Date: 28th May 2006 Location: Big Copeland Names: JS, SW, GH
| SPECIES | COUNT (pairs, territories, individuals, fe/male) | Total |
| Fulmar | 34 pairs | |
| Shag | ||
| Cormorant | ||
| Common Gull | 726 | |
| Black-headed Gull | 908 | |
| Herring Gull | 356 | |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 298 | |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 5 | |
| Med. Gull | 1 pair + 1 | |
| Arctic Tern | 667 | |
| Common Tern | 10 | |
| Mallard | 58 | |
| Eider | 237 | |
| Tufted Duck | 1 pair + 2 | |
| Shelduck | 35 | |
| Red-breasted Merganser | ||
| Curlew | 2 | |
| Grey Plover | 1 | |
| Ringed Plover | 8 (quarter of shore not checked for RP) | |
| Redshank | 2 pairs | |
| Lapwing | 8 pairs + 1 | |
| Snipe | ||
| Dunlin | 49 | |
| Oystercatcher | 87 pairs + 137 | |
| Turnstone | 31 | |
| Buzzard | 1 | |
| Kestrel | ||
| Peregrine | ||
| Moorhen | 4 | |
| Water Rail | 2 territories | |
| Stock Dove | 72 | |
| Meadow Pipit | 9 territories | |
| Swallow | 6 | |
| House Martin | ||
| Wheatear | 4 | |
| Blackbird | 9 | |
| Starling | 7 | |
| Jackdaw | 22 | |
| Hooded Crow | 8 | |
| Carrion Crow | ||
| Raven | 7 | |
| Magpie | 13 | |
| Wren | 13 territories | |
| Sedge Warbler | 15 territories | |
| Willow Warbler | ||
| Linnet | 2 | |
| Reed Bunting | 15 territories | |
| Pied Wagtail | 2 | |
Here are the first reports from the study burrows and study plots after surveys carried out by Kerry Leonard and John Stewart in the first weekend in June.
Study burrows (Word Doc - 38KB)
Study plots (Word Doc - 30KB)
The first spell of manning was a 4 day period from 20th to 24th March in really rather cold weather. Birds were scarce. Goldcrests could have been expected but only a very few showed up. Various birds of prey did visit the island. Otherwise a trickle of finches came through and a small flock of Twite roamed around the island, eventually several being caught and a couple were found to be retrappings of birds first ringed a year previously. This is proof of the phenomenon of winter quarters fidelity, which means the birds were returning to the same wintering area in two successive years. It is likely that Twite are faithful to their breeding area too.
The next attempt at visiting the island from 7th to 9th April was abandoned because of bad weather and a bad forecast. The midweek period of 10th to 14th April was successfully manned, but the rush of male Willow Warblers that should have occurred on or around the 6th was obviously delayed, as the singing of males on the mainland had not started in any significant way. Finally a reasonable number showed up on the 11th, resulting in 17 being ringed. Only a very few Goldcrests passed through. The continuing cold weather clearly held back the early stages of the spring migration, just as it held back the bursting of buds on all the bush and tree species that could be expected to be open by early April. Spring bud burst was delayed by around 3 weeks.
A party of just 2 had very few birds during the previous week, once again due to very unseasonable weather. Less shearwaters were handled than might have been because a special measuring project was being done which involved spending 10 minutes on each bird. This was a very special project, more of which will be announced soon.
A large party visited over Easter weekend, 14th to 16th April. At last, a fairly big “fall” of migrants arrived to keep everyone happy, especially the ringers. Around 20 Willow Warblers, arrived along with about 20 Goldcrests, and 4 Chiffchaffs. 54 new birds of these species were ringed by noon. On Sunday, a further small arrival of Willow Warblers and a Blackcap arrived and were ringed but the best bird was a fine male Ring Ouzel. Unfortunately it was not caught, but it was well observed.
Ring Ouzels were always a special sighting on Copeland. In the period 1954-1985, there were 27 spring sightings. However, the species has greatly declined and this bird on Easter Day was only the third spring record in the last 21 years. Sunday also brought a flurry of Linnets (32 handled), one of which provided a meal for a Sparrowhawk, which itself was subsequently ringed. Regular visitors often see a Sparrowhawk in the hand. 30 new birds were ringed with Linnet being the top species at 20. Two Goldfinches added extra spice to the handlings, as did a Magpie, bringing the Sunday total to 30 new birds. A special effort was made on shearwaters, with almost 200 handled over Easter weekend, of which over ¼ (30%) were new birds caught mainly in areas of the island that are rather inaccessible later in the year when the bracken and other undergrowth appears.
In the week following Easter, a full survey of gathering breeding species produced excellent counts of 27 Shelduck, 41 Eider, 20 Fulmar, 35 Oystercatcher and 84 Black Guillemots. Other interesting sightings included passing Wheatears, Peregrine, Merlin, Buzzard, Sand Martin and 16 Swallows.
