Tuesday 29 May 2012

Stand up and be counted!


Rangers in action -counting the seabird populations (David Steel) 

In full counting mode (David Steel) 

Its not easy counting those nesting birds... (David Steel) 

Pair of Roseate Terns lingering (Laura Shearer) 

Noisy neighbours at it again (Graeme Duncan)

Tuesday 29th May comments: And so it begins. The busy period is now upon us as the team have started the mammoth task of counting all the seabird populations across the islands. Over the next few weeks, we'll be counting no fewer than 82,000 pairs of birds, so it'll keep us busy and off the streets. This morning the count began at 06:00, something we'll repeat for some time to come.

If I was a betting man, a quick assessment (and I have been wrong before!) the cliff nesters (Guillemots, Razorbills, Kittiwakes and Shags) appear to be breeding in good numbers although I suspect both Eider and Arctic Terns 'on the ground' have dropped in number. But all will be revealed soon. 

Interestingly a pair of Roseate Terns are lingering raising hopes of a potential breeding attempt, whilst our Shelduck numbers have increased with at least three pairs nesting. The next few weeks should reveal a lot more and as ever, I'll be bringing you the news.

1 comment:

Sarah said...

Hope it all goes well, nice to have Shelduck breeding there too!