Our auk colony; the Razorbills, Guillemots and Puffins have stayed with us for their breeding season and will soon be leaving to complete their year out at sea before returning to us next March/April.
Many of our visitors ask when these fishing marvels will leave us and we've often replied "mid-July"...And here we are half way through the month so these really are the last few days to catch the noisey little fellows.
There are still 'jumplings' dotted around the cliffs, much to the delight of the onlooking Ravens, and we expect the young Kittiwake and Fulmar to stay with us a little while longer...
Although we can't give you a definitive count for all the breeding pairs, we can confirm that five of the reserves pairs of Chough have managed to fledge twelve juveniles between them! That's not to say that the other six breeding pairs have failed to fledge young, just that it is increasingly difficult to see which juveniles have come from which parents! Whilst we ring juvenile Chough to keep an eye on them throughout their lives, we cannot access all of the nests and this is where some confusion arises. I can say that we see plenty of juveniles around so we would hope that the success of the five aforementioned pairs has been replicated by the remaining six pairs.
Please do come and say hello when you visit, as did our juggling South Stack fan (you know who you are!),
Kathy x