Yesterday (Thursday) many people started their morning routine with checking puffincam. I was amongst the hundreds of people who were suprised and concerned at what I saw. An empty nest with broken egg shell. Our chick has not survived.
We may never know what happened. Andy at Promote Shetland and my colleagues here at Sumburgh Head have looked through the footage. As we only use natural light in the burrow, it is very difficult to make out what occurred during Shetland's short dark night. It could be that the chick died during the ordeal of hatching. It can take a couple of days to hatch, and it may have run out of energy e.g. the membrane of the egg was too tough to get through. It is even possible that the adult killed the chick. In times of food shortage, various birds species are known to kill their chick. It could be that the egg was predated. We simply don't know, and nature always presents us with mystery and surprises.
So, we're all a bit sad here at Sumburgh.
We will continue with our Date With Nature at Sumburgh Head. So if you are in Shetland, do come down and find out how our seabirds are getting on this season. It is not exactly a happy story, but there is always something to see and new things to learn. We know of a few active burrows, with pufflings being fed sandeels; the great black-backed gulls have young; guillemots... well, it's not looking great but some are hanging on; kittiwakes are patiently hanging in there; and, we've got some amazing information from our seabird tracking programme "FAME" available here.
There's always the drama of great and Arctic skuas patrolling the cliffs. Just this afternoon I saw an amazing aerial display of an Arctic skua pursuing a puffin. Two of my favourite birds against one another mixes my emotions somewhat! Do come down to the lighthouse and find out the latest news from the reserve (and bring cake to cheer us up!).
Keep your eyes peeled for fledged young of twite, wren and wheatear. It's great to see them doing so well, out in the sunshine today. Even on miserable days like yesterday (both weather and with regard to puffincam), the song of a wren can gladden any heart.
I hope you have a weekend of wild experiences.