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.