In 2014 Dr Matt Wood from University of Gloucestershire spent several night on Ramsey looking for possible new storm petrel sites. This diminutive seabird was first recorded breeding here as recently as 2008 when 5 pairs were discovered at a site on the island's rugged west coast. New nest sites have been discovered in that area in the intervening years and the population is probably in the region of 10-20 pairs altogether.
European storm petrel (photo: Dave Boyle)
Although not recorded, storm petrels may have bred on Ramsey in the dim and distant past but with the arrival of rats through shipwrecks in the 1800's their days were numbered. The successful rat eradication project in 1999 led by Wildlife Management International meant that the way was clear for them to (re)colonise. Nearby Skokholm holds the largest population of this species in Wales with around 2,000 pairs, Skomer has in the region of 300-400 pairs and the Bishops and Clerks (a string of RSPB owned islets 2-3 miles off Ramsey's west coast) hold around 150 pairs (which is possibly where the pioneering Ramsey birds came from).
Matt has been using the thermal imaging camera on Skokholm over the past couple of years and has gained some fascination footage that will help with future work to monitor this often cryptic species. On Ramsey the task was different - try and find potential new sites away from the single known colony. A visit in July saw two birds investigating a boulder scree area on the west coast but subsequent more detailed surveying didn't reveal anything further. It is likely these birds were non-breeders prospecting for the future, which is of course equally as good news. In August we found a single bird showing interest in a potential looking site on the east coast, again probably a non-breeder. We captured this using the thermal imaging camera and it is shown in the video clip below.
The bird can clearly be seen flying around the valley and, at times, investigating the habitat which is a mixture of large rock boulders towards the sea and smaller cliff crevices further up the valley. Given that this is on the east side of the island (on the opposite side to the known colony) and we have mist netted birds in this area previously, it bodes well for a the possible establishment of a second sub-colony on Ramsey in the near future. The camera operates in complete darkness using infra-red and emits no light meaning the natural behavior of the birds can be observed without any disturbance
The clip below is taken on Skokholm using the same camera and shows a very different scene! We might have only filmed one bird on Ramsey but with a bit of patience and continued rigorous biosecurity measures it is hoped that we might see scenes like this played out on here one day.....
A big thanks to Matt and all at UGlos Bioscience department for agreeing to include Ramsey in their project. There is clearly great scope for this camera and I'm sure it can be put to further good use in the coming years.