We have been monitoring this pair since they began to nest
Having a snooze- its hard work raising 3 chicks and keeping a nice nest!
Protective Parent with small chicks
Shags are the earliest nesters of our seabirds and have been settled on their nests since the RSPB visitor centre opened at the end of March. We have been following the progress of a nest of shags using our LIVE video cameras which feed to television screens in the centre. We have had the pleasure of watching the female lay 3 eggs and we were even lucky enough to watch the eggs hatch! The 3 chicks are well developed now and at 4 weeks old they are bulging out of the nest. It will be several weeks before the chicks will be ready to fledge so still plenty of time to see them for yourself!
As if raising 3 hungry chicks wasn’t hard enough- Shags are extremely house proud and spend lots of time rearranging their furniture. They are very active around the cliffs at the moment, bringing in lots of seaweed and grasses to add to their nests as well as lots of food for the young ones! Both parents will take it in turn to feed and gather nesting material and often interior decorating disputes will ensue if one moves the seaweed to the wrong place!
The Kittiwakes are also doing lots of DIY at the minute too. Their nests are very well developed so we should hopefully have Kittiwake eggs very soon! When standing at the Foghorn, it is possible to watch the Kittiwakes rip grasses and mud off the tops of the cliffs. Once back at the nest they stamp on the mud to spread it around and when it dries it will cement the grasses in place. This is very important as they nest on precarious cliff ledges- let’s hope the chicks don’t experience vertigo!
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