For the past few days we've been watching the forecast carefully, hoping for rain. So far we've been disappointed. Random showers, the odd millimetre here and there in the gauge, all useless in the long run. The irony was I had to dash down the garden yesterday and got briefly soaked rescuing the washing from an errant band of rain that quickly came to nothing. Today looked our best bet, even this morning the rain radars were promising what looked to be a good soaking this evening, but the latest radar shows most of it now missing us. So the drought goes on and I'll continue to feed the sheep - in June!
Despite the absence of rain, a deep low pressure system sits over the UK which brought gale force north westerlies this morning, easing to a force 6 this afternoon. Coupled with big spring tides around the full moon this probably won't be great news for our kittiwakes on the west coast. It was only a couple of weeks ago I was reporting on a gale around the new moon springs which washed away a good deal of their first attempts at nest building. I then reported on them rebuilding and seemingly cracking on with the season, albeit a bit late. Depending on the outcome when I check tomorrow, today potentially spells the end of a breeding season before it even gets going. Not the best news for a species in serious trouble right around the UK and the north Atlantic
Kittiwake on nest built of mud and grass and a little guano for extra adhesive!
Landing gear down - you can see why their full name is 'black-legged kittiwake'
The drought conditions have not prevented our kittiwakes from finding enough mud to cement their cliff clinging nests. As seen in a recent blog birds were making use of a damp stream that run down the side of our highest peak, Carn Llundain. Water locked away in the hill after a, thankfully, very wet winter kept the stream flowing.
In contrast to their black legs, they have a blood red tongue - the onomatopoeic cry of 'kitt-i-wake' rings out among the colony
Another species on Ramsey that uses mud to build their nests are our house martins, although most of the birds make use of the ready made nest boxes we installed for them. The farmhouse brickwork is painted with good old 'weathershield' to keep the penetrating winter weather out, but this makes it smooth and not conducive for mud to stick to. When house martins first showed an interest in nesting here we felt bad seeing their hours of hard work go to waste so installed the boxes. That was some years ago now and we have a regular established population of, on average, around 10 pairs. Most use the boxes but this year we have seen two pairs, probably young first time breeders, attempting to build naturally....with mixed results!
Adjustments are made to the entrance of most boxes
While some attempt to nest build on the side of boxes
Even if not nesting naturally, most house martins still like to adapt the entrance to their boxes so use mud to shape the hole provided. There is a spring behind the farmhouse that feeds a small pond. As the pond has dried up this has left a nice muddy area where they collect from. It also provides good feeding opportunities as the air above the pond is full of insect life on a warm summers day
House martins hawking insects around the farmhouse
The house martins will be hoping this spell of unsettled weather is short lived. In previous poor summers they have suffered badly. There is but a small window in which to raise their chicks and if feeding conditions are poor in June we see the sad sight of starving chicks dying in boxes. One year I spent what felt like the whole of June up and down a ladder popping chicks back into boxes. They would come to the box entrance desperate for food and lean out too far.
So while we need rain I hope we get it in sensible amounts and preferably overnight! I will keep you updated on the progress of this year's house martins (it currently looks like 9 of the boxes are occupied) and how the kittiwakes fare following today's gales
(as ever click on the images in the blog to view them at full size)