Unfortunately, we were not very active in regards to uploading new posts to this blog spot in 2018. Now that we have started back with MarPAMM, Paul B and I have agreed, we will make a bigger effort in uploading new content for our two readers, with our readers count hopefully rising in 2019. For your interest, our two readers are Mammy Baker and Mammy Whitelaw who are just making sure we keep a safe distance from the cliffs edge during our surveys.
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| On the way to Rathlin O'Birne for Storm petrel surveys |
We thought we would do a quick recap of what we did during the 2018 field season,
From our previous blog post (our one and only blog post) you know we started of the season with Black Guillemot surveys. This was a difficult one to start with as these surveys require them to be performed early in the morning, around 5-6 am. Nest sites can be difficult to see as they nest in crevices along the coastline so fortunately for us, adults tend to raft on the water opposite their nests early in the morning. Counts were made in the pre-laying period - ideally the first three weeks of April.
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| Black Guillemots on the surface of the water |
Cliff-nesting seabird surveys were carried out in June. The aim of these surveys were to collect data on seabird population sizes through breeding colony censuses. These population estimates will feed directly into MarPAMMs Management Plans work package but also will contribute to the ongoing work of Seabird Count. Seabirds Count is the fourth census of all breeding seabirds in Britain and Ireland, following on from Operation Seafarer (1969/70), the Seabird Colony Register (SCR; 1985-88) and Seabird 2000 (1998-2002). Surveys focused on all seabird species that nest along the coastline excluding Black Guillemots as took place during early April. The counts of cliff-nesting seabirds were conducted via land-based or boat-based surveys depending on the site being surveyed. In total, there were 43 sites surveyed which ranged from North Donegal to South of Donegal Bay. See the map below.
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| The 43 sites, that were surveyed for cliff-nesting seabirds, marked in yellow |
Burrow-nesting seabird surveys were carried out in early to mid July and focused on European Storm-petrels (Hydrobates pelagicus). Storm petrel breeding colonies are found on offshore islands, as they will only breed at rodent free areas to avoid egg/chick predation, which are usually uninhabited islands. They also only return to their colony at night to reduce the risk of predation at the colony. Storm petrels nest in crevices, scree slopes, stone walls, and in areas of dense vegetation where their nests often have no clear nest entrance, therefore, the most practical way to census them accurately remains the tape playback method. A tape recording of a calling Storm petrel (male) was played close to a prospective nest-site entrance for roughly 10 seconds, and a reply listened for. Nest-site entrances from which responses were elicited were identify as an Apparently Occupied Burrow.
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| Just two of the islands we surveyed A) Inishdooey Island B) Rathlin O'Birne |
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| A European Storm petrel coming back to its nest during the night |
Inland gull surveys were conducted during mid-May as part of an effort to assist NPWS with remaining gaps in the inland gull sites. We visited a total of 5 sites during mid-May, all of which wholly or partly contained loughs. Surveys consisted of determining breeding habitat within the 2x2 km squares.
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| Map of the Inland Gull sites we surveyed |
Thanks for reading,
Paul W
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