2008 |
Breeding census
The seabird census in late May recorded 3,302 individuals, representing a substantial increase of 42% since 2004 and the highest level since the current survey began in 1981 (David Price et al./RSPB).
Reoccupation of the breeding ledges – autumn/early winter
Peak counts included 650 in Nov and Dec 915 in Dec (Grant Sherman).
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2009 |
Reoccupation of the breeding ledges – late winter
The peak Jan count of 814 (on 9th) was of birds already occupying the breeding ledges, continuing the run of high counts from Nov (650) and Dec (915) 2008 and demonstrating that birds come back to their breeding sites on a regular basis earlier than previously (or at least earlier than previously known about). This was underlined when 1,115 birds were counted on breeding ledges on 10 Dec.
Breeding productivity
Surveys of the colonies at Long Roost and Aztec Bay produced 36 and 29 nesting attempts respectively, with combined productivity of 0.63 young fledged per nesting attempt (Nicola Saunders & Sophie Wheatley).
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2010 |
Reoccupation of the breeding ledges – late winter
Many were noted on the breeding ledges at Jenny’s Cove during fine weather on 14 Feb.
Reoccupation of the breeding ledges – autumn/early winter
In autumn, five birds were back on breeding ledges in Jenny’s Cove early on 18 Oct (nine days earlier than in 2008) but all had gone by 07:42 (Grant Sherman).
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2011 |
Reoccupation of the breeding ledges – autumn/early winter
Twenty-nine were back on the breeding ledges in Jenny’s Cove on 12 Oct (six days earlier than in 2010, and 14 days ahead of 2008), building to 300 at Jenny’s Cove and the area around St Mark’s Stone on 26 Oct, and 837 by 10 Dec (Grant Sherman).
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2012 |
Reoccupation of the breeding ledges – late winter
Grant Sherman continued his regular winter visits to count and observe birds on the breeding ledges. Of six visits in January when birds were occupying the ledges, the highest count was 1,138 on 8th. Birds were incubating eggs at St Philip’s Stone and Jenny’s Cove on 8 May.
Reoccupation of the breeding ledges – autumn/early winter
At the end of the breeding season numbers fell rapidly from mid-Jul, with 1,100 on the ledges on 15th, but just 79 on 23rd. Thirteen birds were back on the breeding ledges at 07:15 on 13 Oct, one day later than in 2011 (Grant Sherman). Subsequent early morning peak numbers of birds on the ledges included 175 on 19 Oct, 404 on 28 Oct, 762 on 30 Oct, 997 on 18 Nov, 1,041 on 29 Nov and 1,313 on 21 Dec, with variable intervening counts.
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2013 |
Reoccupation of breeding ledges – late winter
Higher counts of birds on the breeding ledges in Jenny’s Cove included 509 on 4 Jan, 1,274 on 22 Jan, 1,154 on 9 Feb and 1,570 on 18 Mar (Grant Sherman).
Breeding census
The RSPB seabird census recorded a total of 4,114 individual birds at breeding colonies – a phenomenal increase of 25% since the previous peak figure of 3,302 recorded during the 2008 census and representing the highest number since the current surveys started in 1981. The average count during the period 1981–2004 was only 2,200 birds. Whilst several factors may be responsible for this increase, not least food supply, there is subjective evidence that the removal of rats may have helped this species. It has been noticeable during the last two surveys that Guillemots have been recorded at new sites in areas of broken ground not far below the edge of the grassy sidings – locations that would previously have been readily accessible to rats (information contributed by David Price).
Between 18 Jun and 7 Jul Grant Sherman posted an informative series of photo essays cataloguing the fortunes of breeding pairs and their chicks on study ledges at St Philip’s Stone. Grant’s blogs can be viewed at http://www.lundybirds.blogspot.co.uk
Reoccupation of breeding ledges – autumn/early winter
The first birds returning to the breeding ledges in Jenny’s Cove were three on 17 Oct (Grant Sherman).
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2014 |
Reoccupation of breeding ledges – late winter
Counts in Mar included 408 on 12th, 1,292 on 16th and 859 on 18th (Grant Sherman).
Breeding season
Grant Sherman continued his detailed study of the behaviour of breeding Guillemots on a ledge at St Philip’s Stone, where he observed the first chick on 16 Jun and recorded the first fledging on 5/6 Jul. All except one chick had fledged by 14 Jul. While the complete breeding census of 2013 had shown an encouraging 25% increase on the numbers recorded by the previous census in 2008, counts in Grant’s study area and anecdotal evidence from other parts of the island suggest that breeding numbers were down in 2014. This is likely to be have been a consequence of the prolonged stormy conditions of winter 2013/14 that resulted in thousands of Guillemots and other seabirds being ‘wrecked’ along the coast of western Britain.