From Monday 17th, there were arrivals of migrants most days, with significant numbers of 20 or more on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Up to Friday, Goldcrests continued to arrive in numbers of between 6 and 20 daily, which is high for so late in their season which usually stops around the 6th April. The Tuesday saw a rather nice Short-eared Owl approaching to within 100 yards of the buildings, though it quickly retreated to Big Copeland because of heavy harassment from Mew (Common) Gulls. Saturday was a big day by recent standards. 56 birds were ringed, 42 Willow Warblers, 1 Goldcrest, 3 Blackcaps, 2 Chiffchaffs, 1 Sedge Warbler (very early), 2 Blackbirds, 4 Linnets, and a lovely male Redstart. While Sunday was quiet in clear sunny weather, a Sand Martin was caught in the 60’ Heli net and a real surprise was the appearance of a House Sparrow. This was the first in 10 years.
A single Peacock Butterfly has been seen on nice days since 17th. The buildings were still cold but had noticeably improved from Saturday 22nd due to a hot sunny day, for a change.
This week from 23rd was unfortunately unmanned due to a lack of anyone able to accompany the available duty officer.
A small band of regulars set out last Friday evening with an enormous quantity of materials, not only in the hope that there would be some migration to see, but also that a new project would come to fruition. This was the installation of a new solar water heating system. Two mowing volunteers were there to start the mowing programme (and made good progress with all paths and net sites).
Friday night was spent planning the operation from the instruction manuals. Saturday morning saw the two main eperts hard at work from shortly after 6am constructing the holding frame and getting the quite enormous panel and its little brother solar electric panel alongside fixed to the roof, with the help of one of our regular families who came out in their own boat to help. Their special job was to install a water pumping system to allow us to transfer water between storage tanks. This is to be linked eventually to the toilet water storage tanks, but its main purpose is to keep the new hot water system well supplied.
Later in the day, the hot cylinder and its essential connections were put in place, so that the work left for Sunday was just the final piping between the control box and pump and the panel. Once this was all done, the system was switched on, but much to our disappointment, nothing happened. However it was a very dull day so we waited until the Monday to try again when it was forecast to be sunny. Well it took the sun a while to appear but still the commissioning wouldn’t work. Windy weather delayed our departure so we didn’t get home until the evening which was a pity as 5 of the weekenders had 100 miles or more to travel to get home. It was very disappointing that all the hard work had not been rewarded with immediate success. Also disappointed were those who phoned or texted from the mainland to hear the news.
After a visit to the suppliers it soon became clear that there was a very simple little glitch that would be very easy to fix in the following weekend.
The weekend’s ringing consisted only of a Willow Warbler and a Wren! This could be some sort of a record, not one that we want to repeat. A handful of Wheatears were the only other passerines on the move. Seawatching was bit better. The first Common Terns were seen, two flocks of Scoter, half a dozen each of Red-throated and Great Northern Divers, and an Arctic Skua. The island’s breeding birds (Fulmar, Stock Doves and Black Guillemots) were very active and the first clutch of gulls (LBBG) eggs was laid.
Another really big milestone was passed by the observatory over the May Day weekend. Only 5 stayed for the weekend. The organiser of the sourcing of the new solar water heating system which was installed during the last weekend of April as described above, returned to rectify the little glitches which prevented the system from starting. After several hours work, the system started working at 1.25pm on Saturday. The hot tank temperature started at 11ºC (same as the cold supply tank at the back of dorm 2) and by the end of the afternoon it had risen to 30°C. As the light faded, it stopped heating the water, but began again as early as 7am on Sunday, by which time it had dropped by only 3°C to 27°C overnight, due to the excellent insulation all over the new hot tank. It climbed slowly at first but passed 40°C by 1pm and just before 4pm when we left to go home, it had just reached 50°C. This was a remarkable rise, though the day was indeed very sunny. We did the final dishes by boiling water in a kettle starting at 45°C, so the time to boil was very short and the amount of gas used was much less that if the heating of the kettle had started at 11°C. It is hoped to really cut the gas bills as a result of this great new innovation. The most staggering thing about the system is that it is now possible to wash one’s hands in running warm/hot water from a tap in the kitchen. This will relieve concerns about hygiene as previously only cold water was available for hand washing.
This improvement is really even more amazing than the first cold running tap, about 25 years ago. It ranks equally high as the 1979 introduction of a WC, and the more recent “luxury” WC within the building complex.
There are lots of ideas about how to make further use of the hot water and lots of possibilities for tweaking the system, but have yet to find out how much will be produced in a typical day/week. Watch this space!
Other recent improvements that many of you may not know about have been the extension of the electric lighting system to the front porch and the WC. A torch is still needed to get there in the dark!
