Godin and
Galeu
28 June 2008
Chris Mourant, Catherine Kinnersly
and Paul Veron met
Tara at 1830 for a trip out to The Humps. The blast out cleared the
cobwebs,
and we were soon in position off Godin. When we had passed the island
on our
way to Alderney on 20th June it looked quite bare of birds
but
tonight a party of 20+ Cormorants were on the islet. We managed to
coral eight
very large birds for ringing, together with two more young that were
still in
the nest. There was also a nest with three eggs. Most of the birds in
the coral
were fully feathered, and very feisty. We suspected that these birds
had
already fledged, but were returning to the islet to roost.
Whatever, the ringing of another 10
Cormorants (to go
with the 11 ringed on 17 May) was a big success, and it also altered
our view
that the season had only been very mediocre for this species.
A week or so earlier Jamie Hooper had
ringed 12
Cormorants on Lihoumel, and noticed that in addition to Wrasse these
birds were
feeding on Rudd. This freshwater feeding no doubt helps to explain the
success
of the Lihou birds in a year when very poor visibility in the sea was
making it
hard for inshore seabirds to breed successfully.
After releasing the Cormorants from
the coral, we
scoured the island’s lush mallow and other vegetation in search
of Great
Black-backed Gull chicks, and were delighted to find eight very well
grown
youngsters. We also saw a couple of other gull chicks that were too
small to
ring, but there were no signs of any Guillemots.
Five Shag chicks were old enough to ring,
and we saw
a couple of other nests with tiny young or eggs, which were still being
incubated.
Catherine looked under the rock on
the north side of
the island where there is usually a Puffin nesting, and duly spotted a
single
white Puffin egg. We had seen one adult Puffin on the sea just off
Godin as we
approached.
After returning to the Island Rib
boat, Tara took us
the short distance to Galeu, where we rowed ashore again. Although
there were
several pairs of Great Black-backed Gulls overhead we could only find
one chick
on the islet, although six Shag chicks were large enough to ring, and
there
were a couple of other nests with tiny chicks or eggs. It seems that
some Shag
had laid eggs again very late and with the seawater finally beginning
to clear
maybe these birds would be able to find enough fish to raise their
young
successfully? Whatever, it was great to see these birds trying so hard
to raise
young in what has clearly been another disastrous season for them.
With the seabird work on the Humps
completed for
another year Tara pointed the Island Rib towards St Peter Port and
opened the
throttles. We passed close to the Rockery, but there were no signs of
any tern
activity this year.
Again many thanks to Tara for a really
enjoyable and
surprisingly successful late season trip to Godin and Galeu.