Visitors to Troup Head in the next week may be puzzled by what some people have already thought was an unfinished fire place but it is in fact the first stage of a new donations cairn. For myself, Emma and Ben it was our first attempt at doing a construction such as this and this did show in the early stages:
We Richard, who was overseeing the operation dismissed this idea and soon the actual cairn began to take shape:
At the end of Day 1, this is what the cairn looked like:
Hopefully it will be finished sometime next week and there will be further photos then.
Away from cairn construction, we had a look at what the birds were up to. The first Gannet eggs are appearing and there were at least 10 Puffins on the cliffs and a few more on the water.
Talking of Gannets, we did have rescue one which had got itself caught in the fence which runs along the top of the cliff. Fortunately it didn’t have any broken bones and was only tangled in the stock netting and not the barded wire. In this next photo I can also introduce myself to the Troup Head blog and just help I’m the one without a beak!
I should stress though that we did have a very experienced person in handling large seabirds with us and if you spot a Gannet in trouble at then DO NOT approach it as they can be very dangerous. We would advise you phone the SSPCA on 03000 999 999.
We set this Gannet down and left in the thrift and when we went to check on it later it had flown off.
In other birding news, we had what appeared to be a family group of Ravens passing through and with one floundering around on the cliffs to be bemusement of some Razorbills.
There were also 2 Peregrine flying around but they weren’t the easiest to see. The weather was even occasionally quite nice so a good day all round!
We're delighted to say that Visit Scotland have chosen Troup Head and the camera link at Macduff Marine Aquarium as a regional finalist for a Visit Scotland Thistle Award! We're in the category for for Best Nature-Based Experience in the North East and Tayside region. Myself and Emma (mainly chosen because we're the only people in the office who own respectable clothes and can find some clean shoes!) are going to the awards ceremony in Aberdeen on 15th May and if we win we'll be going to the national awards ceremony in Edinburgh.
We'll be starting seabird monitoring at Troup in the next couple of weeks so we'll update you on the Gannet numbers and how the nesting season is going as soon as we start. In the meantime you can visit any time between dawn and dusk, or if you don't fancy the walk, RSPB members get free entry to the Macduff Marine Aquarium on Tuesdays to see the gannets on the live camera.
Driving over to Troup today, I was admittedly a bit concerned about the rather large grey cloud hanging right over the reserve....picturing a very wet day ahead of me! But luckily I managed to escape any April showers and spent a nice, sunny (if a little breezy at times) day on the reserve.
The reason for my visit was to check on a few things before the seabird monitoring season starts, but it was also a good opportunity see what’s arrived back on the cliffs.
Singing skylarks accompanied me along the walk from the car park and once slightly closer to the cliffs, with the wind blowing from the right direction, I was greeted by that very distinctive smell of a seabird colony!
Since my last visit (in early March) kittiwakes have now returned, joining the gannets, guillemots, razorbills and fulmars, which means the cliffs are once again alive with the sounds of seabirds.
The monitoring season doesn’t start for a while yet, but gannets are already busy collecting nest material from the cliff tops and it won’t be long before the season is well underway. I also checked the usual spots for any signs of puffins...but none to report yet (either that or they were hiding from me!)
As a nice end to the day, walking back to the car park I came across this garden tiger moth caterpillar….aka the woolly bear
Troup Head is always worth a visit, but now is definitely the time to really experience the sights, sounds and smells of this seabird city. Throughout the summer we will be running events at the reserve...stay tuned for more details on these!
*For more news and photos of Troup Head have look at our Facebook page - www.facebook.com/RSPBNorthEastScotland
If you're looking for something to do during the Easter holidays and it's a bit too wet to get outside, the our live camera link to the Macduff Marine Aquarium is up and running! You can get close up views of the gannets as they get their nests ready for the new breeding season. You might even be the first person to spot a newly hatched chick!
All visiting details can be found on the Macduff Marine Aquarium website at http://www.macduff-aquarium.org.uk/
RSPB members get in free on Tuesdays when they show their Membership cards and later in the season there will be RSPB staff and local volunteers at the aquarium to tell you all about the season so far. If you'd like to help us at the aquarium and at Troup Head, talking to people about the story of the Gannets and about all our incredibly local seabirds then email diana.spencer@rspb.org.uk or ask at the Aquarium.
The first trip of the year to Troup Head today. Despite the (very!) blustery wind it was good to see that numbers of fulmar and gannet have already arrived back on the clliffs. While they won't start nesting for a while and the ledges are nowhere near as full as they will be in a few months time, it's nice to see the colony starting to build up. Hopefully we'll start to see the first guillemots heading back to their nesting ledges in a few weeks time, with the puffins starting to arrive at the end of April.
With the season not far from starting, we're looking for a couple of new volunteers to help spread the word about Troup Head. As you may know, we have a live camera link from the gannet cliffs to a screen at the Macduff Marine Aquarium and we need volunteers to help man the camera feed, talk to their visitors about where Troup is and how to get there and give them a bit of information about the gannets and other seabirds. You don't need to be a seabird expert at all, we can teach you any thiing you need to know and you'll have lots of information available as well as help from staff. You just need to be enthusiastic and happy to talk to lots of different people.
If you'd be interested in helping us out, ideally for a day a week through the summer holidays but as often as you would like to between April and August then give us a ring at Loch of Strathbeg 01346 532017, email strathbeg@rspb.org.uk or drop in to Loch of Strathbeg, or the Aquarium in person and we'll show you around.
If you'd like to help us look after Troup Head but volunteering is a bit much then please sign our RSPB Marine Pledge which will help us campaign to pretect Troup Head and all our seabird reserves around Scotland- all the details can be found here- RSPB Marine Pledge