Seabirds, Seals & Chough Updates

 Unfortunately it has been a little longer than I expected before posting this blog, the seabird season and chough monitoring have certainly got away with us.

A shot from the Western cliffs during one of our last Auk counts of the season on the 11th June © Alys Perry. 

The past few weeks have been dedicated to seabird counts with all seabirds on Ramsey, the Bishops & Clarks and Grassholm being counted. This involved a series of boat surveys, cliff counts and drone surveys. Thank you very much to the Thousand Islands staff for bearing with us and the boat team for accommodating us on all our boat based surveys. 

The view of some of Guillemots through the scope on the Western Cliffs on the 9th June © Alys Perry. 

The table above is the results of our seabird counts from Ramsey and the Bishops & Clarks this year. Most of our seabird numbers are pretty similar to last year apart from a few being slightly down. The fulmars are exactly the same as the 267 AOS counted in 2023. Shags are slightly higher this year than last years with13 AON. All the gull species are slightly up this year apart from GBBG which are the same as 2023. Kittiwakes are also up from 28 to 48 between 2023 and 2024. The Guillemots are less than last years 4932 but Razorbills are up from 2042 in 2023. I won't go into detail on the seabird numbers for Grassholm in this blog as I will include those in next weeks blog instead.

We have had the pleasure of some wonderful volunteers over the past few weeks who have helped massively with visitors, seabird surveys, chough nest watching and habitat management. So a big thank you to Scarlett, Vicky, Julia, John, Mary, Becky and Emily for all your hard work and enthusiasm. It has been a very busy few weeks for us on the island and we couldn't have done it without your help and support. We look forward to seeing you all again very soon! 

Scarlett, Mair, Nia, Vicky and I after finishing the Ramsey and Bishops & Clarks boat count on the 7th © Alys Perry. 

Wildlife Round-UP 

The Chough have been fledging their young over the past couple of weeks and we now have 17 fledglings from 6 different nest sites with still a couple more to go. Some of our Chough fledged as early as the 10th of June while others are still feeding chicks at the nest. This might be a result of the poor weather during the spring and the bad storms during April. We have now confirmed that we have 12 Chough pairs on territory this year which is the most we have ever had. 

A Chough fledgling in the Northern Fields on the 15th June © Alys Perry. 

A Chough Fledgling being preened by its parents on the 22nd June © Alys Perry. 

In other news, the deer have also been busy with 3 new calves being born over the last few weeks and possibly more to come. 

A female Red Deer and her calf by the Waterings on the 24th © Alys Perry. 

The island is now hopping with Wheatear fledglings where they can been seen on almost every stone wall.

A Wheatear fledgling on the East Coast on the 13th June © Alys Perry. 

Our two peregrine pairs appear to be feeding large chicks/fledglings and are seen regularly soaring along the coastline looking for suitable prey. 

An adult Peregrine Falcon sitting on the North Coast tucking into its prey on the 21st June © Alys Perry. 

Collared Doves seem to becoming more regular on Ramsey over the last couple of years with a pair even breeding behind the Bungalow this year making it a new breeding species for the island.

A Collared Dove by the farm buildings on the 10th June © Alys Perry. 

We are not short of rabbits on Ramsey and the Great Black-backed Gulls are certainty doing their best to control the numbers. This GBBG was spotted on the 10th of June in the Northern Fields catching and killing an adult rabbit before swallowing it whole. We are still unsure how it even managed to fly off afterwards........ 

© Alys Perry. 

© Alys Perry. 

© Alys Perry. 

© Alys Perry. 

© Alys Perry. 

In other bird news we have had regular sightings of Curlew, Red Kite and Spotted Flycatcher. Ringed Plover have also been seen feeding in the fields over the past couple of weeks and flocks of up to 20+ starlings have been recorded over the past few days. 

It has been a pretty magical time in terms of marine life over the last few weeks with many species of jellyfishes appearing in the harbour including Compass, Blue Stinger, Moon and Crystal. Sea Gooseberries and Comb Jellies have also been recorded in abundance.  

A juvenile Pollock using the tentacles of a Compass Jellyfish to hide from predators on the 20th June © Alys Perry. 

A juvenile Pollock using the tentacles of a Compass Jellyfish to hide from predators on the 20th June © Alys Perry.

A Crystal Jellyfish on the 20th June © Alys Perry.

One of our volunteers Becky spotted this amazing little sea slug (nudibranch) on a piece of seaweed in the harbour. It is no more than 3mm long and we believe it to be a Doto species. This is a first record for Ramsey and an incredible find by Becky! 

Doto Sp. nudibranch on the 20th June © Alys Perry. 

We were also joined by a very beautiful and curious young female seal whilst out snorkelling on the 20th June. She was very intrigued by our fins and spent most of her time swimming around inspecting them. It was definitely an experience none of us will be forgetting anytime soon. 

The Female seal inspecting Nia's fins © Nia Stephens. 

© Nia Stephens. 

© Nia Stephens. 

Until next week

Alys Perry

Assistant Warden