With
perfect calm weather, Catherine, Sophie and Paul Veron caught the 0800
ferry
across to Sark. The only ornithological excitement of the crossing was
seeing a
Peregrine Falcon perched on the top of Grande Fauconniere’ s
“pepper pot” at
the top of the islet. IT must be a good vantage point.
As
we approached Sark we saw Andy leaving Greve de la Ville bay in his 4.8
m rib,
on his way to the harbour to pick us up. However, before the seabirding
began
there was plenty of time to enjoy a fried egg sandwich and cup of tea
in Millie’s
Harbour Café.
Fully
replete, we boarded the rib and headed out to Moie de Breniere at the
southern
end of Little Sark. There was hardly a ripple on the sea, and no swell
at all
on L’Etac (unlike our previous visit two weeks earlier).
Breniere
did not look as busty as usual from the sea, with fewer gulls on the
eastern
grassy slope. However, there were a number of large Herring Gull chicks
on the
edge of the water. These simply lifted into the air and flew off as we
approached. Fortunately not all the chicks were quite so large, and we
managed
to ring 23 young Herring Gulls (all but four large enough to take
colour
rings). I was particularly pleased too to colour ring four Lesser
Black-backed
Gull chicks. Although the presence of a mobbing Great Black-backed Gull
overhead indicated that there were young on the rock, we did not
stumble across
them. Two very large chicks were seen swimming with an adult bird
present off
the headland of Little Sark.
From
Breniere we motored slowly back up the east coast of Sark, admiring the
rugged
cliff coastline. A scattering of gulls were seen with chicks along this
coast,
but none were accessible.
The
colony of Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the end of Derrible Headland
looked to
have grown again this year, so I was keen to take a look on the ground.
Catherine and I climbed up to the colony, where we observed c 25 nests
(many
with eggs or tiny chicks). In general this colony therefore appeared to
be a
little later than some others (e.g. Brecqhou). As it is a growing
sub-colony,
perhaps it is being colonised by younger (less experienced) adults.
Although
we were able to metal ring eight Lesser Black-backed Gull chicks son
Derrible
Headland only three of these were large enough to take colour rings as
well.
Continuing
around the Sark coastline (anti-clockwise) Andy put Catherine and Paul
ashore
on the boulder scree just below Point Robert lighthouse. It was not
safe to
access all areas occupied by seabirds here, but we did manage to get to
some of
the nesting sites and ringed five Shag chicks and five Herring Gull
pulli (all
with colour rings).
By
now sea fog was rolling around the west coast, but it was very
transient in
nature and kept clearing. By the time we boarded Andy’s yacht in
Greve de la
Ville bay for lunch it was clear and sunny again.
Several
times while eating our sandwiches the gulls nesting along this stretch
of
coastline were sent into a frenzy when one of the resident Eurasian
Buzzards
drifted low overhead.
With
most of the gull work completed, we made just two further landings in
the
afternoon. The first of these was at Banquette Landing, where Sophie
also came
ashore. The Lesser Black-backed Gull sub-colony here is small (c 25
pairs) and
several of the nests still contained eggs or tiny young. We did,
however,
manage to ring three chicks (two colour-ringed), along with a two
Herring Gull
nestlings.
The
last landing was made on Gros Grune at the very northern tip of Sark. I
am
always surprised at how few gulls nest on the islet, and this year was
no
exception. However, it was worth landing just to ring the lone Great
Black-backed Gull chick. A sibling, which we had seen from the boat,
did a
better job at hiding!
With
the seabird work on Sark completed for another year, there was plenty
of time
to return to Andy’s yacht and for Catherine and Sophie to enjoy a
long swim –
overt o the shore and back. The boat’s deck was a real sun trap,
and it was
very relaxing to chill out and pass a few hours, before we had to
return to the
harbour to catch the 6 pm ferry service home.
Although
this year we actually ringed a relatively small number of gull chicks,
we were
concentrating on colour ringing as many as possible. Also we did not
try to
catch the very large chicks which were already very agile (many of them
were
able to fly). Although the sight of many gull chicks all around the
coastline
indicates a good breeding season, I think that again many nests failed
this
year – so I would estimate that 2009 in Sark has been a
reasonably average year
for gull productivity.
Our sincere thanks again to Andy Cook, who makes the visits to the Sark seabird colonies both possible and thoroughly enjoyable.
Paul
K Veron
30th
June 2009