Mowing operations are now complete for this spring in the orchid areas, so we now await their appearance, and hope it will be at least as good as last year, though there are lots of hungry rabbits this year, unlike last, including quite a few black ones.
Mew Island also has a very healthy rabbit population (including black ones). The tern shell beds have been given their annual spruce up, the sound system to attract Common Terns is switched on, and we await the arrival of the terns. During the Mew trip, 100+ Eider were counted around the island, 16 Black Guillemots were bobbing about just NE of the lighthouse, 5 Whimbrel passed, 50+ Shelduck were spread across the island, 4 Reed Bunting territories were mapped, and 3 pairs of Mew Gulls were occupying likely nesting sites.
Unfortunately, the migrant birds during the first weekend of May were again very few apart from swallows and martins. However, at sea, a large number of seabirds were on the move, mainly auks. On Sunday morning, a shoal of fry just off our NW shore attracted around 150 Arctic Terns, dozens of Razorbills, Guillemots, Black Guillemots, Kittiwakes, large gulls, and diving Manx Shearwaters. A winter plumage Red Throated Diver was swimming nearby. On the way home, a summer plumaged bird was seen. Around the island all weekend the residents were displaying, calling and building. Four species of gulls, Oystercatchers, Fulmars, Mallard, Eider, Shelduck, were all present in big numbers. We were also treated to good views of Buzzards, a female Kestrel and a ringed female Sparrowhawk. The wildflowers are wakening after the cold spring. Carpets of daisies, Bluebells, Primrose Peerless, Danish Scurvy Grass, Dog Violets, Bugle, and Lords and Ladies are already showing well. The star performer is once again the Cowslip which is well established in three areas though rabbits have vandalised some of the flowers. The protected plant near the east landing has a number a young around it outside the wire, but all the flowers have been eaten by the rabbits. The leaves have not been eaten so these plants should survive and strengthen.
The only birds ringed were 2 Willow Warblers, 2 Swallows, 1 Wren, 1 Chiffchaff, and 1 Goldfinch.
The second weekend of May (from 12th), continued to be light for migration, though a few notable sightings were made.
A Sedge Warbler, originally ringed as an adult female in August 2003 and not retrapped since, was retrapped – where has it been since? Two Chaffinches (one of which sang) and a Collared Dove were ringed. Three Wheatears and a singing Whitethroat were also present. Three Magpies fledged from the nest in Bluebell Gully. Some adult gull ringing was done. Five Lesser-blacked Gulls and a Herring Gull were ringed.
The jetties were bleached and the front window frames were preserved/stained by one of our younger active members.
Migrants continued to be very scarce through May, only the odd late Wheatear. However the breeding birds did very well. Two Eider nests were found in places on the east side of the island where there were none last year. Judging from the adult presence around the island, there were the usual 30 nests in total, though we did not do a detailed survey this year. The Black Guillemots arrived in force ready for a good season. One of their nest boxes near the “Indian’s face” had a Starlings nest in it from which the young fledged. Terns arrived a bit late on the Big Island but were slow to settle on Mew Island. Common Gulls spread out around both the outer islands, several pairs nesting alone in new places. On Mew they nested in the area at the south where Arctic Terns bred last year. Sedge Warblers sang well into June. Blackbirds, Wrens, and Meadow Pipits were conspicuous feeding young. Reed Buntings sang from several sites, quite well for a species whose song is not really inspiring for humans!
After a very cloudy week, really as dull as it can get at this time of the year, the weekenders on 20th May arrived to find that the new hot tank was 57°. During the weekend, it further dropped with use to 52°. The last reading that I have for about noon on Sunday was 44°. There was only significant sunshine on Saturday afternoon. If this seems perhaps slightly disappointing, the lowest temperature was still over 30° higher than the cold tank. It was already apparent by the end of May that the new solar water heating system was going to save a huge amount of the gas used for boiling dish water.
It has been a very good breeding season for all the seabirds. A sample of about 200 Black-Headed Gull chicks and 300 Common (Mew) Gull chicks has been ringed. The Arctic Terns have done quite well, at least from the point of view of the number of pairs, as almost 1000 pairs bred on Big Copeland. The productivity was reasonable at approximately 0.5 chicks per pair, though in the past there have been some years when the number was close to 1 chick per pair. The areas used have changed a bit with many birds nesting this year on the Sandylands peninsula and one colony near the south end of the island. The late chicks of Arctic Terns often do not succeed, but this year there were enormous shoals of fry around the islands into July, so there was more hope than usual for the late birds. However, the many late birds all failed as usual. The problem may be partly due to the arrival of large gulls nearby, as they finish breeding elsewhere. They undoubtedly eat their fill. This is a natural phenomenon, but if it gets worse, it will cause real trouble for the terns. Somewhere close to 500 young Arctic Terns have fledged from Big Copeland in 2006 and this is very good in the overall context of breeding Arctic Terns in the British Isles. All these figures are very provisional at the moment. Full collated figures will be presented in the Annual Report for 2006, due in spring 2007. All the Arctic Terns departed from Big Copeland on the rather early date of 28th July. Quite enormous numbers of young Common Gulls have successfully fledged from the Big Copeland colony.
