1st Puffin Island Trip of 2021

It was great to get back to some semblance of normality with the first Puffin island trip of the year albeit with a very small team! The target was to ring as many Razorbill chicks as we could find along with any adults we could catch and as many Shag chicks as we could find. Puffin Island has been the focus of long term studies in seabird ecology for a number of years and the ringing and monitoring of adult and chick survival rates, brood sizes and foraging behaviour is all part of this ongoing research.

It was distressing to find a Greater black-backed Gull entangled in fishing line with a hook stuck down its throat and one that had passed through the muscle of its wing. Rachel managed to cut the barb off the hook that had got imbedded in the muscle and pull it right through. We then cut the line as close to the beak as we could and the bird flew off strongly so hopefully it'll be able to feed and the hook will eventually pass through its gullet or be regurgitated out. It appeared to have two well grown chicks nearby and must have been struggling to feed them. The only thing we can think of is that it dived on a fisherman's bait as he cast his line and then swallowed the hook so the line was cut leaving the bird to suffer a painful death if we hadn't managed to free it.

There was at least10 m of line wrapped around vegetation and rocks and you can see it trailing over the rocks to the left of Rachels feet. I brought the line home and cut it into short lengths before putting it in the bin. As with my recent trip around the Gannet colony on Noss (Shetland - see here ) I was dismayed to see the amount of discarded plastic these birds are using on their nests. These Shag chicks, for example, had green nylon rope incorporated into their nest with the vegetation.

A lot of the Razorbill chicks were well grown and would soon be leaving their natal sites to join their parents on the sea before they can fly. This chick was about ready to leave and looked very similar to an adult.

Juvenile Razorbill

Adult Razorbill

Although not the prime focus of the trip we also managed to catch and ring a few Guillemots including this adult 'bridled' bird. 

Bridled Guillemot

Bridled Guillemots are quite rare in southern colonies the percentage of bridled birds gets higher the further north you get with up to 40% some colonies comprising this form.

Puffin Island does have a few Puffins and these do seem to be increasing in number. They're always good to ring and we don't get them every trip but Ros managed to catch this adult.

Many of the gulls had well grown chicks but many eggs were still hatching like this Herring Gulls nest where one of the eggs was just beginning to 'chip' with an already hatched youngster on the edge of the nest.

We rarely catch adult gulls but a pair of squabbling Lesser black-backed gulls provided a perfect opportunity for me to practice my gull wrangling skills and catch one of them! 

Katherine ringing the adult Lesser black-backed Gull

All in all a great day but very tiring with almost 10 hours continuous activity. At the end of the day I was aching all over and bleeding form numerous scratches inflicted by Shags and Razorbills. Tired and hungry I got home about 20.30 after leaving the house at 07.00. As usual my 'seabird' ringing clothes were tied up in a bin bag and went straight in a hot wash before I got in the shower and attempted to get rid of the engrained guano and dust. After that it was dinner and a well deserved cold beer.