A changeable week

We have had a really varied week this week in terms of weather, which has affected the jobs we were able to do.

With one really heavy rain day, it meant that it was an office day entering data into the computer and getting that all up to date. As it was a complete wash out we watched a movie late afternoon and also managed to fit some baking in.

The other days were better, with spells of rain but also dry periods. This meant we were able to continue our Fulmar counts and on the less windy days start the storm petrel playbacks. Of course puffin observations continues in most weather as in general the puffins tend to be around more when the weather isn't so pleasant! It was during an afternoon of making note of ring colours that I came across a puffin we hadn't seen before. I did a double take before getting really excited and pointing out to Maddy that there was a puffin on the slope with coloured rings on that had a white neck. It looks as though the puffin is changing colour to white! This is known as Leucism and it wouldn't be classed as albino because the eyes are not pink and it is caused by a reduction in multiple types of pigment. We don't know why this puffin is turning white, maybe age or could be genetic. Though we do know that last year it looked like your average puffin, thanks to the rings on it's legs. I am happy to say that it also appears to have bred and has a chick as it was going into the burrow with sandeels. 

The Leucistic Puffin

As well as this the puffins are still very much busy continuing to feed chicks and avoid the gulls. I have even attempted to capture them in flight during my free time between jobs. It's really hard to get them in focus as they don't hang about!

Puffins At Crab Bay

Our most current task has been storm petrel playbacks. Different stone walls are homes to the storm petrels some contain more than others. This weeks job has been to play recordings of storm petrels along the wall down from the farm house to North Pond and the wall down to Little Bay. These are the least resided walls and with storm petrels responding only 30% of the time you can imagine the responses we have been getting. However, each wall will be visited 10 times for the correction factor and every crevice is played into including the marked parts of the wall (previous responses). On our first visit we didn't have any responses and felt a little disappointed as their 'ter chic' call is rather special. However, each return has yielded more success with our first reply on our second visit and up to two on our third! Our best yet was visit number four, with eight responses and several purrs running into a full repertoire! It really does put a smile on your face!

The best day of the week had to be Wednesday 14th which was razorbill chick ringing! The day started with setting up the camera trap at Crab Bay to try and capture the Ravens taking out the bamboo sticks. We had set it too high the other day and so just had levitating sticks on the screen! (Still rather amusing) I then collected the recorder from the shearwater burrows to download the previous nights recordings.

Then after breakfast and going through the moth trap, it was time to do the gull rounds. The sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, only a light breeze in the air. A perfect day where we would cause less disturbance to the chicks. The gull chicks are getter bigger and the adults more aggressive as the chicks wonder further. I could actually feel the air rush over me as the gull at nest one swooped down! Even though the chicks are bigger they still stay hidden really well and we only saw two from the 26 sites. The thick bracken does help and its constantly growing, making not only spotting chicks hard but finding the nests. After two and half hours of walking around the sites in the growing heat we got back for a quick lunch before the afternoon's adventures.

Great Black Backed Gull Chicks

After our last mouth full we headed straight for the lighthouse to meet Rich and Giselle. By this point the wind wasn't very noticeable through the heat and I had ditched my coat in favour of just t-shirt, of which I was grateful of as we marched along the track. Once at the lighthouse we had a quick de-brief of where we were going and given ringing pliers to take with us.

At the top of the Bluffs we descended down slowly and carefully, making sure rocks were secure and feet didn't slide over vegetation. Then once level with the Razorbill nesting site it was a case of climbing over boulders and traversing up and down to the nests.

There are numbered nest sites that are used most years and so we started with those and the first chick pulled out was the demo, with Rich explaining the different ringing required. It is fairly similar to the Manx shearwater, the difference being that the ring is a lot harder (Razorbills rest against rocks) and a slightly different shape. Then it was time for Maddy and myself to have a go. The chicks fit neatly into your hand leaving a free hand to ring with. We picked up the first two steps fairly quickly it was just closing the gap that proved tricky. As Rich would say it's finding that 'sweet spot'. Which can be challenging when everything seems to be set up right but the metal just won't give and then you make a slight adjustment and you can feel it.

So after a few chicks and several green poos down my jeans and in my hand, I finally managed to complete the ringing process on several chicks! 

Throughout the afternoon we even managed to hold adults and read out their ring numbers. In fact one parent seemed to keep flying back as Maddy was ringing their chick. It didn't appear to be bothered until I went to return the chick and as soon as my back was turned it started flapping and screeching. So as it was hanging around it got caught by Rich and had a ring put on it. Opportunistic ringing.

It is hard to believe that these tiny chicks in a few days will hurtle themselves of the edge and into the sea! 

Razorbill parent, View Down On The Bluffs, Giselle Navigating and Razorbill Chick.

To finish a great day I decided I would go for a swim and so I threw on my swim suit and headed down to South Haven and much to the seals amusement I jumped in! Though I wasn't in for long as it was rather refreshing! But it was really invigorating and it was lovely and warm getting out. A perfect day in all!