A few more random shots from this week.

Ian Fisher borrowed the moth trap and caught this Lime-spec Pug. What a stunner! He also took the photo.

Arctic Terns continue to hatch young and even still laying eggs. New nests were found on Wednesday.

This Razorbill jumped just hours after Carrie captured it with my camera!

 Many Kittiewakes are fledging this week.

Last weeks rescued Shag looks no worse for wear after the ordeal it has been through.

We were double figures at the weekend. Like the birds on the cliffs, we are all jumping too. We were down to 6 on Thursday.

Compost Gull and Seawatching

It's often a subject around the dinner table between the summer residents of the Isle of May on whether it is always the same Lesser Black-backed Gull that visits the compost heap that is just outside the Lighthouse Keepers cottage.

The compost heap mainly consists of a few rotting citrus fruits and spent ground coffee, but the odd bit of left over pasta or dead bird keeps the gulls returning daily.

About a week ago Mark successfully trapped a gull in the heap and Carrie got to ring her first Lesser which was seen returning to the garden within a couple of days.

It became quite obvious there was more then one gull using the compost heap as unringed birds were noted daily, so while I was having a post dinner seawatch from the veranda I decided to try and catch an unringed bird that was using heap.

 

I hid in the mothtrap shed and waited for the signal from Mark and Lowlighters, Steve and Ian who had come out to join us looking out to sea. After about 15 minutes the bird dropped into the wooden frame so I decided to go for it.

 

The bird panicked on my appearance and got stuck, it's path blocked by my considerable bulk flying over the side. I landed ankle deep in some pretty rotten horrid filth of the heap, but the bird was secured.

 

 We took the bird to the ringing hut where it was ringed by Ian and released.

Close up the bird was quite stunning. Close up you can see the details of the eye and the wings. The bird was not too pleased about being caught and really gave as good as it got.This bird is marked with a green colouring with the letter M on it. We shall keep an eye on the compost heap to see which birds return the compost heap.

The fun did not stop there either. While we were watching the sea, we noted Arctic Skua, Manx Shearwaters, a probable island record count of Common Scoter, Harbour Porpoise and a Minke Whale.

Minke Whales are noted off the island regularly throughout the season with an increase of sightings from mid July onwards. Tonight's sighting was quite special as the Minke was jumping right out of the water! It leeped out near a fishing boat. Even though the animal was over a mile away you could see the tidal wave splash with the naked eye! It almost made me jump out of my skin as it came right up in my field of view in my telescope.

We don't watch the TV out here but with that kind of nightly entertainment who needs to?

I'd like to thank Ian and Mark for contributing photographs for this blog entry.

Unusual Guillemot

 This unusual Guillemot has been present on the Isle of May for the last three seasons. I've looked for it a few times but had not seen it until the researchers said it was present yesterday. Calum and I went up to the cliffs and despite the poor conditions I managed to capture a few images of the bird.

 The bird has an orange bill and orange feet. It lacks the black pigment in it's bare parts. These birds are not unheard of in the wild and aberrant birds of many species are known. It is a very nice bird to see indeed.

The Guillemot shares a ledge with a Razorbill

A close up of the head

 It has orange feet with black ends to the webs.

The bird has been affectionately named 'Penguillemot' by the researchers because of it's unusual appearance.

Fulmars

Fulmars

During my last few days of shore leave I was down at Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust doing a bit of birdwatching. As I was walking around the captive bird enclosures a bird under a bench caught my eye.

It was a Fulmar, a very scarce bird in Gloucestershire. This bird was unlucky enough to have been caught in gales that had blown up the Bristol Channel and got lost.

I managed to catch the bird safely but I then realised I'd never handled one before. The birds are naturally very light. They also had a very interesting fishy smell. It also had a very strong bite. It was not too keen on being handled and drew more blood then a any Puffin ever has!

We kept the bird for 24 hours and released it below the Severn Bridge where it flew away strongly.

So what's a story about about my holidays doing on the blog I hear the readers and particularly David asking?

Well, I found our first Fulmar chick today. Fulmars are our last birds to nest and hatch young on the Isle of May. This bird is at Burnetts leap. The bird had just finished hatching. It still had bits of eggshell on it's back. Here is a close-up of the bird

At the time of writing, as well as all the visitor management work i am also writing our annual report and have totalled up the Fulmar count on the island. The total is 286 occupied nest sites around the island which is down by 20 occupied site last year.

