End of Season Round-up!

Well, that's it now, the breeding season is over and I'm no longer in Orkney. So how did the season go for our breeding birds? Well, in short, it wasn't great. Due to the cold weather lasting throughout May and well into June, many of the seabirds were late to start nesting, and we saw fewer pairs returning to the cliffs to nest this year; this may be because the adults weren't able to find enough food over winter and were therefore in too poor a condition to breed this year, or it could be due to other circumstances - the large wrecks of seabirds over winter may have had an effect. Whatever the reason, they didn't do so well. However, some others did do fairly well, so here's a quick species-by-species run down. I monitor the seabirds in 7 plots along the cliff face on the North Hill reserve, and the following results relate to those 7 plots.

Only 1 pair of Kittiwakes attempted to nest this year. However, this pair didn't complete their nest and laid no eggs. No fledged young were seen around the cliffs on Papa Westray at all this year, so it is likely that none fledged at all from anywhere along the cliffs. This is a species that has declined massively in the past 10 years or so due to the lack of food availability - they need Sandeels to be close to the water's surface in order to feed, but due to climate change there are fewer Sandeels at the right depth for these birds.

Kittiwakes on nests

Guillemots also did badly this year, with no chicks fledged from the 78 nesting pairs that I monitored. This was mainly due to high levels of predation of Guillemot eggs and chicks by gulls and skuas, although lack of food almost certainly played a part. Fewer birds returned to nest this year, which is always an issue for Guillemots as they adopt a 'safety in numbers approach' - cramming as many nesting birds onto the breeding ledges as possible to reduce the chances of predation. But as Guillemot numbers drop, protection from predators drops, and so the number of fledged chicks drops.

Guillemots with chicks - not a common sight on Orkney this year

Razorbills fared slightly better though, with 5 chicks fledged from 27 pairs - very similar numbers to last year, showing that their choice of nesting spot (within small cracks in the cliff face) is beneficial to prevent predation of young.

Razorbill pair with egg

Shags did well as they always do, and had the highest productivity (number of chicks fledged per pair) of all of the breeding seabirds this year! From 9 nests, 13 chicks fledged! Shags tend to do much better than other species as they eat a wider variety of prey, they can dive quite deep to catch their prey (up to 45m!) and they defend their nests quite viciously so predators ususally go for something a bit easier!

Shag on nest

The Gannets nesting on Noup Cliffs also did quite well this year, with the number of nesting birds increasing to 673, with 464 chicks fledged! Gannets are our largest seabird, and they will eat anything they can find, diving deep if necessary, so they usually do better than our other seabirds!

Gannets nesting on Noup Cliffs

Fulmars are another species that usually do well as they spit horrible smelly fishy oil at any predators that get too close to their nest, but this year and last year they have shown very poor productivity. Only 6 chicks fledged from 137 nests this year - a terrible result. We think this might be due to the Ravens that have moved to the cliffs on North Hill predating the vulnerable chicks whilst the parents are away fishing, but it could be due to poor weather conditions when the chicks are small , or due to the lack of food around Orkney and Shetland. Research has shown that some of the Fulmars nesting in Orkney will go as far as Norway to get food for their chick! A long journey indeed!

Fulmar nesting on Papa Westray

Great Skuas are one of those Marmite birds - you either love them or hate them. Personally, I love them! They're such beautiful birds with so much character! But I do understand why some people don't like them - they are a big predator of our other nesting seabirds. However, they only predate the seabirds as they can't find enough fish to feed their chicks, so they have to resort to taking the eggs and chicks of other seabirds in order to raise their chicks. It's a strategy that works! From 24 pairs, 17 chicks fledged! And as there are only about 10,000 nesting pairs globally, about 60% of which nest in Scotland, I call that a win!

Awwww! Cute Great Skua chick on North Hill

Unfortunately though, our other skua species, the Arctic Skua, did not do so well. They are one of the species predated by Great Skuas as well as gulls, and they have been declining for some time now. This year we had just 17 pairs nesting and no chicks fledged, giving the first year of zero productivity since they first started nesting here.

Unfortunately I seem to be unable to get a decent photo of an Arctic Skua, so I've taken this one from a Google search.

Arctic Terns also had a very bad year due mostly to the poor weather at the start of the season. They didn't start nesting until early June this year, and only 2 colonies laid eggs. Most of these nests only had 1 egg however, a sign that the adults were in very poor breeding condition (most likely due to a lack of food over winter and before breeding), as they didn't have the energy to produce more than one egg - they usually lay 2 or 3. They are also predated by both Arctic Skuas and Great Skuas, and probably by the gulls as well. They didn't manage to fledge any chicks this year, the fourth year in a row with no fledged Arctic Tern chicks.

A beautiful Arctic Tern

It's not all doom and gloom though! Black Guillemots showed an increase in pre-breeding numbers, and with further study we will be able to relate this to the actual number of breeding pairs. The population of nesting Dunlin also increased to their highest number in the past 10 years, and the small colony of Sandwich Terns on Papa Westray (the only colony in Orkney as far as I'm aware) raised between 16-18 chicks from 20 pairs! Twite also did very well, with most pairs seen with chicks later on in the season. The pair of Golden Plovers did well too and managed to raise 3 healthy chicks, so it looks like the cold, wet season was good news for our breeding waders!


'So what now?' I hear you ask, 'You're finished in Orkney, where are you jetting off to next!?' Well, at the moment I'm back at home while I sort things out, buy some new equipment, catch up with family and friends, and apply for jobs! But hopefully at the end of September I'll be going up to Yorkshire to stay at Blacktoft Sands RSPB reserve as a Residential Volunteer! I'm going up there this Friday to check it all out and see what the reserve is like. I know they have a few other people that they're talking to but hopefully I'll get the placement! It's not paid, but I get free accommodation on the reserve, my travel will be paid for, and I'll get loads of useful experience which will help me to get a paid job next winter! So wish me luck!

P.S. - A massive CONGRATULATIONS to my best friend Connie who got married last weekend! You look amazing in that dress, I'm so happy for you both! :D