For the past 8 years Dr Steve Votier formally of Plymouth University and now based at the University of Exeter has been carrying out research on RSPB Grassholm Island. The reserve, which we manage from here on Ramsey Island, lies 7 miles off the Pembrokeshire coast and is home to the 4th largest northern gannet colony in the world at just under 40,000 pairs
Grassholm from the air in 2009 (photo: S Murray)
Part of the work the research team has carried out has used GPS technology to study the feeding strategies of gannets. Seabirds by their very nature spend most of their lives at sea making them difficult to study so this technology allows them to be tracked away from the breeding site.
As well as answering scientific questions the work has conservation benefits. We can safeguard seabirds at their breeding sites via a network of nature reserves and Special Protected Areas but, at present, there is precious little protection for them in the environment where they spend most of their lives. Work such as that by the University of Exeter will contribute towards building a vital data set that might one day see Marine Conservation Zones designated here in Wales.
Early research was carried out using GPS units in isolation but in 2012 Steve’s team began to develop a camera tracking device. This would allow a more visual depiction of what the birds were doing. By deploying a combined GPS and camera that took still photos on a fixed time setting Steve's team were able to investigate the level to which some gannets rely on fishery discards by literally photographing the birds in association with fishing trawlers, with some very interesting results highlighting differences between colonies and even between male and female birds. For more details click here to see the paper that resulted from this research
The knowledge and experience gained from this earlier work meant the Exeter team were the ideal group to approach when Dr Mark Bolton from RSPB came up with a plan to trial a combined video / GPS tag. In addition to the GPS fix this would allow the research team to view the bird in ‘real time’. This would add even more value to the GPS data by telling us, amongst other things, if the bird was in flight, resting on the sea or feeding. Nigel Butcher, technnology guru and part of the RSPB Conservation Science department, developed such a device and Mark accompanied Steve and his team to Grassholm in summer 2013 to trial them.
Steve, Mark and the team successfully deployed and retrieved a number of cameras. The video clip below is a series of highlights from one of the cameras. The exercise was a good learning experience in using camera technology on birds and will hopefully be further developed over the coming years into a useful seabird monitoring tool.
Gannet cam was the latest in a long list of collaborations between the Plymouth and Exeter University teams and the RSPB on Grassholm and we are very grateful for their partnership on this project.
Work in 2012 and 2013 was part funded by a grant from Natural Resources Wales. Thanks to Venture Jet for getting us safely to and from Grassholm over the years!