Rockabill 2015

OpenYourEyes

Hi all - its that time of year again, and I'm wardening on Rockabill for Birdwatch Ireland for another breeding season.

Check out last years thread here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=90315706

And the blog here: http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/

I've posted a quick update - it's been a mental week, with lots of news that we'll be posting about in the days to come!

Fingers crossed for a good breeding season!

Del.Monte

Looking forward to your blog again this year!

The Little Tern project at Kilcoole is back in action again too: http://littleternconservation.blogspot.ie/

baaba maal

Good stuff- really enjoyed following it last year. Can I ask if it was a challenge mentally/emotionally? Not gettin' heavy like- just wondering if the dislocation and general weirdness of total immersion on the rocks was difficult or challenging. You are obviously voting with your feet, so are you looking forward to it more or less or the same?

OpenYourEyes

baaba maal wrote: »

Good stuff- really enjoyed following it last year. Can I ask if it was a challenge mentally/emotionally? Not gettin' heavy like- just wondering if the dislocation and general weirdness of total immersion on the rocks was difficult or challenging. You are obviously voting with your feet, so are you looking forward to it more or less or the same?

Cheers Baaba Maal!

Nah it was ok for the most part tbh - if you're a young conservationist with a strong interest in birds, there really is no better place to be, and you can never be bored! There were some tough times in the middle of last season when we were very very busy and running low on food, but it wasn't too bad either!

This year I had mixed emotions - sometimes I was eager to get back out, and others I was wondering what I was doing signing up for it again! But I'm already finding the benefit of having a year under my belt, so I'm really looking forward to the season starting in earnest!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

You're a glutton for punishment.

Oh to be young again. I used to love fieldwork. Enjoy.

Jayzesake

Hi OpenYourEyes,

If you get a moment, could you give a brief outline of what you'll be doing there, what you hope to achieve etc?

Cheers J

OpenYourEyes

Jayzesake wrote: »

Hi OpenYourEyes,

If you get a moment, could you give a brief outline of what you'll be doing there, what you hope to achieve etc?

Cheers J

In terms of what we want to achieve, we want to have as many breeding pairs of Roseate Terns, Common Terns, Arctic Terns, Black Guillemots and Kittiwakes as possible. After that, we want productivity (i.e. the number/proportion of chicks that fledge) to be as high as possible. Obviously some of these things are out of our hand to a certain extent (e.g. weather, lack of food etc.), but we do everything we can to make the island suitable for nesting (blog post on that coming soon) and then to minimise predation (usually gulls) as well as disturbance (humans!).

So the first 8 days or so we were removing vegetation from most of the island, and thinning it out in other areas, as well as putting out around 700 nestboxes. After that we'll move on to spending a few hours every day reading the leg rings on adult birds (tells us age of the breeding population, lifespan, interchange with other colonies) and checking for eggs every day. We'll have a subset of a couple of hundred Roseate and Common Tern nests that we'll check on daily to gather as much scientific data as possible - so clutch size, time between eggs being laid, time until chicks hatch, time between chicks hatching, and then growth rates of chicks and their ultimate success or failure. We'll also ring as many chicks of all those species as possible as it provides important data in future years.


So, in a nutshell, we'll first be getting the island ready to host as many breeding birds as possible, and from then on gather as much scientific data as possible which obviously has benefits for informing their conservation in the future. And our aim as wardens is to do that to the very best of our ability!

Jayzesake

Thanks a lot OYE, more power to your elbow.

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

So the first 8 days or so we were removing vegetation from most of the island, and thinning it out in other areas...

Why was it necessary to remove/thin out vegetation on the island? Was it brambles or bracken or other very vigorous species?

OpenYourEyes

Jayzesake wrote: »

Thanks a lot OYE, more power to your elbow.



Why was it necessary to remove/thin out vegetation on the island? Was it brambles or bracken or other very vigorous species?

