Bashing, tracking and Goodbye-ing on Skomer Island!
The volunteers on Skomer have helped us out greatly with this years Bracken management. Large areas around the Farm buildings have been ‘bashed’ and the areas of Heather have had all of the Bracken pulled out by hand. This very intensive but rewarding work helps greatly to control the invasion of this plant.
The researchers have been busy again this month and used some GPS technology to follow adult Manx Shearwaters. Their chicks hatched in mid-June and will fledge in late August and September, a lengthy 70 days! The adults return every night or every few nights to feed them and it is during these foraging trips that the researchers have been following them. Most of the birds tracked seemed to be using an area of sea west of The Smalls to feed. Depth recorders were also fitted so that feeding dives could be followed. The same team has also carried out GPS tracking on Shearwaters from Lundy and Copeland Islands to find out if they are all using the same feeding grounds. All of this exciting data will be compiled into scientific papers over the winter and we will keep you up to date with the findings. Keep an eye on our blog www.skomerisland.blogspot.com for the latest info.
Some exciting sightings in the last month, for full details see the latest Bird and Wildlife report at www.welshwildlife.org/birdandwildlifereports_en.link The highlights include quite a few Sunfish and Common Dolphins. Also a couple of reports of a Barn Owl and even two Otters seen in South Haven. Fulmar chicks have been the seabird highlight this month, currently they are growing their flight feathers and are surrounded by a fuzz of moulted grey down.
The last Guillemot chick fledged at the end of July. Most of the Puffins had left by July 20th but a last single bird carrying fish was seen on August 10th – quite a late record. Kittiwakes were fledging from July 19th.
Two residential courses took place, one focusing on photography and another looking at Marine Mammals. Both were very successful and Skomer and it’s wildlife lends itself to these type of courses. If you are interested in attending a course on the island look out for info on the 2010 courses at www.welshwildlife.org/SkomerCourses_en.link
Skomer is coming to the end of it’s busy seabird season now and that also means that sadly many of the researchers and staff also leave. By the end of August we will have said goodbye to Sam Patrick (Researcher), Haf Leyshon (Long term volunteer), Tessa Cole (Field Assistant), Pete Milner (Visitor Services Officer) and Jerry Gillham (Assistant Warden). I am sure that any of you that have visited Skomer this year will join me in thanking the team for all their hard work and commitment. Myself and Dave (Assistant Warden) and the remaining researchers will certainly miss their company as well as all their help.
And finally follow 'Pertwee, the Skomer Puffin' on Twitterhttp:/twitter.com/PertweePuffin