Browse by Tags

As the breeding season begins to enter the final furlong, it’s time for an update on this troubled breeding season. Unfortunately, there is rather more bad news than good news. Starting with the bad news. Common gulls are having a disastrous year, for the first time in two years the...

Now that the weather has improved and Britain is basking under gorgeous sunshine, the breeding season which was bumbling along in first gear has lurched into third gear on Havergate. However, much of how one might assess the breeding season on Havergate depends on your attitude towards large gulls...

This I believe is meant to be springtime? However it doesn’t feel much like springtime, in fact if it wasn’t for the presence of the breeding birds I would say that the weather has felt more like October. What has this meant on the ground for the birds on Havergate? Well, the terns...

I appreciate that for some not being able to visit Havergate is a source of tremendous frustration, so I will do my best to bring some kind of flavour of what's going on, on the island at the moment. Currently Havergate island is undergoing the biggest change of a generation with both lagoons...

As people who visit the website will be aware, the island closed its doors to the general public at the beginning of October this is to enable the contractors to access the island and carry out the vital works as part of the EU life+ project. It is my pleasure and excitement to be able to announce that...

The results are in, 99% of all birds have fledged and after a changeable summer, the 2011 Havergate island breeding bird story is ready to be told. The final counts of the large gulls where 460 herring gulls and 1030 lesser blacked backed gulls , a grand total of 1490 large gulls, how does...

The weather finally took a turn for the better on Havergate this week after what seemed like almost daily thunder showers, lightning strikes, torrential downpours and a nagging wind. Now as the season starts to enter its final lap we can start to make some early estimates on how things have gone...

By mid June the results of the breeding season start to come in, although how successful it proves to have been in terms of chick production will have to wait for next month. Starting with the good news Common Terns continue to strengthen there foothold on the island with the colony increasing...

Arctic Skua? kittiwake? little tern? All good guesses but since the year 2000 the two fastest declining seabirds are the much less heralded herring gull and lesser black backed gulls. This is according to the SMP (seabird monitoring programme) data recently released by the JNCC. This...

Aside from the glorious weather in the last week on Havergate, what else has been going on? The breeding season is starting to gather momentum. The gulls have taken a little while to get going but both the lesser black backed gulls and herring gulls are now on eggs, though there is still less...

Late March has seen the island begin to don its breeding season cloak. Big numbers of gulls have arrived at the last Webs count 624 Lesser Black backs had returned to the lagoons and 518 Herring gulls. This count doesn’t include the salt marshes or the long shingle bank at an estimate...

It feels now that winter has truly arrived, the temperatures are plunging and the nights are drawing in and the clocks are about to go back. A chilling sentence for anyone who lives in the British Isles. It was therefore nice to get an update on the movements of the ringed gull chicks on Havergate...