Its mainly a species called Tree Mallow which nearly covers the island in the space of a few months. It grows to 1-2m tall. Roseates will nest under it at the edges, but not in the middle, so by removing it and putting in nest boxes (or just thinning it out in other areas) you can get higher densities of nests in a given area. Common terns nest in the open too, so clearing it makes more room for them!

Capercaillie

Was helping out at Baltray Little tern project yesterday. Putting up the predator fence. Might be able to do a few days wardening during the summer. Might need advice from Openyoureyes on predator deterrence!!!!

V_Moth

Good to hear everything is going well on the island. Just to note that the island is private and landing not encouraged (it is rather tricky whatever the weather conditions). However, for anyone wanting to see the island, there is the option of skerrieseatours.ie which do an hours trip around Rockabill.

ThunderCat

Best of luck over there OYE, it's great work you are doing.

As someone with in an interest in astronomy as well as nature I am very envious of how many stars you will be able to see from there on a clear night. So don't forget to point them binoculars skyward at night time as well as day (if you have time of course)

All the best and good luck.

OpenYourEyes

ThunderCat wrote: »

Best of luck over there OYE, it's great work you are doing.

As someone with in an interest in astronomy as well as nature I am very envious of how many stars you will be able to see from there on a clear night. So don't forget to point them binoculars skyward at night time as well as day (if you have time of course)

All the best and good luck.

Thanks for the reminder Thunder Cat! Will definitely keep an eye out on a few of the clearer nights!

OpenYourEyes

A new blog post up about the habitat management we do when we first get back to Rockabill at the start of the summer: http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2015/05/first-things-first.html

OpenYourEyes

And a 'Meet the Team' blog post from a few days ago: http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2015/05/meet-rockabill-team.html

Capercaillie

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

And a 'Meet the Team' blog post from a few days ago: http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2015/05/meet-rockabill-team.html

Great work:). Want to clear rank growth from Iris beds during the winter?

OpenYourEyes

Capercaillie wrote: »

Great work:). Want to clear rank growth from Iris beds during the winter?

Ask me again in a few months when I've recovered from all of this Tree Mallow clearance!

OpenYourEyes

We have four species on eggs at the moment - anyone care to venture a guess as to what species they are? Bonus points if you can guess which were first and second!

(blog post on the way!)

Capercaillie

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

We have four species on eggs at the moment - anyone care to venture a guess as to what species they are? Bonus points if you can guess which were first and second!

(blog post on the way!)

kittiwake, roseate tern, common tern, Black guillemot
Kittiwake first, Black Guillemot 2nd

OpenYourEyes

My guesses before the season would have been Black Guillemot, Common Tern, Roseate Tern, Kittiwake, and then maybe Arctic Tern.

But that's not exactly how it went this year......

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2015/05/four-species-and-counting-on-eggs-on.html

Capercaillie

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

My guesses before the season would have been Black Guillemot, Common Tern, Roseate Tern, Kittiwake, and then maybe Arctic Tern.

But that's not exactly how it went this year......

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2015/05/four-species-and-counting-on-eggs-on.html

With the kittiwakes on their breeding ledges for so long now I assumed they would have had eggs by now. Great to see the oystercatcher nesting there! Could they not attack Roseate chicks?

OpenYourEyes

Capercaillie wrote: »

With the kittiwakes on their breeding ledges for so long now I assumed they would have had eggs by now. Great to see the oystercatcher nesting there! Could they not attack Roseate chicks?

Theres a Common Tern right beside the Oyc nest, and the incubating Oyc passes no heed on it! One of our first Common Tern eggs was beside the Oycs too. I think its often the case that birds like that don't attack other species in colonies where they're nesting, since they benefit from the security of the thousands of Terns etc.

Capercaillie

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

Theres a Common Tern right beside the Oyc nest, and the incubating Oyc passes no heed on it! One of our first Common Tern eggs was beside the Oycs too. I think its often the case that birds like that don't attack other species in colonies where they're nesting, since they benefit from the security of the thousands of Terns etc.