Puffling in the moth trap

I should not have been surprised really but when I went to the mothtrap on the 30th I got the almost jumped out of my skin when a fledged puffin (puffling) jumped out from behind the mothtrap. Birds are attracted to light or sound after they emerge out of their burrows. We pick up to 4 a day this year so far with the first one being last Wednesday. This bird was ringed and released safely from the west cliffs at dusk.

The mothtrap is put out every night. This year the mothing has been very poor. Day after day there have been very few entries in log. Hopefully our moth catching will improve and we'll post more pictures soon. We can catch over 300 in some nights. We've caught our first Dark Arches of the season which is easily our most numerous moth.

The entry on the 30th

Here is the puffling. It was a very lively bird in good condition. It was not at all happy being caught after being dazzled by the traps light.

This moth is a Bright line Brown Eye. A regular visitor to our trap.

 Can you see this Netted Pug on the wall of where we put the mothtrap?



Mark later turned up with a Guillemot he'd found in one of the Heligoland traps

Also not too happy about being caught! See the lovely yellow throat and  it's not cause he's squeezing it!

Chicks Special...

We are over half way through the breeding season but there is still lots to see around the Isle of May NNR. Lot's of balls of fluff are still to be seen all over the island.

Eider Ducklings are doing well on the loch

An Arctic Tern chick wedges itself between rocks in an attempt to camoflage

 This little Arctic Tern chick has only hatched recently

This Tern chick likes to run around at the feet of May Princess passengers while they disembark to boat

Pied Wagtails are still producing young. They are one of the two regular breeding songbirds on the island

The Lesser Black-backed Gulls looking over their two chicks

A Puffling is stuck in the vegetation. This bird was released at dusk

Plump Kittiewake chicks near the South Horn 

A Guilliemot chick sits in the shade of it's parent

                          One of the dozen or so Oystercatcher chicks that are around the Island

I managed to get a few close up shots of the Island Longtails. Not a chick but still quite cute!

Tern Update

Tern Update

The Terns continue to terrorise the visitors near the landing on the Isle of May. Lucie and Paula are still closely monitoring the birds. There are still a fair few chicks hidden in the long vegetation. These birds have survived the Gulls and the terrible weather so fingers crossed things will improve.

I counted at least 13 Common Tern chicks at the beacon.

See how they form an orderly que to go into the little shelters. The Common Tern in the foreground is still on two eggs.

The canes do appear to make it awkward for Gulls to land.

The jetty Oystercatchers can roost easy knowing the noisy Terns will alert them to any danger.

Au revoir Flora....

 Flora waving to the assembled crowd

 The boat heads to Anstruther

 David made sure Flora left

Here's a few shots of the lovely volunteer Flora Hoban leaving on Friday. It was a dramatic exit from the island with Kirkhaven harbour mouth unusable due to the swell. She and David got off safely with the boat fantastically skippered by Colin!

Flora has been coming out to the island for 7 years and is a valued member of the team. She has worked hard painting and doing Tern watches. A good crowd was present to wave her off.

Thanks again Flora for all your hard work. Next year?

The All Island Count

Anyone who visits the island who stands before David and I will hear us say that our job is to meet the boats and count all the seabirds you can see. David and I had a team of volunteers to help us count all the seagulls on the island but when it comes to the All Island Count, 'I'm on my own*'!

I have to count all the cliff dwelling birds. It is quite a daunting task counting thousands of seabirds, Many of which are parts of large colonies. In some ares I can easily see 5000 birds on one cliff face.

I'm often asked how I count so many birds. Well, it's simple! I literally count every individual bird from a safe vantage point. I use a clicker and cover every shelf, ledge, crag and gully of every cliff face.I scan the cliffs with my binoculars. I also take lots of notes and drawings so I don't count the same bird more then once. The island is split up into 16 sections and the totals are added up when the count is complete. It's of the only chance I get to go to secret places around the reserve, creeping along gullies or leaping around the rocks at low tide.

 Kittiwakes, Razorbills and Guillemot are the three most numerous species

I get to creep around little secret Gullies around the island. A Razorbill nearly took my head off flying down this one!

The south horn colony is counted from The Maidens

Counting the high cliffs is quite exciting especially in the fog

 

A lot of Razorbills were just hatching as I was counting.

Playing on cliffs is dangerous kids. Rope up safe!

That's me looking down 40 metres to the sea!

 How many?

 

David has a clifftop snooze while waiting to come back from the Maidens

Now come thes report writing and adding up. I'll be reporting back on that soon.

*David kindly helped me with my rope work and The Centre of Ecology and Hydrology helped counting the more sensitive areas where there are the highest density of shags.