There were two exceptions to the lack of late success. On the little western islet at the tip of Sandylands, there was a Common Tern colony of perhaps 30 pairs this year. They work to a much later timetable. The ringing trip to ring them in late July resulted in 36 young being ringed. Just as interesting was that the Arctic Terns, mixed in with them, produced successfully, but later than anywhere else on the island. Presumably they benefit from the defensive umbrella of the Common Terns.
The second exception was the new Arctic Tern colony on Mew Island. It was at the south tip of Mew. Numbers have built up to a total of 15 nests by the end of July, with an accompaniment of a total of 53 adults, all helping to defend the colony. Other terns visited at times as well, probably from Big Copeland, bringing their flying young with them to rest on the rocks. The sound from the colony was easy to hear from the observatory. It is 45 years since this sound was normal over Mew Island. Though most of these nests failed to get as far as fledging, some did. A group of Lesser Black-backed Gulls stood at the side of the colony watching. No predation was observed but it must have happened. It is to be hoped that the activity on Mew this year will stimulate an earlier arrival of breeders next year.
A survey of Mew Island was also done on 2nd July. Apart from the usual Moorhens, Wrens and Blackbirds, about 4 pairs of Meadow Pipits, 2 pairs of Sedge Warblers and 1 singing Rock Pipit were present. The large gulls had a good year. About 20 pairs of Herring Gulls reared about 1 chick each but the 60+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls reared 2 or 3 young per pair which is very unusually good (though not from the terns perspective). Breeding birds on the observatory have generally done well with good numbers of young Linnets, Swallows, Reed Buntings and Meadow Pipits showing well. Goldfinch bred for the first time. Single pairs of Song Thrush and Robin have also successfully bred. Chaffinch was also suspected of breeding but young did not appear.
Several other species made good use of the abundant food in June and July. Razorbills fished in good numbers even though the nearest colony is over 30km away. The most amazing sights were Manx Shearwaters gathering in feeding flocks of over 1000. Sometimes up to several hundred came right in to the back of the harbour wall in Donaghadee. Photographers could have had great shots. Feeding shearwaters are a great spectacle as they dive and swim, and then effortlessly rise off the water to move along a bit following the shoal.
Puffins have been sitting around the two outer islands again this summer. Only 2 were regularly present near the Shag roost, but 6 have been mixing with the 16 Black Guillemots at the NE corner of Mew Island. We have been hoping for years that they will breed but there has still been no serious attempt. The 16 Black Guillemots on Mew are a mystery because we could only find 2 nests. Up to 100 Black Guillemots regularly have been sitting in the Mew Sound between the observatory and Mew. About 30 young have been ringed which is very good. The colony is still expanding.
On Friday night, 21st July, on the way out, the boat called in at the Big Island. When departing along the coast past one of the tern colonies, the party saw the usual adult Mediterranean Gull sitting contentedly preening on the rocks near the known nest site, with a full-grown juvenile sitting in the water about 4 feet below, dabbling. This is the second young Med Gull to be successfully reared on the Copelands in the last few years.
The rabbit population was doing really well until the middle of July. Then the huge number of young rabbits were entirely wiped out by the rabbit flu virus. The colony has settled into a pattern of a thriving resistant population of adults, and a frequent near wipe-out of the young as they reach 5-6 weeks old. The effect of the flu is still serious but enough are getting through to adulthood to allow the average population to rise slowly. There is evidence that black rabbits have greater resistance to the flu than the normal colour. In many ways the rabbits are helpful in the management of the vegetation, but they can be vandals too. The rabbit population is monitored by counting the maximum seen (usually at dusk or after dark) on the triangle of grass at the front of the buildings between the south and well paths. On the evening of the 9th July the number was 62, the best for years. Two weeks later, there were only 3.
Inexplicably, there seems to be no flu on Mew Island where the rabbits have made great progress with reducing the overgrown grass to a short sward more suitable for terns. A sweep over Mew with a telescope in the evening during July and August often produced a count of up to 24 black rabbits.
When visiting Mew it is always nice to do a seawatch from the NE corner at the lighthouse. This is a superb seawatching site which, though rare seabirds are infrequent, the common types pass in quite enormous numbers and are really very close. Binoculars are hardly needed. Porpoises are frequently seen here and sometimes whales and dolphins. The numbers of Gannets, auks, Manx Shearwaters and Kittiwakes passing this year in June and July were quite exceptional.
