Nature is an inspiration in many ways. Some of the very oldest cave paintings are animals and it's not difficult to understand why the earliest homo sapiens were so moved by what they saw that they had to, in their language, write about it. A few days ago, a storm surge devastated the gull colonies in Langstone harbour, a nest count revealed the true extent of the damage as being worse than initially thought with circa 2000 nests lost. That's several thousand eggs, but more importantly a massive investment in time and energy for the birds, just washed away. So what's inspired me to write about this calamity? Well, another visit to the oyster beds revealed, I'm delighted to say, business as usual. The gulls are hard at it, rebuilding nests, courting and mating, determined to press on whatever or whoever the adversary. Hopefully this tenacity, almost universal within the animal kingdom, will see them through the unprecedented pressures they face in the 21st century. As conservationists we can only do so much, the rest will have to be down to them - given the chance animals will conserve themselves, they have an overwhelming instinct to do so, the fact is we just have to let them.
Making a swift exit
Nest counts are an invaluable source of information and done with minimum disturbance. The team are well prepared and go about their business with the utmost efficiency. The birds happily settle behind us as we walk through the colony, a sure sign they're not overly perturbed by our presence. They do voice their objections rather raucously and in other ways too - I was the recipient of this years wooden spoon, being the only victim of a remarkably well aimed poo! We were astounded to see newly laid eggs on the strand line, just 24 hours after the storm - if at first you don't succeed, try again! ID for gull eggs can be challenging as the photograph below shows, the diversity in pattern and colour just for one species is bewildering.
Unbelievably in the same nest!
Numbers of Mediterranean Gulls are up this year. Slightly more robust than their black-headed cousins it's still easy to miss them amongst an airborne group, their distinctive cat like call, if you can hear it amidst the screams of the others, is usually the give away. If you're not too familiar with the Meds the photograph below may help. The blood red beak is more obvious, and the underwing is completely white.
Mediterranean Gulls on the bottom right hand side
With a breeding cycle that starts later than the gulls, the terns have not been effected by the recent tides. Sandwich tern numbers are extremely encouraging as are common terns. The little terns are out there too, numbers have fluctuated over the last couple of weeks, but hopefully as the courting ends and the nesting begins we should be able to establish how many we have in the harbour. If you've yet to see a little tern, I urge you to rectify that at the earliest opportunity. They are real head turners and truly petite. Generally seabirds are a brawny bunch, they have to be to cope with the rigours of living is such a hostile environment. The tern family however, are a unique exception. Their elegant, fragile appearance makes them look impossibly ill equipped to deal with all that the oceans have to throw at them. Their aerial supremacy is however their best weapon, they really are masters of the skies and against all odds, survive the pelagic life.
Spot the little tern
When you work with ground nesting birds you tend to become obsessed with where you're walking and what you're treading on. This can be an unexpectedly useful skill to have in an environment that was heavily bombed during WWII, you never know what you're going to stumble across........never a dull moment!
Danger UXB