A brief bird and seal report for the season on Ramsey Island so far.
With the breeding season approaching an end (for birds if not seals!) here is a breakdown of some of the highs and lows:
Chough – fledged 17 young from 7 nests (2.42 per pair, joint 3rd highest productivity on record).
Lapwing – 2 pairs managed to fledge 1 young between them (not a bad effort!).
Wheatear – 106 pairs – surely the densest site in Wales for this species?!
Stonechat – down from 25 pairs in 2009 to 6 pairs this year. No doubt a casualty of the cold winter. In fact we noticed that all small passerine species that are resident in the UK and breed on Ramsey (e.g. Meadow and rock pipit, blackbird, dunnock) were also slightly down this year too.
Seabirds – a good year generally. No sign of food shortage although kittiwakes were down from 225 pairs in 2009 to 191 pairs (following 3 years of increase) and how low productivity at the study site (0.26 per pair, although the Cantwr site at the southern end seemed to do much better based on very helpful reports from boat operators).
A full storm petrel survey on the Bishops and Clerks revealed 149 occupied sites (the highest estimate for this site). The few, newly discovered, birds on Ramsey continue to do well with all 5 from 2008 relocated and a new site found too.
Kestrel – 1 pair fledged 4 young. Good news for a species that is in decline in Wales (red kites now outnumber them!).
Peregrine – 2 pairs although no young seen to fledge.
Grey seals – going well with well over 100 seal pups born so far on our 9 monitored sites so far.
August 2010 – RSPB Wardens Greg and Lisa Morgan
April 2010 – RSPB Wardens Greg and Lisa Morgan
7 pairs of chough confirmed as breeding. An 8th pair was settling down when a 3rd bird intervened and put everyone off! Only 2 pairs of lapwing made it back this year unfortunately, presumably not helped by the cold winter. There are 3 peregrine territories this and a pair of kestrel. 4 pairs of raven are on the verge of fledging young while the whitethroats are only just arriving back.
Highlights included hoopoe (2+3/4), a female yellowhammer on 10/4 (4th record since RSPB records began), snow bunting (21/4 to end month), 5 ring ouzels through April, Cetti’s warbler (25/4), bullfinch (16/4), black redstart (7/4), 4 common redstarts in April, barn owl (16/4), grasshopper warbler (23+30/4), green sandpiper (12/4), hooded crow (21/4), jack snipe (24/4), white wagtail (14/4), redpoll (15/4), hobby (24/4), yellow wagtail (21/4), 5 red kites in the period plus a female/juv merlin through March and April, joined by a male at times.
First returning dates: wheatear (7/3) plus Greenland race on 3 dates in April, sand martin (19/3), chiffchaff (25/3) swallow and house martin (3/4), blackcap (4/4), willow warbler (7/4), whitethroat (18/4) and swift (22/4).
An otter was seen on the west coast of the island by boat staff on 17/4 and a fresh spraint was found on the harbour steps on 22/4. Grey seal haul outs peaked at 150+.
March 2010 – RSPB Wardens Greg and Lisa Morgan
A cold month following on from a very cold winter has affected some species. Chough were a bit late to get going, more interested in feeding up after a tough few winter months than getting round to breeding. First nest building was on 22/3. By the end of the month 5 pairs had been confirmed with another 3 on territory and we hope they will start nest building soon.
Lapwing had an equally tough winter and although it is too early for us to establish final breeding numbers yet, a max of 6 birds displaying is down on recent years at this stage.
Another species seemingly hit by the weather is stonechat. They disappeared from the island after Christmas and only a very few have returned so far.
Wheatears however, which spend the winter in Africa, have returned in apparently good numbers. In 2009 we had 115 pairs nesting on Ramsey (over 25% of the Pembrokeshire population) and the first migrants returned on 7/3 this year. Male birds are the first to be seen as they head back in advance of the females to reclaim their territories.
Other regular breeders setting up territory are peregrine falcon (2 pairs), buzzard (2 pairs) and raven (4 pairs). Skylarks and meadow pipits have been singing for most of the month, a sure sign that spring is round the corner……
Returning migrant dates include chiffchaff (25/3) and sand martin (19/3). Two merlins (a male and a female) were seen on and off during March. A red kite on 25/3 was a relatively rare sight out here.
Our cliff nesting auks (guillemots and razorbills) have been on and off the ledges throughout March. They will keep up this sporadic attendance until they lay their eggs in late April / early May.
Moulting grey seals can be readily seen around the island at this time of year. Up to 150 have been hauled out on the main beaches during March and good numbers should continue through April. Anyone approaching by boat should do so with care as they are very jumpy at this time of year and moulting is a very important process for them; the quality of their new coat affecting their health for the remainder of the year. An out of season seal pup was born in early March. It has done very well and is on the verge of weaning.