For yet another year, a very dedicated team of mowing experts have spent a week on the island clearing the paths and managing the swards and wildflower meadows. They also have made further inroads in the war against the balsam which is now confined to the south end of the island, bar a few stragglers. The balsam has not germinated as well as usual this year, so it would have been a good year for a serious final push but lack of manpower at the right time has meant that only a more limited programme has been possible. Nevertheless, good progress has been made. The mowing programme of the past years once again showed brilliant results in the north garden. The display of orchids was every bit as good as last year. It was actually better, but with high rabbit population levels this year, many flowers were eaten. There were also dozens in several other parts of the island. There was only one flowering spike among the 8 Twayblade orchids near the heligoland trap on 23rd June. By the 7th July, the inflorescence had been eaten and a week after that, the leaves had gone too.
Over the first two weeks of July, another very important project was undertaken by Ian McKee and Liz O’Hara. It was the establishment of a rabbit exclosure, about 15 metres in diameter, in the lower part of the north garden. The management of this can be varied but initially, and perhaps always, it will be allowed to develop without grazing. This is an experiment to see what the natural ungrazed vegetation of the island is. It will undoubtedly be vegetated by a different species mix and structure. It is likely to become colonised by a distinctive range of insects, adding to the biodiversity of the island.
The rest of our marine sward plants were all going to seed by the end of August. The orchids will be releasing millions of tiny seeds during the autumn. The self heal (much under-rated as a bird food resource) is being devoured by up to 60 Linnets, which are also enjoying the thistledown.
During the new moon period around the end of July is the best time to handle large numbers of shearwaters and the observatory was well manned during the last 2 weeks. Around 400 retrapped birds were recorded. Many were returning young birds having been reared on the island in the last 2-6 years and now looking for a nest site. Many other birds have been retrapped after long periods of not having been handled. One example was a bird that was ringed as a chick in 1983, trapped on its exploratory first return in 1986, but not connected with again until this July, 20 years on. There have been re-findings of many birds that might have been assumed to be dead. Clearly some are very clever at avoiding the ringers on our nightly rounds. Two really old birds have been re-caught. One was ringed 41 years ago by Chris Bailey and the other 44 years ago by John Wilson.
The main study burrow survey of the year was carried out on Friday 4th August. Each one of the study burrows was checked and the young inside were ringed. After some follow up, the situation is as follows:
38 chicks ringed
1 chick still too small to ring on 27th Aug.
1 dead chick
1 failed at egg stage
1 occupied by pair (no egg)
10 occupied but no nesting, or out of reach, or failed early. Eggs were not checked for in May or June.
That makes 52 active burrows from 79.
As Kerry Leonard (our shearwater co-ordinator) said: “Overall the study burrows have been a roaring success.”
Huge numbers of ants live under the burrow cover. The wildlife that makes use of dead chicks and rabbits was also very memorable including maggots!
The effect of a dead rabbit in a shearwater burrow could be bad if shearwaters smell dead rabbits the way we do! The study burrow project is going to reveal a lot of information that we have been unaware of previously. This season, the most important discovery will be what proportion of the birds that we have ringed underground will be retrapped before they fly off to South America. This will give us an idea of the proportion of the departing chicks that are usually ringed. We will also be using all the retrap data to look at average number of days the young spend on the surface before departure.
Here are draft (approximate) results of the pullus shearwater ringing this year. The figures for the big year of 2005 are presented for comparison. I know quite a lot of you are so keen to see the 2006 totals that I am sending them out now with only a little interpretation. There will be a complete analysis and discussion by Kerry Leonard, shearwater co-ordinator, in the Annual Report for 2006.
Poor totals for North Landing, Shag Slope and Heli Bushes (lower slopes) are probably due to access problems for the ringers. These areas were not opened up with cutting machinery at all in the case of the North Landing and lower slopes of HB colonies, and only well into September in the case of the SS colony. (There were not enough volunteers to do this work at the right time.) All other colonies were visited almost every night at least once from 25th August to 18th September. A routine tour is undertaken nightly that ensures that all colonies are visited and none are given more attention than needed to ring the young present. No colonies are singled out for visiting twice. If a second round is undertaken, all colonies are visited again.
One of the colonies that is rather different from 2005 is the South Promontory. Here the extensive mowing has made access and departure for the shearwaters so easy that we did not catch so many here before departure and this is backed up by the lack of burrow ringed birds being caught on the surface. We seem to highly efficient at catching chicks in EP and G colonies, no doubt due to topographical and vegetation factors that cause the birds some difficulty in departing and which make it easier for ringers to connect with them and ring them before departure. The cliff (C) birds also depart easily due to open vegetation and an excellent cliff for jumping off on the first flight. Similarly, low ringing totals for LS colony (under the cliff) are due to the easy departure of the chicks by simply walking a short distance into sea. It is estimated that at least 60 young are normally fledged from here. The surprisingly high total in 2006 for the Gully colony is hard to explain, other than the birds here simply had a good year.