The Kilcoole little tern colony often has Oyc beeding within their colony, I forgot about that. i think one Oyc went a bit psycho last year and attacked a few little terns, you work mate might have more info on it.

OpenYourEyes

A visitor to Rockabill today....

OpenYourEyes

A female Ortolan Bunting on Rockabill today - we suspect it's the first record of this species in Dublin!

Read a bit about it on the blog: http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2015/05/very-rare-visitor-on-rockabill.html

V_Moth

That is a fantastic find! I guess it probably dropped in during or shortly after that drizzly mist in the morning. I always wonder what "rares" would be found if the island was manned during April or Sep-Oct.

OpenYourEyes

Confirmed as the first county record for Dublin!

V_Moth wrote: »

That is a fantastic find! I guess it probably dropped in during or shortly after that drizzly mist in the morning. I always wonder what "rares" would be found if the island was manned during April or Sep-Oct.

Yeah we were saying the same - or I wonder what rarities land on somewhere like Lambay, with its much bigger size and more vegetation etc! We never would have seen it if we didn't happen to go over to the Bill at the right time - so we could have been 200m or so from it without ever knowing it!

OpenYourEyes

Recently, to celebrate International Biodiversity Day, the National Biodiversity Data Centre invited/challenged members of the public to submit 50 records in a day, with the hope of getting 1000+ records per day over the weekend of the 22nd-24th of May. So we gave it a go on Rockabill!


http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2015/06/rocka-blitz.html

OpenYourEyes

Our Roseate Terns will be on Springwatch tonight - so tune into BBC Two from 8pm onwards!

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2015/06/rockabill-roseate-terns-on-bbc.html

Desmo

Will yis get yer hair done for this? Tell Andrew I expect to see him using his nice scope live on the air.

OpenYourEyes

Desmo wrote: »

Will yis get yer hair done for this? Tell Andrew I expect to see him using his nice scope live on the air.

Ah we're always dressed impeccably out here, no need for any special effort


Haha, he mentioned something about having to pay royalties if it appears on air!

OpenYourEyes

We get over 2,000 pairs of Common Terns on Rockabill, with an average clutch size of 2-3 eggs. With that many eggs, there's plenty of variation. Read a bit about it, and see some examples, in our latest blog post:


http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2015/06/variety-is-spice-of-life.html

Capercaillie

Would the fact that the birds are laying eggs mean that there is enough fish for the birds this year?

OpenYourEyes

Capercaillie wrote: »

Would the fact that the birds are laying eggs mean that there is enough fish for the birds this year?

I think them laying eggs only really tells you that there was enough fish for them up to the date the egg was laid - i.e. enough for courtship, egg production etc.

It'll be interesting to see what happens when the chicks hatch, given that chick growth (and therefore productivity) was poor last year - but it's still very much a case of wait and see!

OpenYourEyes

Our first chicks have hatched on Rockabill, and there are plenty more on the way this week. Unfortunately not all of them have made it..........


http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2015/06/two-sets-of-two-chicks-from-two-species.html

Capercaillie

The Black guillemot chicks look like little corncrake! Pity about the oystercatcher chick, hopefully the other chick will be a bit more "streetwise". You should make a video of the season's work (if it was possible), would be great to see. Would be a great educational tool in schools. Great work as ever OYE!

OpenYourEyes

Capercaillie wrote: »

The Black guillemot chicks look like little corncrake! Pity about the oystercatcher chick, hopefully the other chick will be a bit more "streetwise".

...unfortunately not!

Capercaillie wrote: »

You should make a video of the season's work (if it was possible), would be great to see. Would be a great educational tool in schools. Great work as ever OYE!

Something along those lines is in the works alright, I'm looking forward to seeing it!

Capercaillie

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

...unfortunately not!

That's sad. When there was just the one oystercatcher breeding on the Rock you might develop a bit of an attachment to the pair of oystercathers and their chicks. When you have over a 1000 roseate pairs you would not have the same connection to an individual bird.

