By Thomas Weston
Storm Petrel ringing – by Thomas Weston
.......A late night last night on the cliffs resulted in a really nice mist-netting session for Storm Petrels returning to their colony. With half of the Birders Week team heading north by vehicle, the rest trekked up the island – including myself.
Manx Shearwater bycatch – by Thomas Weston
Once the mist-net was set, the team started to catch Storm Petrels returning. There was an initial rush ahead of the moon rising, with birds flying in and out of the colony. The later breeding season means the majority are now on chicks, but many of them are quite small and not big at all. However, we know there are some biggies out there! The risk of regurgitation is high when ringing, so we limit netting time with enough breaks in between sessions for birds to feed their chicks so we are not causing too much unnecessary disturbance. With the ringing data being collected towards a BTO Retrapping Adults for Survival (RAS) project for this species, it was great to ring a large number of birds, but also to catch birds with rings on already. It was amazing to see that the majority of birds were originally ringed elsewhere, and it will be great to see where these birds came from.
A few hours later and a long walk in the dark led to our bedtime being 2am this morning! As a result, the morning was spent sleeping. Eleanor's and my official day off was today, however Birders Week takes priority. Greg took charge of the moth trap again, but unfortunately due to some charging issues in the night, the light did not stay for long and the number of moths caught was only in single figures. Emma spent the morning completing admin ahead of her Seabird Productivity writeup and talk; fingers crossed it comes together nicely. And after a late night on the cliffs, Jessie had a slow start.
There was a buzz in the air in the morning, and even a little rain! The first for what feels like over a month-and-a-half for the island. Crazy. Coincidentially, there was a big push of hirundines arriving, flocks of Swallows were seemingly coming in off the sea and heading off near Benjamin's Chair; a flock of 70 Swifts appeared but headed out south and later replaced by another flock in the evening; 2 House Martins were super brief; and a Sand Martin joined the migration pulse. In the bushes things were quieter, and the plan for the early afternoon was to repair the Heligoland Trap on the Terrace.
Heligoland Trap work – by Thomas Weston
Heligoland work was completed within a couple of hours, just in time for the Birders Week team to head on down for rockpooling with Jessie. The trap looks in a lot better shape, and we even caught a juvenile Linnet! It's always great when a plan comes together and works. Rockpooling went really well, but before the team knew it, it was time for the next bird related task.
Weighing our Manx Shearwaters – by Thomas Weston
This involved checking our Manx Shearwater boxes to weigh the chicks. Weighing the chicks is an important technique to understand how well our chicks are gaining weight, as well as a good measure for survival too. Due to the number of chicks in the boxes, we almost had enough for one per person and so everyone got to experience holding a fluffy, big ball of Manx Shearwater in their hands.
We then got back to the Barn, just in time for Lucile's Lundy House Sparrow Project talk. An amazing overview of her PhD project and results so far, as well as the Lundy House Sparrow Project overall. Being her last night on the island until November, it was the last chance to wow the crowds with her knowledge and experience. The feedback was great and it is really good to host these evening 'lecture talks'.
Log was undertaken a little later, as some were having dinner, but an evening of Wheatear catching for the ringers, and bioluminescence for the rest of the team. Both sessions went well. We caught 8 out of 16 Wheatears and there was a good views of the bioluminescence and even 3 Common Sandpipers too.
A long but eventful day, back by midnight too!