Reoccupation of breeding ledges – autumn/early winter
The last date when presence was noted at the end of the breeding season was 2 Aug (no count given), though there were no birds remaining at the St Mark’s Stone colony by 21 Jul (Grant Sherman). Thereafter, one on 2 Sep and six on 10th and between one and three birds (all offshore) on five scattered dates during the first half of Oct, before the first two birds were seen back on the breeding ledges at Jenny’s Cove on 17 Oct (Grant Sherman), followed by 196 on 20 Oct (the same date as at least 300 were passing off the East Side). Numbers on the ledges reached 368 between Jenny’s Cove and St Mark’s Stone on 23 Oct, with 516 in the same area on 15 Nov and 928 on 23 Nov, 903 on 21 Dec and 1,174 on 30 Dec, though it is important to underline that totals between these peak counts fluctuated considerably in response to prevailing weather/sea conditions (Grant Sherman).
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2015 |
Breeding season
The Mar maximum of 1,697 was the highest ever recorded in that month (Grant Sherman). At least two birds on Grant’s study ledges at St Philip’s Stone had eggs on 13 May, while the first confirmation of hatched chicks came on 12 Jun, with a total of 12 chicks hatched by 25 Jun. Monitoring by wardens of the Guillemot colony at St Mark’s Stone yielded 88 active sites from which just 28 chicks (0.32) fledged.
Reoccupation of breeding ledges – autumn/early winter
The first record of birds returning to breeding ledges after their post-breeding dispersal was of 35 at Jenny’s Cove on 22 Oct; all were in winter plumage. Numbers rose to 298 on 25 Oct (when some individuals were starting to show signs of breeding plumage), 550 on 22 Nov and 964 on 13 Dec (Grant Sherman).
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2016 |
Breeding season
24 Jun – A partial count by Peter Slader and Lee Bullingham-Taylor between Needle Rock and The Pyramid revealed 2,678 birds. Reporting on his visit from 21–28 Jun, David Price remarked: “Just eyeballing the cliffs, it seemed that Guillemots had spread everywhere. Whereas 15 years ago they were very much restricted to the inaccessible ledges on vertical faces, they are now scattered all over the cliffs and particularly in the broken rock and boulder edges just below the sidings. I could even see birds on the Devil’s Chimney (26 counted low down on the western side). Perhaps a historic moment – the site recolonised after 30 years! We last recorded occupancy in 1986, whereas from a black & white photograph taken in 1939 Richard Perry had some 400 on the stack. Are things going that way again? Hopefully so!”
Early winter
18 Dec – A combined total of 280 were in Jenny’s Cove and off St Philip’s Stone on 18 Dec (Grant Sherman).
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2017 |
Breeding census
The all-island RSPB-led seabird survey produced a total of 6,198 birds, representing a 51% increase over the number recorded in 2013 and by far the highest total since the regular seabird census commenced in 1981.
Successful breeding confirmed; chicks (estimated to be 2-5 days old) were first seen on 4 Jun at St Mark’s Stone. Productivity was very good within that colony, being the highest recorded for years when comparable surveys were conducted (2007 & 2013-2017), with an average of 0.72 chicks fledged from 147 breeding pairs (Dean Jones).
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2018 |
Reoccupation of breeding ledges
30 Jan – 961 on ledges between Jenny's Cove and St Mark's Stone (Grant Sherman), with a further 134 on ledges at Long Roost and North End (Tim Davis & Tim Jones), giving a total of 1,095 birds.
17 Feb – 1,541 on ledges between Jenny's Cove and St Mark's Stone (Grant Sherman).
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2019 |
Breeding season
The year’s highest counts were of 4,543 birds on 12 Apr and 6,415 birds (excluding chicks) on 9 Jun, the latter during a land-based circumnavigation of the island perimeter (Dean Jones). Successful breeding was confirmed; chicks (estimated to be 2-3 days old) were first seen on 24 May at St Mark’s Stone. Productivity was very good within this colony with an average of 0.69 chicks fledged from 141 breeding pairs. The first fledglings were recorded on 18 Jun and chick rearing continued up until 3 Jul at least in this area (Dean Jones).
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2020 |
Reoccupation of breeding ledges
Many were occupying the breeding ledges on 18 Jan, including 649 at Jenny’s Cove, 226 at St Mark’s Stone and 402 at Aztec Bay.
Breeding season summary
The first chicks within the productivity study colony at St Mark’s Stone were seen on 1 Jun, when an estimated 200 birds were continuing to incubate eggs. By 12 Jun a similar number of adults were looking after chicks and the majority of young had ‘jumped’ from the ledges by the end of the month. Overall productivity was good for the study colony: 165 chicks ‘fledged’ from 217 breeding pairs, representing 0.76 chicks per pair (cf. 0.69 in 2019 and 0.65 in 2018). The average number of adults at this site has increased six-fold since 1981, most likely as a result of the eradication of rats.
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2021 |
Reoccupation of breeding ledges
Higher counts from the late winter and spring included 1,320 on ledges between Jenny’s Cove and St Mark’s Stone on 23 Jan; 1,110 at Jenny’s Cove on 4 Feb; 1,356 ashore at Jenny’s Cove on 7 Mar; and c.2,500 on 7 May.