There has been a lot of bad news recently about Guillemots and Shearwaters being washed up around the coast in a starving state. On the island, there was some evidence of a few young birds being very light, no more than 20 or so. Many were medium to heavy as usual.
Sub-colony Totals
| Sub-colony total | 2006 chick ringing total and % of catch | 2005 chick ringing total & % for comparison |
| North Landing NL | 9 (1.2%) | 16 (1.5%) |
| Shag Slope SS | 8 (1%) | 7 (0.6%) |
| Radar R | 12 (1.6%) | 21 (1.8%) |
| Heli Bushes HB | 38 (4.9%) | 89 (7.8%) |
| East Side ES | 27 (3.5%) | 76 (6.7%) |
| Toilet Steps TS | 11 (1.4%) | 11 (1%) |
| Lower Shore LS | 25 (3.2%) | 32 (2.8%) |
| Cliff C | 84 (10.9%) | 142 (12.5%) |
| East Pub EP | 87 (11.2%) | 119 (10.5%) |
| South Promontory SP | 39 (5%) | 64 (5.6%) |
| Well Path WP | 201 (26%) | 257 (22.6%) |
| Alley A | 79 (10.2%) | 98 (8.6%) |
| North Alley NA | 14 (1.8%) | 15 (1.3%) |
| Gully G | 83 (10.7%) | 28 (2.5%) |
| West Warren WW | 15 (1.9%) | 38 (3.3%) |
| North Point NP | 38 (4.9%) | 83 (7.3%) |
| North Garden NG | 4 ) (0.5%) | 11 (1%) |
| Other | 0 (0%) | 2 (0.2%) |
| Total | 774 | 1136 |
Study burrow progress
The whole shearwater project on Copeland has been elevated to a new level because of the creation of study burrows. The most surprising thing that has been discovered is that by mid September, half of the young are still present underground. Previously, we gave up around then on the assumption that nearly all had left. Of course, this could be a “late year”. We have always thought that the timing of departure peaked with the full moon nearest the 6th to 10th September roughly. The full moon this year was on the 6th, so this may have disrupted departure considerably but evidence from studies elsewhere indicate that the moon has no effect on the timing of breeding. Several years of observations over the next few years and the planned increase in study burrows to around 160 should resolve these problems.
The following results apply to only 75 burrows. Four were in some respect non-functional and one was not found, probably under vegetation. Thirty-four of the young were ringed on 4th August and the remaining 5 on 27th August. Gully burrows were examined on 12th Sep, and the rest on 17th Sep to see what pulli were still there. Another pullus was ringed underground on the 1st Aug in Heligoland Bushes under a slab. This bird fledged before the 25th August.
| Sub-colony | No. of study burrows | No. of pulli ringed | No. of pulli later found on surface | No. still present in their burrows in mid September | No. apparently departed by mid September |
| Gully | 19 | 9 | 6 | 6 (plus 2 intruders) | 3 |
| South Prom | 19 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| East Pub | 17 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 |
| Cliff | 20 | 10 | 3 | 6 (plus 1 intruder, & one just out of reach) | 4 |
The amazing thing that glares out of these figures is that less than half had departed by mid September. This is quite a surprise to the regulars who ring these pulli. Normally, on-the-ground activity decreases as September progresses. It is already obvious, too, that the speed of departure of the young from each sub-colony is affected by a variety of different factors, such as slope, vegetation and wind direction. Hence the slow departure from EP due to bushes, fast departure from C due to easy access to the cliff, a fast departure from SP due to both open ground and a frequent onshore wind, and a slow departure from NP due to a frequent off-the-land/down-the-slope wind. There are a lot more detailed observations that have been made, not presented here, which have been recorded and will be considered. They will eventually be presented in the Annual Report for 2006.
Fulmars have had a really bad year. This happens from time to time and does not matter in the long run. They are very slow indifferent breeders with a strategy of valuing adult survival much more than chick survival. Only one chick fledged from the observatory and only 3 from the Big Copeland cliff. Last year 27 fledged from both islands.
The dry mid summer, followed by last week’s very dry north strong wind seems to have scorched the bracken severely on all north facing slopes. As we would like to reduce the bracken cover a bit in the long term, this natural event should be helpful. It has happened exactly at a time of year when the plants have not yet sent down much food to the underground stores, and when there can be very little useful regrowth before autumn. The effect should be similar to the suppression of vigour that mowing at this time has on bracken, without us having to make the effort.
