With Manx shearwater fledglings departing the Pembrokeshire islands in their droves at the moment, below is a short video of 2 of our nest box pairs caught on trail camera exercising their wings before making the leap of faith into the darkness that all our birds have to undertake at some point. These 2 are the first of the nest box birds to fledge this year, the others aren't far behind.
After seeing them grow and put on weight week by week over the past 70 days it's always a great feeling to see 'mission accomplished' - well part one is at least. Next they just have to fly 7,000 miles to Argentina alone, survive their first year, maybe two, without touching land, get back to Ramsey in year 2 or 3, find a burrow and a partner in year 3 or 4 and start to breed in year 5 or 6! If they manage all that there is a good chance they will breed most years for the next 20 or 30 years (at least), possibly with the same partner in or around the original burrow they set up home in (and possibly within a few hundred metres of the burrow they were born in if our ringing records for Ramsey are anything to go by). Bear all that in mind when you watch them embarking on this remarkable journey below......good luck to the class of 2020