Breeding season
The first egg of the season was noted at Jenny’s Cove on 27 Apr (Eleanor Grover). Flooding of some ledges due to two days of unusually heavy rain at the end of May led to the loss of a number of eggs (e.g. 13 eggs lost in one section of the study plot at St Mark’s Stone). The first chick was seen at the study plot on 31 May, with the first ‘jumplings’ logged on 20 Jun. All but two young had left St Mark’s Stone by 11 Jul. There was a record number of breeding attempts in the study plot – with some 232 apparently occupied sites, but productivity appeared to have been slightly down (Dean Jones).
Breeding census
The RSPB-led survey of cliff-nesting seabirds in Jun recorded a spectacular total of 9,880 individuals – some 59% higher than during the last full survey in 2017 when 6,198 were counted.
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2022 |
Breeding season summary
The earliest high count was 1,150 at Jenny’s Cove on 30 Jan. Up to 10,000 were recorded on 24 Apr. The first egg was seen at St Mark’s Stone on 15 May, with the first chick appearing on 29 May. Birds started to fledge from 23 Jun. A total of 56 chicks fledged from 138 nest sites within the productivity survey plot at St Mark’s Stone, 82 fewer fledged chicks than in 2021.
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2023 |
Breeding census
The RSPB-led survey of breeding seabirds in late spring and early summer yielded a total of 9,912 individuals – only a tiny increase (of 0.3%) on the number recorded in 2021, indicating a slowing of the population increase and potentially suggesting that the island may be reaching carrying capacity under current ecological conditions (although evidence indicates that numbers were higher historically). However, this requires further investigation and it will be interesting to see if the next census shows continued stabilisation/'plateauing' of the population, a new increase, or even a decline, as climate change impacts, over-exploitation of marine resources and avian influenza affect seabirds in Britain and further afield.
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Ringing
Colour-ring sighting: 14 May & 13 Jun 2008 – A Guillemot seen at St Philip's Stone bearing a metal ring on its right leg and a blue darvic ring with white lettering '74A' on its left leg had been ringed as a chick on the small island of Stora Karlsö, Sweden (in the Baltic Sea a few kilometres off south-west Gotland) on 2 Jul 2002 (2,140 days; 1,609 km; WSW 255º). Though unusual, this movement is by no means unprecedented. The BTO Migration Atlas (Wernham et al., 2002) reports 69 foreign-ringed Guillemots recovered in Britain, including a chick ringed in the Baltic that later bred on Skomer (off mainland Pembrokeshire).
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Colour-ring sighting: 13 Mar & 22 Apr 2010 – What proved to be a male Guillemot bearing a yellow ring marked '67A' on its left leg was photographed by Grant Sherman on the ledges between Dead Cow Point and Needle Rock on 13 Mar and again on 22 Apr when it was seen mating. Information received from the British Trust or Ornithology showed that it had been ringed as a nestling on Skomer on 27 Jun 2003. It had been seen again on Skomer (as a bird of pre-breeding age) in 2007. (2,491 days; 77 km; SE 144º).
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Colour-ring sighting:29 May 2012 – A Guillemot bearing a blue ring on its left leg inscribed in white ‘04M’ had been ringed as a chick on Skomer, Pembrokeshire, in 2009.
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Colour-ring sighting: 20 Jun 2012 – A Guillemot bearing a yellow ring inscribed in black ‘058’ had been ringed as a chick on Skomer, Pembrokeshire, in 2010.
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Colour-ring sighting: 16 & 21 Jun 2014 – A Guillemot bearing a red ring inscribed ‘510’ had been ringed as a chick on Skomer, Pembrokeshire, in Jun 2010 (c.1,465 days; 77 km; SE 145º)
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Colour-ring sighting: 26 Jun 2019 – A Guillemot bearing a red ring inscribed in white ‘0114’ had been ringed as a chick on Skomer, Pembrokeshire, on 8 Jul 2013 (2,179 days; 76 km; SE 145º).
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Colour-ring sighting: May & Jun 2020 – Guillemot ‘red 0114’ (red ring with white numbering), originally marked on Skomer on 08 Jul 2013 (metal ring no. N05511), was seen again in Jenny’s Cove, occupying almost exactly the same spot on the breeding ledges as in 2019. First observed on 1 May, it was incubating an egg on 13 May & 4 Jun, then provisioning a chick on 13 Jun, rearing it successfully to the jumping stage – Dean Jones (up to 2,777 days; 76 km; SE 145º).
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Colour-ring sighting: breeding season 2021 – Guillemot ‘red 0114’ (red ring with white numbering), originally marked on Skomer on 08 Jul 2013 (metal ring no. N05511), was seen again in Jenny’s Cove, occupying the same breeding ledge as in 2019 & 2020.
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Colour-ring sighting: 8 Feb 2023 – A Guillemot originally marked on Skomer on 27 Jun 2016 (metal ring no. N07654), was seen on Lundy (6 years, 7 months, 12 days; 74.2 km SE).
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Colour-ring sighting: 2 Jun 2023 – A Guillemot originally marked on Skomer on 27 Jun 2018 (metal ring no. N09415), was seen on Lundy (4 years, 11 months, 6 days; 74.9 km SE).
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