Paul and
Sophie Veron caught the 1000
ferry across to Sark. With gentle winds and a fair start to the
day’s weather,
they were confident that the various landings on Sark’s islets
would be
possible. After the 45 minute crossing, Andy Cook met the team at the
harbour,
and there was time for a quick cup of tea at Millie’s harbour
café, before Sue Daly
joined us for the day’s seabirding.
This year Andy
used his 4.8 m rib (50
Hp) for the outings, making for a fun day out! By 11 am we were just
off L’Etac
de Serk. However, the swell was surprisingly large, making landing at
our usual
site impossible. In fact there was only one spot where with good timing
and
expert boat handling we could jump ashore. Sophie and Sue joined Paul
on the
rock.
It was
immediately obvious that Shag
were breeding successfully, with several visible nests holding two or
three
well-grown, noisy youngsters. While Sue set off to photograph
Razorbills, Sophie
and Paul concentrated on reaching the ridge. From here they worked the
southern
slope of L’Etac finding two Great Black-backed Gulls to ring (one
of which was
large enough to hold a colour ring – 0L9), before they focused on
the Shag
nests.
After two years with virtually no successful nesting, it was marvellous to see shag back to form on L’Etac with many nests containing two or three well-grown youngsters. While Sophie sat on the ridge, Paul worked the south-western corner of the islet. Being the sole qualified ringer on this trip he concentrated almost exclusively on ringing the shag chicks. There was just one distraction when he could not resist ringing an adult Razorbill which he surprised (with its chick) under a boulder. This was the same site where he and Catherine had ringed Razorbill on previous visits.
(photos © Sue Daly
sue@suedalyproductions.com)
Climbing back
up to the ridge, Paul
and Sophie then moved along to the northern end of L’Etac. Paul
then dropped
back down the western slope to ring the shag chicks in this area.
Sophie
rejoined him once he had reached the north-eastern area (where the
terrain is a
little gentler).
After 80
minutes it was time to leave.
No detailed nest count had been possible on this trip, but with 65
young Shag
ringed and an estimate of 50+ active nests, it was clear that 2009 is a
very
much better year for Shag than the previous two. While not a bumper
year (Paul
has seen a higher number nesting on L’Etac in some previous years
–
particularly in the late 1980s/ early 1990s) – he estimated that
breeding
effort and productivity in 2009 is a little above the norms of the most
recent
decade.
Although not
specifically searched
for, Paul did not encounter many Common Guillemot nesting on
L’Etac, and many
of the sites which have been used in some previous years were empty.
Atlantic
Puffins were seen on the water around L’Etac but there was no
time during this
quick visit to search for active burrows…and no Catherine this
year…to get her
fingers bitten and extract adults from rock crevices!
With such a
good start to the day’s
seabird visits we then returned to enjoy our sandwich lunch and tea on
Andy’s
yacht moored in the bay just west of Point Robert. It did not take the
gulls
nesting along the cliff face long to find the discarded sandwich
crusts…nor to
mob a passing Eurasian Buzzard.
The
morning’s sunshine had by now
faded as sea mist rolled in and slowly drifted up the cliffs. At times
the
Grande and Petit Moies disappeared in the fog. Nevertheless this did
not
prevent Andy being able to run us across to the rocky islets to see how
the
seabirds were faring there.
Grand Moie was the first visited. This year we only landed on the main stack (much of which is inaccessible or unsafe to work). Sue and I landed in the northern gulley, where three large Herring Gull chicks quickly hid in the rocks. I ringed two of them and fitted my first two colour rings on Herring gull chicks (5.HH1 and 5.HH2).
Climbing up
the grassy slope I
surprised an adult Shag on a nest of three tiny young. I ringed this
handsome bird,
before Sue photographed its beautiful plumage and head. We then
returned it to
the nest, where it remained as we moved away. Although only five shags
were
ringed on Grand Moie, there were several well-grown young in nests that
were
inaccessible. Paul estimated a breeding population of 15-18 pairs on
this rock.
The visit to
adjacent Petit Moie was
interesting. While the Common Guillemots nesting under the boulders on
this
islet appear to have been displaced by European Shag, Paul did manage
to catch
an adult Razorbill as it flew out of a rock crevice right in front of
him. Once
ringed and photographed this adult was posted back into the crevice. On
the other
side of this same rock face, Paul found two adult Razorbills –
one with a tiny
chick that could only have been a day or so old and the other with an
egg. With
scenes of “domestic bliss” inside this crevice Paul could
not bring himself to disturb
these birds, but he did make sure that Sue was aware of them so that
she could
photograph the wonderful scene.
Ten young
shags were ringed on Petit
Moie, and Paul estimated around a dozen active nests. There were also a
few
gulls nests (all three species).
The final
landing of the day was made
on the rocky islet of Les Burons. Just before we arrived a Bottle-nosed
Dolphin
was seen swimming 100 metres or so beyond the rock. Andy slowed the
boat and we
saw a dolphin break the surface three or four times.
Paul was then
dropped on the rock,
which again held several nests with well-grown young shag. In total 13
more
shag were ringed, along with a single Great Black-backed Gull chick.
Paul
estimated 12-15 nests on the islet.
With the work
done, we headed out to
see if the dolphins were still about, and indeed they were. We saw at
least two
Bottle-nosed Dolphins swimming in both directions. It appeared as if
they were
feeding. They certainly were not in playful mood! However, this
sighting
provided the icing on another really enjoyable and successful day out
in Sark
with Andy and Sue.
A total of 100
seabirds were ringed –
93 Shag, three Great Black-backed Gulls, two Herring Gulls and two
Razorbills.
It was just so pleasing to see the seabird colonies more vibrant and
productive
after the very poor seasons of 2007 and 2008. Although the gull
colonies were
not visited on this trip, they looked to be in good shape too. A
further visit
to Sark is therefore planned for about two weeks time to try to ring
gull
pulli.
PKV
16th
June 2009