As I sit here on Sunday morning the rain is lashing the NW facing windows as gusts in excess of 55mph batter us from that direction. Not a great time to be a seal pup but this is nothing unusual for October. Over 600 pups have been born so far this season with our next count due tomorrow. No doubt there will be casualties but we are past the peak for births now and they had a storm free September after two named storm on successive weekends at the end of August.
With the elements reminding us we are firmly into autumn I thought it was a good time to look back at the summer and report on how some of our breeding birds fared, starting with northern wheatear
Splendid male wheatear in May 2020 (photo: G Morgan)
After a winter spent in sub-Saharan Africa our first male was not recorded until 20th March, a bit on the late side, with the first female a few days later. Numbers fluctuated over the next few weeks as newly arrived residents took up post and migrants stopped off to feed up on their journeys further north. Interspersed with the nominate race were birds of the 'Greenland race' - bigger, more boldly coloured.
Greenland race wheatear stopping off on Ramsey for a feed in spring - note the striking head pattern, colour all the way down and under the chest and belly and, if you could see it next to a northern wheatear, the noticeable bulk of the bird. This bird is on it's way to breed in areas north of the UK, possibly even Canada.
The good news for 2020 is that we recorded a record number of breeding pairs - 121 to be precise! An increase from 76 pairs in 2019. The average over the 28 years of RSPB ownership of the island is 84 pairs but pre rat eradication in 2000, this average was 67 pairs, whereas post eradication it is 91 pairs, with all 7 years with over 100 pairs falling in this latter period (the previous record was 115 pairs in 2009).
It is not surprising we have seen a gradual increase as rats had easy access to the drystone walls and burrows in which the wheatears breed and our walling contractor tells a grim tale of finding decapitated female wheatears sat on their nests still incubating clutches during the period rats were present.
Apart from the removal of rats and the restoration of over 8km of drystone wall between 1998-2008, our grazing regime also benefits our wheatear population. The same low intensity, nature friendly farming, sheep grazing that benefits our chough likewise provides close cropped, insect rich pastures that provide a bountiful larder for the wheatears
2020 'felt' like a good year. When out doing our surveys there were birds everywhere. 4-5 repeat visits are made in spring with all birds showing territorial behaviour signs logged. These include, singing males, alarm calling birds, fights between rivals, birds carrying nest material and as the season draws on, birds carrying food and eventually the emergence of fledglings. The island is split into 6 sections to make monitoring easier with staff having 2 or 3 sections each to cover
We don't monitor productivity (the number of young produced per nesting attempt) but it was clear 2020 was a good year in this respect too. We were tripping over newly fledged youngsters in late May and early June. The long settled spell of April and May had been kind to the wheatears and had June not turned into the damp squib it was, many would have gone on to have second broods. As it was the change in the weather meant only a fraction of pairs did so, with many starting their return journeys to Africa by July.
121 pairs must be one of the highest densities of wheatears anywhere in the country (I have nothing to base this on other than I like to think this must be the case and am happy to be proved wrong!) They are one of the true characters of Ramsey and long may their success continue
2 young wheatears fresh out of their drystone wall nest (photo: G Morgan)
A slightly older fledgling starting to gain adult plumage (photo: G Morgan)
(Click on photos to see them at higher resolution)
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