The two long dry spells resulted in the water tanks supplying the flush toilet at the house nearly running out, but not quite, luckily. However the two tanks supplying the kitchen sink and the new hot water system did not go below 75% of maximum storage. The drinking water well continued to supply good water. The well that supplies the flush toilet below the cliff looked very low for a few weeks but was able to supply demand. The new low volume (up to 1¼ gallons) flush toilet at the buildings has proved to be really excellent through its first full year of operation. In dry weather, it used to be only a few days before the tank would run dry when we had the old more conventional large-volume (5 gallon) cistern, but even after a full week of use by 8 people in the first week of July, the tanks had dropped only from ⅔ full to a bit under half full. Life on the island is becoming easier, with far less concerns about the facilities failing. By the end of August, all tanks and ponds were full again.
The solar hot water system continues to impress everyone. While it heats the water very little on a cloudy day, it can raise the hot tank by up to 20° on a sunny June day. During use in cloudy conditions, it can drop to 40°, but regularly hits 60° in sunny conditions. Once in June, it reached 80°. It is certainly saving a lot of gas already, which was the main idea. Further improvements are now being considered. During the first full week of July when 8 people were staying on the island and the water was used a lot for dishwashing and showers for the workers, the temperature varied from 35° to 65°. This is very good and seems to already have had a considerable effect on the rate of gas use for water heating. Even at 35°, the gas needed to boil a big kettle of water is much less than from 16° which is the temperature of the cold water in the big storage tank. For those interested in our experience of this technology, our system is not as efficient as it could be because we fitted it at an angle of about 25° lower than recommended by the manufacturer. This was essential to keep it flat on the low angle roof so that it would be ripped off the roof in gales.
There was a failure of the electricity supply due to the control box. This was replaced and all is well again. The replacement box provides much more information. It will be possible in future to check the % power available each evening, and introduce economy measures. This will be necessary particularly in October after short cloudy days, and when the nights are very long. There are plans to improve the electric system in the autumn to double the storage capacity. This could well solve the problem of shortage of supply in the winter half of the year.
Manning has been poor in August due to the Inishglora expedition. On the days manned, there has only been a light trickle of Willow and Sedge Warblers. A tiny number of Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs have already appeared. Robins are now arriving almost daily.
Migration was sparse through most of September. For warblers and Goldcrests, approximately half are ringed of those present. Robins become territorial soon after arrival, so though only 8 have been ringed, up to 40 have been present on some days. With the big effort being made on the ringing of the departing shearwater pulli, passerine ringing took second place. Little arrived on most days, so most were caught on just a few good days. The approximate ringing totals were as follows:
Goldcrest 42, Linnet 40, Chiffchaff 22, Meadow Pipit 17, Swallow 13, Willow Warbler 10, Wren 9, Robin 8, Blackcap 1, Redstart 1.
Willow Warblers were quite late departing, 2 being present as late as the 14th. Chiffchaffs have put in a good showing, Swallows and especially House Martins have been very poor. The weather conditions did not encourage them to visit the island, even though some very large movements were seen on the nearby mainland. Meadow Pipits were late to start and we can only effectively catch them in west or north winds. The only stiff west wind was on the 19th when all 17 were ringed.
Birds of prey regularly passed through. Buzzards, Hen Harriers, Kestrels, Sparrowhawks, Peregrine and Merlin were all seen well.
At sea, good passage occurred on most days of the usual Gannets, Kittiwakes, Manx Shearwaters, and auks. Some Skuas passed, mainly Arctic with a few Great, and one Pomarine.
Some calm days permitted sightings of Cetaceans. Up to 50 Porpoises were estimated and a pod of 7 Risso’s Dolphins was also observed.
The island was manned from late 12th to 22nd October It had originally been intended to stay until 24th but bad forecasts resulted in the decision to come off on Sunday. The weather was not perfect for ringing or watching during the week and there was some rain and wind but rarely above force 5. The 14th, 16th, and 18th were dull, misty and blowy. In between it was a bit better, but E or SE winds predominated. The weather was extraordinarily mild for the time of year, mostly between 14° and 16° C by day. The 18th was the worst day with only 2 hours of netting possible before the rain started. There were several good sightings as well as a lot of small migrants ringed. The ringers were busy with an average of around 45 birds ringed per day. On 2 days, 100 or more were ringed.
