed to gather the above information.
Research has been carried out for the past two summers on seabirds nesting at a range of colonies along the West coast from the Scillies in the south to Fair Isle in the North. This will continue this summer along with the exciting addition of data collection from a range of East coast colonies including here at Fowlsheugh. The results will be used to help pinpoint important feeding areas for our seabirds. Hopefully the government will then use this scientific information to guide the designation of Marine Protected Areas throughout the UK.
Its fascinating research and very specialised. The tracking device is extremely small, (less than 20grammes) but the information obtained can be potentially enormous. One of the most spectacular tracks from last year was from a Guillemot from Fair Isle that flew to Fraserburgh to fish, there and back in 1 day……..a whopping 211 miles, that’s over three times further than anyone thought they flew to find food!!
We’ll keep you updated.
The bad weather continues, but I was joined by 5 participants for a wet walk along the cliffs. Lots of Fulmars were present - hanging in the air at the cliff edge showing off their flying skills in the updraught. The breeze was off the sea allowing us all to appreciate the smell of the thousands of birds.
At least 12 Puffins were seen in the throng, giving great views to all, as they paired up and squabbled in the usual places.
Wet but happy, we finished at 2045, with all the participants giving the reserve high marks for spectacular wildlife viewing.
Mark
9 participants joined me for a blow along the cliffs on Sunday afternoon. The wind made viewing tricky, but I was able to find a Puffin early on, which took the pressure off (one lady telling me at the start that she really wanted to see one, having never done so - no pressure there then).
Everone had good views of the breeding species, and the problems facing these birds was discussed with, I hope, answers to all the participants questions.
Hopefully Spring is now underway again, and Thursday's evening walk will be warmer and stiller (the strong wind decreasing the impact of the "scent" of the colony).
Despite the heroic efforts of the RSPB staff earlier in the week, in the wind and rain, it was decided that the first Puffin walk of the season last night (10/05) should be cancelled. Strong wind and rain would have made it a miserable evening, I hope that all who had booked will re-book onto a later walk. Every Thursday evening, and second Sunday afternoon starting this Sunday (13/05).
Hopefully the weather will clear and we will all get onto the reserve!
Well it looked like it was going to be a windy and rainy day and so it was but it turned out to be quite a spectacle. Me, Vicky and Ed arrived there after dropping the truck off in Aberdeen for it to have bit of work done just before 9 and promptly began to play ‘guess the bird name anagram’ to avoid the rain. The strong winds were blowing us and the birds about, not least this Razorbil:
Once we had run out of anagrams, we decided to brave the conditions and head out! Ahead of the Puffin walks coming up, there are Puffins back and one was back at the ‘usual’ spot. Also we managed to solve the mystery of where the gnome comes from thanks to Vicky finding her flag – so Northfield Community Centre, what’s her name? As a temporary measure, we’re calling her Gnorma. You can see from the attached pic..she is clearly a she and she’s been busy on the membership recruitment front.
This visit was a chance for me to take a first look at the Kittiwake plots that I will be surveying in the near future. Vicky showed me such key features as cracks and in one place a ‘rusty stain’ on the cliff face to use as reference points. We left Ed in the shelter to do a bit of planing on a sticky door and but picked him up on the way back for lunch.
After a quick lunch in our car, we headed out and found ourselves in the middle of an unexpected flurry of Kittiwakes. Vicky had witnessed this activity before where the Kittiwakes were flying back and forth from the farmers fields to collect mud to like their nests! Some were being more ambitious that others, so much so that they were picking up clumps of earth that were far too heavy for them to actually fly with!
It was literally a blizzard of kittiwakes. It seemed that every single pair of kittiwakes on the reserve was nest building and the strong winds added to the spectacle blowing the birds all over the place. To the average passer by it might look like a scene to be seen on any rubbish dump in the UK but the fact that this was purely natural behaviour made it more enjoyable.