As we enter the last week of September the vast majority of our Manx shearwater fledglings have left the island and are on their way to the coast of Argentina. It looks to have been a good breeding season, the average weights of the birds in our nest boxes was up on last year and all 9 of the 12 eggs that hatched will get away (8 have now gone with just 1 late hatcher still to go)
The video below shows a nightly ritual that occurs across the colony throughout the fledging period - having been cooped up in a burrow for an average of 60 days, fledglings emerge to exercise their wings and have a good stretch, warming up their muscles for that long maiden flight which will take them half way around the world in the space of just a few weeks.
They exercise, sometimes for hours at a time, for around 10 days before finally leaving aged around 70 days.
Just 70 days earlier they looked like this!