Species |
14 Oct |
15 Oct |
16 Oct |
17 Oct |
18 Oct |
19 Oct |
20 Oct |
21 Oct |
22 |
Total |
Redpoll |
14 |
3 |
19 |
|
40 |
1 |
76 |
100 |
28 |
281 |
Goldcrest |
4 |
3 |
8 |
2 |
3 |
7 |
9 |
18 |
3 |
57 |
Redwing |
|
|
|
2 |
|
3 |
6 |
6 |
|
17 |
Greenfinch |
|
|
|
|
3 |
|
|
7 |
|
10 |
Chaffinch |
|
2 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
2 |
3 |
15 |
S Thrush |
|
|
|
|
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
5 |
Linnet |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
2 |
Goldfinch |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
4 |
5 |
Siskin |
|
|
|
|
2 |
|
|
|
|
2 |
Dunnock |
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
Wren |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
3 |
1 |
|
5 |
Blackcap |
|
|
2 |
|
|
|
3 |
|
1 |
6 |
Garden Warbler |
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
Treecreeper |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
Blackbird |
1 |
|
|
2 |
|
|
1 |
2 |
|
6 |
Robin |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
Sparrowhawk |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
Chiffchaff |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
Manx Shearwater |
4 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
23 |
9 |
36 |
8 |
52 |
15 |
100 |
137 |
43 |
423 |
Table of ringing totals during the period 14th to 22nd October
Unusual Easterlies
Every time any of the regulars go to Copeland, something new, different or even extraordinary happens. A whole range of unexpected sightings or ringing events has happened during the last 9 days of manning. Persistent easterlies are not common at this time of the year, and usually on Copeland do not cause interesting birds to be grounded on the island, though this is normal on the east coast of Britain. Easterlies tend not to produce large numbers of any arrivals on Copeland. This time there were surprisingly good numbers of migrants daily and no completely blank days, though two came close. Usually the best autumn arrivals happen in west winds due to birds coming down the Antrim coast and being drifted out to the island as they cross Belfast Lough. This is most noticeable with Meadow Pipits and Goldcrests which are the two most common October migrants.
Another regular feature of October migration on Copeland is the diurnal passage of finches, larks, Starlings and, to a lesser extent, thrushes. These birds pass westwards over the island, usually on bright days with light to moderate west or south-west winds. So it was interesting this October to find that they still passed over in easterlies. It has always been assumed that all the finches, larks, Starlings and thrushes come from the east. Larks, pipits and Goldcrests were all a bit less common than usual, but thrushes – especially Redwings – were more common.
However, the big surprise of the week was the huge movement of Lesser Redpolls. Ringing of Redpolls, including those ringed on Copeland, has indicated that NW British and Irish birds migrate SE-wards to the low countries for the winter. This is a strange migration pattern. Apparently against the trend, our past observations of Redpoll movements though Copeland in the autumn have indicated that the Redpolls are coming in from Scotland over the island and on into Northern Ireland. It seemed to us during this past week too, that the Redpolls were arriving from Scotland. The grand ringing total on Copeland for Redpoll now stands at 1271, of which only 245 had been ringed up to 1995. The totals have been boosted by the use of tape lures during the last 10 years. The 2006 total so far stands at 281, so obviously this is an exceptional year. It is to be hoped that ringing such a large number will generate more recoveries and controls to help to clarify the movements of this fascinating finch. To add a bit of perspective to the magnitude of this year’s arrival of Redpolls, here is a table of the numbers ringed over the last 11 years.
Year |
1954-95 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
Total |
|
245 |
2 |
188 |
132 |
36 |
31 |
82 |
72 |
61 |
41 |
22 |
281 |
1271 |
The most interesting Redpoll of the week was a bird that was already ringed. It is to be hoped that it was ringed during its breeding season, but it is much more likely that it was ringed in the winter half of the year. News of this bird’s history should be available in the next few months. We have no indication so far from ringing where the Copeland birds spend their summer.
Other interesting birds in the hand were:
Interesting sightings included:
Final Shearwater total
As a result of finding 5 more very late birds, the total is now 825 chicks. All the 40 birds that were ringed in the study burrows have now left successfully. An analysis of all the information from the study burrows is under way. Already it is apparent that this sample of study burrow birds has been very successful compared with shearwaters at other colonies. It could be that this is due, at least in part, to our vegetation management programme.
News of the last weekend
There is always a lot of work to do on the last weekend of our season – putting the observatory to bed! There were 12 Islander Members involved this year. Friday night arrival in late October happens virtually in the dark. The short days are very noticeable and restrictive on work. Ringing tends to continue most of the short daylight hours. Migration showed some signs of slowing down. Past experience on Copeland shows that it virtually stops at the beginning of November. So the sightings and ringing were well up to expectations. The ringing totals were 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Wren, 1 Redwing, 4 Blackbirds, I Blackcap, 1 Chaffinch, 3 Greenfinch, 1 Goldfinch and 29 Redpolls; total 43. Interesting sightings included 120 Mallard, 70 Teal, 50 Curlew, 1 Hen Harrier, 2 Sparrowhawks on 28th; 10 Lapwings and 2 Whooper Swans flying west on 29th in the morning, and a Merlin . A Carrion Crow was present on both days. A lot of useful non-ringing work was done. The accumulated waste ash from the incinerator was cleared away. This was followed by the construction of a replacement incinerator.
| © Copeland Bird Observatory, 2006 |