In Nov 2013 we installed the first of our Manx shearwater study nest boxes. These were inspired from a visit to New Zealand where we saw them in action with Fluttering and Hutton's shearwaters. The aim was to give ourselves a population we could easily work on for productivity and GPS tracking purposes, something not that easy to achieve on Ramsey as most of our expanding population (still recovering following rat eradication) nest in a deep network of rabbit warrens.
14 of the 23 boxes installed to date have been visited by prospecting non-breeding birds. We know this from camera trapping and from evidence of occupation e.g. guano in entrance or in box or the fact that bracken stems carefully placed at the back of the tunnel had been knocked down.
However yesterday was a very exciting day in that a pair of birds were found in a box for the first time by day. This is a classic pattern that new pairs go through i.e. visiting the colony at night, finding a burrow, finding each other, then staying in the burrow by day to pair bond. I didn't have my ringing kit with me yesterday but Lisa and I went back this evening. Not unexpectedly this pair had gone back out to sea last night but another box (which had no birds in it yesterday but signs of a rudimentary nest) had 2 birds in it this time. We lifted the lid and carefully extracted the 2 birds from box 15 and put a metal BTO ring on each.
Hopefully these pairs, plus others will return to breed in the boxes next year. Non breeding birds return to the colony from year 2 onwards and find a mate and burrow in the following years before breeding for the first time at 5 or 6 years old.
Our next full survey is due in 2016 - in 2012 we had 3,800 pairs which is up from just 850 pairs in 1999, the year before the rat eradication project took place
Ramsey is slowly being restored to the seabird island it once was.
Lisa installing a Manx shearwater nest box in Nov 2013
GM ringing today's bird - the first to be found in the new nest boxes
The first Manx shearwater to take a shine to our nest boxes