Jethou
25 June 2009
The
second seabird ringing visit
to Jethou in 2009 was focused primarily on colour ringing Herring and
Lesser
Black Backed Gull pulli. The team was
reduced to three with Jamie Hooper, Catherine and Paul Veron (Chris
having
other commitments on the day). The
Jethou work boat ferried the team across at 08.00.
With relatively calm seas and cloudy skies
beginning to clear, the day looked like it could end up being very hot.
The
island looked as lovely as
ever but with low water not until mid-afternoon, the team was limited
to land
based ringing until more foreshore was revealed and so headed for the
west end
of Jethou. Jamie carried out a quick
check for butterflies in the open grassland at the centre of the island
but
found only small coppers, red admiral and meadow brown.
The near “mythical silver-studded blue
continued to evade him!
The
team descended down the rocky
vein to the footpath that circumvented the island, discovering several
Shag
nests that had not been previously ringed.
They then worked along the foreshore ringing Shag pulli as well
as 3
Herring Gulls and 1 Lesser Black Backed Gull pulli.
Jamie discovered an Oystercatcher chick
hiding under a rocky crevice, the tell tale signs of limpet shells were
scattered around and the parents alarm calls piercing the air. The second rocky vein up to the centre of the
island was then investigated for further Shag pulli culminating in a
total of
26 shag pulli ringed. (dead shag
recovery??)
The
team then headed back to the
slipway for refreshments in the sunshine.
After half an hour and with the tide now falling fast, they
decided that
sufficient beach was now available to safely look for gull pulli along
the
beach beneath the burner. A total of
seven Herring Gull chicks were ringed along this beach and a very small
Oystercatcher
chick too small to ring was also discovered by Catherine, extremely
well
camouflaged amongst the stones.
The
team then progressed along
the beach opposite Crevichon, ringing a total of seven Shag pulli and
17 Herring
Gulls with an additional seven Herring Gulls ringed on the beach
beneath the
summer house. The
last beach to be covered on Jethou was the
beach opposite Fauconniere which resulted in 15 Herring Gull pulli and
one
adult Herring Gull which had been caught in finishing line around its
leg. The line was removed and due to the
swelling
only a colour ringed placed on the other leg, bill measurements taken
to
identify the sex (female) before the bird was released.
A Herring Gull chick further up the beach was
likewise entangled and again released from certain death.
Both birds had probably only been caught in
the line for the last day or so judging by their condition. A total of one Shag pulli were ringed on this
beach although note was made of the contents of the majority of the 10
marked
nests – most of which now had very large, already ringed Shag
pulli. It was interesting to note one nest
(44)
which had a dead unringed adult on the nest and one dead pulli (ringed
on
previous visit F38547) and probably one
other dead pulli (although Jamie could not retrieve the bird from under
the
rock). One nest was empty and one nest could not be located.
The
team headed back to the
slipway for brief liquid refreshments at 13.00 before racing over to
Crevichon
to ring the Little Egret pulli in the quarry.
The first Elder tree approached from the shore held young too
small to
ring. Three dead pulli were noted on the
ground in front of these trees. The
Elder further inside the quarry held three Little Egrets of suitable
size to
ring. A clutch of Partridge chicks was
also observed amongst the stones with both parents returning after the
initial
disturbance. A total of nine Shag pulli
were ringed on Crevichon as well as one Great Black Backed Gull which
was
fitted with a colour ring. Catherine also noted the contents of some of
the
marked Shag nests but with time extremely limited only 13 of the 40
were
located. Most now contained large pulli,
some of which were already ringed.
The
team then headed back to
Jethou in order to catch the work boat back to Guernsey.
A very low tide made for an interesting
departure from the dory with Catherine getting her feet wet in order to
push
the boat out – thanks guys!
Another
excellent seabird trip to
Jethou with a total of 106 seabirds ringed including 39 Herring Gulls
colour
ringed plus one Great Black Backed Gull and one Lesser Black Backed
Gull colour
ringed as part of Paul’s Gull Colour ringing scheme and useful
data collected
on Shag productivity. Many thanks to Dr
Ogden and his staff for accommodating the seabird team’s
activities.
Catherine Veron
26 June 2009