Hello..long time no blog from the warden! Sorry it’s been a while, but just to let you know seabirds at Fowlsheugh have done very well this season. Across Scotland their fortunes have been mixed. Shetland in particular has had a dreadful season, with many birds not attempting to breed and chicks starving to death on the cliffs..a depressing picture indeed. However, at Fowlhseugh the story is a lot brighter. We only study the kittiwakes in detail. This year I followed 421 nests and they produced a total of 566.5 (yes half a chick is possible!) giving an average of 1.35 chicks per nest…which is a very good figure. in simple terms, the theory is that all colonies must produce about 1.2 chicks per nest in order to sustain the population. Other colonies on the East Coast have done well too, for example, the Isle of May.
While we don’t study the other species in detail at Fowlsheugh (other than annual counts of specific sections of cliff) the gut feeling is that they have generally done ok. For example, there were plenty of guillemot chicks and adults were observed bring in fish regularly.
I suppose the obvious question is why are the east coast birds doing well and the birds on Shetland doing so badly. It’s all very complicated and a lot of research is being done to try and answer these questions, but it is all linked to availability of sand eels and climate change is having a huge impact.
We did monitor also herring gull numbers and nests this year..I will let you know next week how they got on…bet you can’t wait for that!
Finally, I am visiting the Johnshaven Harbour Festival tomorrow on behalf of the RSPB. The aim is do some fund raising and also tell people all about the great wildlife in our area. Maybe catch up with some of you there! Fingers crossed for no rain (who am I trying to kid?)
Good to hear! Looking forward to next Spring to fuel my passion for photography! Lovely to get some great shots of Puffins this year and thanks to Nature for giving us this great spectacle each year - here's hoping it continues!