OpenYourEyes

First tern chicks today! Only another 7,000+ to come between now and August.....

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2015/06/new-arrivals-on-rockabill.html

And we have some exciting news from our nest census, which we'll share later in the week!

OpenYourEyes

Capercaillie wrote: »

That's sad. When there was just the one oystercatcher breeding on the Rock you might develop a bit of an attachment to the pair of oystercathers and their chicks. When you have over a 1000 roseate pairs you would not have the same connection to an individual bird.

Yeah you definitely get a sense of attachment for invididual chicks that you encounter on a daily basis - mostly tern chicks that you see in or near your study areas twice every day, but it was the same for the Oystercatcher chicks alright. Despite us both obviously being quite scientific/pragmatic when it comes to life and death in nature.

Capercaillie

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

First tern chicks today! Only another 7,000+ to come between now and August.....

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2015/06/new-arrivals-on-rockabill.html

And we have some exciting news from our nest census, which we'll share later in the week!

I'd say the roseate terns are probably up. Even though last years productivity was poor for the roseates, you can discount last years chicks since they will not be breeding this year anyway. The effect of last years poor productivity will not show in breeding pairs for a few years (however long it takes for roseates to reach breeding age).
The summer of 2012 was terrible and productivity of common terns was low, roseates did ok since the chicks use the nest boxes(protection from bad weather). Given that it has to be roseate tern numbers that are up.
Maybe I'm over analysing too much.:D

OpenYourEyes

Based on ring-resightings last year, 3-5 year old adults made up the largest cohort of the population. Productivity for Roseates in 2009 was good, and 2011 was decent - other years have been average.


That's not a yes or a no btw, just furnishing your comment with some figures! I'll say one thing for sure - it's not the Arctics!

Capercaillie

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

Based on ring-resightings last year, 3-5 year old adults made up the largest cohort of the population. Productivity for Roseates in 2009 was good, and 2011 was decent - other years have been average.


That's not a yes or a no btw, just furnishing your comment with some figures! I'll say one thing for sure - it's not the Arctics!

Poor arctics:( If the money was present BWI could put up a rope lattice on the bill to stop gulls landing and predating chicks/eggs.

OpenYourEyes

Capercaillie wrote: »

Poor arctics:( If the money was present BWI could put up a rope lattice on the bill to stop gulls landing and predating chicks/eggs.

The Arctics on the Rock (c30 of them) are progressing a bit better than last year, so fingers crossed some will be successful there.

OpenYourEyes

We've broken the record for the number of Roseate Terns nesting on Rockabill - Europe's biggest colony just got a bit bigger!

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2015/06/rockabill-roseate-record-broken-and-we.html

OpenYourEyes

We've had a hectic few weeks on Rockabill, but the numbers from our recent nest census are in - we've had a record year for two of our five species!!

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2015/07/the-numbers-are-ingreat-news.html

Del.Monte

It's been a record year for the Little Terns at Kilcoole too - 275 chicks at the latest count!

http://littleternconservation.blogspot.ie

Capercaillie

Del.Monte wrote: »

It's been a record year for the Little Terns at Kilcoole too - 275 chicks at the latest count!

http://littleternconservation.blogspot.ie

Good numbers down in Wexford as well I believe. Baltray Colony doing badly due to heavy predation by crows. Most of the terns probably relocated to Kilcoole.

OpenYourEyes

Record years for Roseates at Ladys Island in Wexford, and Coquet Island in England too - hopefully the weather/tides etc all stay ok and productivity for the season is good.

OpenYourEyes

A few facts (and a lot of pictures!) of our Black Guillemots:

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2015/07/the-dark-side-of-rockabill-tystie.html

OpenYourEyes

This is nestcam footage, taken under NPWS license, of adult Terns feeding a chick - anyone care to point out whats unusual about it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvhD52XgP-E