Hatched - the Farnes first Arctic Tern chick of the year 
Hummingbird Hawkmoth, Brownsman - a stunning visitor
Tim, Tez and Adam counting BrownsmanTuesday 9th June comments:
Following the mammoth Sunday count of Inner Farne, Brownsman followed suit with a count of that particular island on Monday. The population totals of the two main islands are now starting to come together and it won't be long before we have overall counts. However it's not over, as the team celebrated the half-way stage with cliff counts - five down, with five to go. It'll be another week or so before everything becomes clear and we can start boasting the 2009 population totals.
Following the mammoth Sunday count of Inner Farne, Brownsman followed suit with a count of that particular island on Monday. The population totals of the two main islands are now starting to come together and it won't be long before we have overall counts. However it's not over, as the team celebrated the half-way stage with cliff counts - five down, with five to go. It'll be another week or so before everything becomes clear and we can start boasting the 2009 population totals.
Although its early days, an indication of what appears to be happening out here includes; Eider numbers appear down, Arctic Terns similar to previous few years (a healthy population), Sandwich Terns level to last season, Common Terns down and black-headed Gulls down. As for the cliff nesters (still plenty of counting yet to be done), but Guillemots up, Shags level and Kittiwakes down. It’s a complex picture and everything will be unravelled over the next few weeks, but you’ll just have to keep on reading to find out what happens. Seabird colonies, especially the Farne Islands, are never a dull place.
Away from all the counting, good numbers of visitors continue to arrive daily whilst the most noticeable highlight recently involved another pod (or the same animals?) of Bottle-nosed Dolphins in Inner Sound on Monday. On this occasion, the wardens were lucky enough to see them – cracking views of the pod ‘playing’ just after midday – a real treat for all those who saw them.
Breeding Birds: The first Arctic chick has hatched - the little fella appeared from an egg on Brownsman and over the next week, the majority of nests will have little hungry beaks to feed. Its great news and we're now into the most critical period of the Farnes season - the next four weeks will decided just how good this year will be. Fingers crossed for some good weather. Other news: the breeding Wren’s have fledged three young – only the second year the species has nested on the islands (and two chicks were ringed) whilst Pied Wagtail have two nests with chicks.
Highlights: Little Tern 4 at roost, Roseate Tern 1 inspecting the 'Tern Terrace', Stonechat – a juv appeared on Inner Farne – a scarce bird for the islands, Knot 6, Swallow 2 - remain resident on the islands - will they breed?
Away from all the counting, good numbers of visitors continue to arrive daily whilst the most noticeable highlight recently involved another pod (or the same animals?) of Bottle-nosed Dolphins in Inner Sound on Monday. On this occasion, the wardens were lucky enough to see them – cracking views of the pod ‘playing’ just after midday – a real treat for all those who saw them.
Breeding Birds: The first Arctic chick has hatched - the little fella appeared from an egg on Brownsman and over the next week, the majority of nests will have little hungry beaks to feed. Its great news and we're now into the most critical period of the Farnes season - the next four weeks will decided just how good this year will be. Fingers crossed for some good weather. Other news: the breeding Wren’s have fledged three young – only the second year the species has nested on the islands (and two chicks were ringed) whilst Pied Wagtail have two nests with chicks.
Highlights: Little Tern 4 at roost, Roseate Tern 1 inspecting the 'Tern Terrace', Stonechat – a juv appeared on Inner Farne – a scarce bird for the islands, Knot 6, Swallow 2 - remain resident on the islands - will they breed?
1 comment:
Love the hats, very stylish! And what a gorgeous little tern chick.
Here's hoping for a stretch of reasonable weather now the chicks are hatching etc. Although having said that, it looks very dark and threatening here in Leics.
Here's a link to a video my daughter made of a visitor to our garden
http://www.bbc.co.uk/springwatch/yourmovies/index.shtml?108674
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