Jamie
Hooper, Chris Mourant and Paul Veron gathered at the Lihou Headland at
12.30 –
just as the causeway was beginning to open. It was another fine calm
blue sky
day.
Once
across, we worked the coastline in a clockwise direction starting just
to the
south of the house. Only a few Herring Gull chicks were found along the
stretch
reaching as far as the western most tip of the island (overlooking
Lihoumel),
along with two colour-ringable Great Black-backed Gulls which were seen
walking
down the beach, and a few tiny Lesser Black-backed Gull chicks which
had only
just hatched.
A
diversion up into the grass in the middle of the island at the north
end
resulted in three more Great Black-backed Gulls being ringed, before we
walked
across the foreshore to reach Lihoumel. The Great Cormorants which
Jamie had
ringed in May had now fledged, but a few of the Shag that he had ringed
then
were still present, along with a couple of small gatherings of very
well-grown
un-ringed youngsters. We managed to corral the shag into the boulders
and then
ringed them ( 28 in total).
After
the breeding failures for Shag in the last two breeding seasons, it was
particularly enjoyable to see such success this year. Although several
pairs of
Great Black-backed Gulls were agitated by our presence on the rocky
knoll, we
managed to find only two well-grown chicks (from the same nest).
Back
on Lihou, we continued around the western end of the island. This was a
little
disappointing, because when I’d visited three weeks earlier there
were 20+
Herring Gulls and a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls nesting along this
stretch.
However, it appeared, from the absence of any chicks and very modest
levels of
interest by adult gulls in our presence on the beach, that most (if not
all)
nests along this stretch had failed this year. We speculated that
perhaps the
Snowy Owl, which had wintered on the island and was still present, had
been
feeding on gull chicks as part of its recent diet.
On
the north-western tip of Lihou, we managed to find a couple of Great
Black-backed Gull chicks, and then a few Herring Gulls chicks along the
beach
immediately north of the house. We also found an adult Herring Gull
here lying
upside down in the rocks paddling its legs. Its legs were covered in
blood.
However, upon examination this wound appeared superficial,. It was more
likely
that the gull was suffering from avian botulism. Jamie picked it up and
carried
it back to the car park on Lihou Headland, before I took it up to the
GSPCA HQ.
We
had left the shingle back and rocky knolls of Lissroy until last. The
Lesser
Black-backed Gull colony in the shingle bank was rather impressive
– with at
least 40 adults present and several small chicks seen running around
the
vegetation. We metal ringed five chicks, but as they were too small for
colour
rings (bar one) we decided to return in two weeks time to make a more
thorough
search of this area.
On
the headland itself Jamie was surprised to see five active Shag nests
(the most
he had seen here). He speculated that perhaps the growing Cormorant
colony on
Lihoumel is beginning to displace Shag to other parts of Lihou.
Whatever, we
ringed eleven Shag here, together with five more Great Black-backed
Gull chicks
– before having to beat a hasty retreat back across the causeway,
just as the
sea began to cover it again.
Although
perhaps disappointing in the general lack of gull chicks, this was
another
enjoyable visit, with the following totals of birds ringed: - Shag
(39),
Herring Gull (15), Lesser Black-backed Gull (5) and Great Black-backed
Gull
(17).
“46
Shag ringed in total 2009 – equal with previous
‘good’ or ‘normal’ years.
17
Cormorants ringed – highest annual total to date, colony growing
slowly.
Gulls
present in normal numbers with unexpected low productivity this season
after a
promising start and settled weather throughout – similar to the
situation at
Pleinmont. The GBBG colony areas of Lissroy and on the northern
headland seemed
unestablished this year and very few young were present.
The exception was the main shingle area of Lissroy which appeared as busy as ever, with HG and LBBG. Perhaps this roped off area is proving beneficial.”
Paul
Veron
1st
July 2009