Killer Whales & the last Puffins

We that's it for this year as we said farewell to the Puffins at Sumburgh. Last weekend there were 100's of Puffins on the cliffs and flying around but by Tuesday it was down to just one bird.

Its along winter for these birds as they head out into the North sea where they spend the winter in extreme conditions. The colourful beak become black and will only grow back as the new breeding season approaches.

As for the young ones, it a test of endurance to see whether they are fit enough to survive the heavy seas. It looks like this year has been a good one for most of the seabirds with many birds bringing in fish. Arctic terns are still bringing fish for their young around the coast and many are still very aggressive.

It will be very interesting to see how Seabirds are doing in Shetland as a whole with the Seabird census now complete. Seabird deaths are down by half on last year (as per beach surveys) with only 48 birds found in July.

Whether the Sandeel population is expanding is another matter. Sandeels are food for the ever increasing Herring populations, the sunny weather the best summer in Shetland for years many have increased the plankton that Sandeels feed on or the  sea currents may have been favourable bringing a good number of Sandeels north from Orkney.

What ever the reason its been very welcome to thousands of birds.

Gt Skua chased off by Fulmar

Last week we caught up with Killer Whale Pod 27. which is a group of 7 including two large males. Having just missed them coming in close at Garthsness we headed north to Scousburgh bay and about an hour later they started to come into the bay

They first spent a lot of time in the outer reaches making a few kills before moving towards us and many others looking from the cliff tops. It was great to have two photos below published in this weeks Shetland Times.

A couple of divers tried to get close but the whales came passed them quickly

It was a great sight even though the sun was in the wrong direction . Its been a while since any Killer Whales have been in the south mainland as many seals have already been eaten this year. They are spending more time hunting around Yell and Unst.

Several Minkie Whales have been seen around Noss and further a field with 15 in a pod off Muness, Unst today

Migration has started early, apart from the Crossbills a few weeks ago, Marsh, Arctic,Barred and Icterine warblers have been seen, mostly in Unst and on Fair Isle. An unusual migrant was a Treecreeper seen on a wooden hut (well we don't have many trees) More common migrants such as Willow Warbler, Swallow, Kestrel, Wood Warbler, Pied Fly and a few Black Redstart are now arriving

Come and join me on a Beginners photography course at Islesburgh, Lerwick. Many other courses also available

Seabird decline

I was talking to a visitor to Sumburgh head a few days ago and he said the seabirds were impressive, if only he had been here about 20 years ago he would have seen a far bigger, nosier and smelly bird colony.

Shetland Seabirds have been in decline for about 25 years, numbers significantly down in Shetland but also elsewhere like the Farne Islands, St Kilda and the Outer Hebrides. So why and how do we know? Its all well saying numbers are down but without a proper census its just an educated guess.

                                                                                  Fulmars feeding on ?

This year I have joined about 40 others in Shetland undertaking the latest Seabird census to establish just what numbers of seabirds survive in Shetland. The RSPB are co-ordinating work over the next couple of seasons.

                                                                              Common Gull young

I have taken on three areas close to where I live, these are part of 550 sites to be covered in Shetland. The aim is really to count all the Arctic Terns and other seabirds in the plot for the Seabird Monitoring programme. A lot of the previous information is given so its good to compare the results

Plot 1 (1hour 1 6 18 / 1.5 hours 2 6 18

                                     1998              2018
Arctic Tern                     55                  94
Black Headed Gull          0                     2
Common Gull                  4                     5
Herring Gull                   63                    6
Shag                                 0                     3
GTBB                              3                     1
Fulmar                           399                   181

Plot 2
Arctic Tern                      2                     2
Fulmar                             310               465
Herring Gull                    9                     1
GT BB                             1                     0
Black guillemot              N/C                 6                
Shag                               N/C                  2

Plot 3 (3 hours 2 6 18)                           (2018)
Arctic Tern                                             124
Gt Skua                                                    22          (Club 46)
Arctic Skua                                               1
Puffin                                                       42
Guillemot                                                 142
Razorbill                                                    23
Black Guillemot                                        12
Shag                                                          12
Fulmar                                                      TBC

The 1998 count was part of the Seabird 2000 count (1998- 2002)

All the Auks and terns rely on Sandeels which are now in short supply, last year one Puffin from Shetland travelled for 248 miles to bring food back to the young yet a Puffin from a colony at Inner Farne only travelled a couple of miles.

This year there appears no sign of recovery with only a few birds carrying small Sandeels or very small fish

Warm seawater is said to be part of the problem with Sandeels diving deeper, but today news came in from the salmon industry in Shetland that infections on salmon are 50% down much to do with cooler waters than normal

If you are in the Sheffield area why not consider coming to my talk on Amazing Shetland, book your tickets full details on poster

Arctic Terns

You just have to admire the Arctic Tern, it travels more than 22,000 + mile a year as it flies from the Antarctic to Shetland and back each year, seeing more daylight than any other animal.

The Guardian newspaper claims that an Arctic Tern returning to the Farne islands in England clocked up  59,650 miles in one year, the longest migration ever. As Arctic terns can live up to 30 years of age they will clock up thousands of miles

Tern colonies in Shetland have been suffering for many years as adult birds have failed to find sufficient sandeels. The last two years have been better but so far this year i have only see a few terns with small fish- not a good sign.

Sea birds always like to bathe in fresh water and terns are no exception. Places such as Grutness, Scatness & Spiggie give plenty of opportunity and the birds gather together for safety

In 1980 a study (Bullock & Gomersall) revealed that there was 32,000 arctic terns in 369 colonies in Shetland. Numbers in 2014 are thought to be around 43% less than in 1986, for instance on Mousa in 2015, 300 Arctic Terns were present but on 20 pairs attempted to breed

On Noss in 2016, 72 nest had been recorded , the most in a decade. Only 5 chicks survived due to heavy predation from Skuas and gulls.

With 73% of Arctic terns concentrated in the Northern Isles , Shetland is an important place for all seabirds with 21 species breeding

Although this report does not contain information on Arctic Terns it is well worth a read

https://www.soteag.org.uk/files/2017/03/2016-SOTEAG-seabird-Monitoring-Report.pdf

This contains information on the beached bird survey i take part in

My other blogs etc you may be interested in

shetlandsky.blogspot.co.uk
shetlanddream.blogspot.co.uk

www.amazingshetland.co.uk

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