Stacey Adlard, a member of the Seabird Tracking and Research team (STAR), tells us about preparations for the upcoming season.
Seabird tracking project takes flight
Over the Easter weekend, the 2014 Seabird Tracking and Research (STaR) team descended on the RSPB Inverness office for first aid and rope training, getting to know each other, sorting and packing enormous amounts of kit, and an Easter egg hunt. Afterwards, the four teams dispersed across the country to their designated sites; this year, teams are based on Orkney, Fair Isle and Colonsay, with the new addition of a roving West Coast team - us.
We are made up of Stacey and Emily (Emily worked on the project last season on Colonsay, and Stacey has years of expertise from working with seabirds in the Antarctic!). Our role this season is to try and fill in the gap in the tracking data that currently stretches along the West coast of Scotland between Colonsay and all the way to Orkney, and to do reconnaissance surveys of a number of island sites which have the potential for use later in the season or in the future. As mid April is too early to start seabird tracking, we began with the reconnaissance part of our project.
After leaving Inverness, we drove South West to our first Island recce. Island number one was Ailsa Craig; the remains of an old volcanic plug, about 10 miles out to sea from the coastal town of Girvan in South Ayrshire. This steep-sided lump of granite is probably best known as being the island from which curling stones are produced, and remains of the quarrying could be seen in a number of places.
Ailsa Craig (photo: Stacey Adlard).
Curling stone quarry remains (photo: Stacey Adlard).
We spent two days on Ailsa Craig, in which time we circumnavigated the island and climbed to its summit. Although very dramatic and a fantastic place to visit, the seabirds were mainly very inaccessible, and as a result we are unlikely to be able to use the site for tracking later in the season.
The West Coast roving team (Emily and Stacey) on the summit of Ailsa Craig (photo: Stacey Adlard).
Cliffs on Ailsa Craig (photo: Stacey Adlard).
After Ailsa Craig we headed to Oban and caught the ferry out to the Outer Hebrides. Our next adventure was to recce Berneray and Mingulay, which are the two southernmost islands in the Outer Hebrides. We packed our camping gear and chartered a boat. First stop was Berneray, where we were dropped off and left to explore. Berneray is a steep sided wedge shaped island with dramatic cliffs to the South and lower lying land stretching gently down to the sea to the North. As a result, some areas are great for seabirds, but totally inaccessible for us to reach them, whereas other areas are well within our reach, but too low for the seabirds to consider nesting on them! Despite this, we passed a pleasant couple of days; the highlights being watching a couple of otters playing along the shore, and the inquisitive grey seals that followed our every move as we traversed around the island.
Mingulay, as seen from Berneray (photo: Stacey Adlard).
Next stop was Mingulay, and the plan was the same; traverse around the island looking for suitable sites. In comparison to Berneray, Mingulay felt very civilised as we were able to sleep in the small converted bothy, occupied by the National Trust for Scotland warden and his two companions who were working on the old chapel house ruin to stabilise it. I spent my birthday on Mingulay, and in addition to my human companions, shared it with 4 sea eagles, several hundred grey seals, two corncrakes and a lot of seabirds (although only the humans shared the chocolate cake!).
The Old School House bothy on Mingulay (photo: Stacey Adlard).
Grey seals enjoying a day at the beach on Mingulay (photo: Stacey Adlard).
Next destination on our road trip was the Flannan Isles. This remote group of islands lies 20 miles west of the Isle of Lewis, and we enjoyed an exhilarating ride aboard a very powerful RIB to get us there. The dramatic arches and stacks are evidence of the fierce Atlantic storms that batter the islands during the winter months. An unsolved mystery surrounds the Flannan Isles; just over 100 years ago, all three lighthouse keepers mysteriously disappeared from the island without trace. These days the lighthouse is automated and tended by helicopter. The Flannans appear to be summer breeding grounds for vast numbers of puffins, razorbills and fulmars, many conveniently positioned for us to track later in the season. I suspect the trickiest part of working here will be finding a space big enough to pitch a tent that the puffins haven’t already claimed!
The Flannan Isles (photo: Stacey Adlard).
After these reconnaissance surveys, the time came for us to get ready for the tracking part of our season. This meant we needed electricity and a base to work from, instead of living in a van and tent, so we headed for Skye for a couple of weeks to charge, discharge, test, recharge and test again (!!!), all of our 169 tracking devices and get everything else ready for the season.
Tracking devices discharging at night (photo: Stacey Adlard).
When tracking commences, the first stop for us will be the Shiant Islands (between Skye and the Outer Hebrides), where we intend to start with Shags and Razorbills. The other STAR teams will also be starting their tracking work around now so best of luck to them, and here’s hoping for a good and successful season for both human and seabird alike!