Seal pups & Shearwaters

It’s been another week of turbulent weather and it looks like we are in for more this weekend with 40knts of wind and 5.8m swells forecast to come in from the South, safe to say it is time to batten down the hatches! Chris managed to get this incredible photo of a rainbow over the Ramsey farmhouse in between rain showers on the 27th. It's not often you get views like this on Ramsey! 

© Chris Jones.

We did manage to get our first visitor boat of the season on the 1^st. It was great to welcome visitors back to the Island for another season and good for me & Nia to get back into the swing of the welcome talks and managing boats. Sadly we aren't due another boat for a while but thank you to Thousand Islands for making the first land of the season a success. 

The Gower Ranger leaving with visitors on the 1st © Alys Perry.

The past week has been taken up by clearing and tidying the workshop, surveying one of the rare water plants on the island (the Three-lobed Water Crowfoot), monitoring our nesting Chough, checking on our Manx Shearwaters in our productivity plots, biosecurity checks and planning fieldwork for the season ahead. 

The Three-lobed Water Crowfoot is an aquatic buttercup species which is red listed and nationally scarce. It is found in several of the ponds and ditches on the island. Myself, Nia and Chris went out to survey it on the 3rd and were happy to find that is doing really with some of the plants even flowering. It was recorded in 233 survey quadrats across 2 ponds and 5 ditches.

Three-lobed Water Crowfoot 3rd April © Alys Perry.

One of the ponds the Three-lobed Water Crowfoot is found in © Alys Perry.

Nia using a quadrat to survey the plant © Alys Perry.

Weekly Wildlife Round-Up

One of the biggest news of the week is that a Grey Seal pup was spotted on the watering's by Falcon Boats on the 30th March. We have had seal pups born on Ramsey every month of the year but it is always nice to see one especially on Easter weekend. 

The waterings Seal pup 30th March © Nia Stephens.

We checked our Manx Shearwater productivity plots for the first time this season and were delighted to see that they are once again being used. A pair of Manxies which have previously bred in this nest box were back again making themselves at home. It's always nice to welcome them back after their long winter off the coast of Argentina. 

Manx Shearwater pair 1st April © Nia Stephens.

In other news, we had Teal added to our year list that were recorded on the Central ponds on the 3rd. A Black Redstart was spotted on the Northern end on the 31st which was a first for the year.

A Black Redstart on the 31st. © Alys Perry.

More migrants have been turning up this week with plenty of Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Goldcrests and Blackcaps hopping about. 

Chiffchaff photographed on the 31st © Alys Perry.

We had plenty of Redwing dropping in over the Easter weekend too.

A Redwing sitting in a gorse bush on the 31st © Alys Perry.

Amongst the usual birds of prey Red Kite and Merlin are becoming weekly visitors to the island now. 

 A Red Kite soaring over the Northern fields on the 30th © Alys Perry.

Other records for the week include Curlew, Snipe, and Turnstone. All the auks are now back on the cliffs and the Kittiwakes are seen often along the West Coast. 

It's almost time for us to start doing our breeding bird surveys and the Dunnocks, Wrens and Blackbirds are all doing their early morning calls in preparation for the breeding season. 

A Dunnock calling in the Farmhouse Valley hoping to attract a mate 2nd © Nia Stephens.

Until Next Week.

Alys Perry

Assistant Warden