Donegal Sandwich Terns June 2019

Continuing our long term monitoring of breeding Sandwich Terns in Donegal, which began back in 1986 (before I was born), we returned to Inch Island Wildfowl Reserve in Donegal for two visits this summer.

The first visit took place on the 4th of June with a team of Ken Perry, James McDowell, Gary Platt and myself with Lee and Martin from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). 

Keep your eyes peeled for these Blue darvic rings with 3 numbers in white

Our plan was to finally kick off our Sandwich Tern colour ringing programme after last years delay but being so early in the season we weren't too optimistic. We managed to metal ring 193 Sandwich Terns and also added colour rings to the eight largest chicks we could find. We limit ourselves to a maximum of one hour on the breeding islet to minimise disturbance so time is a very limiting factor. There were still plenty of very small chicks that we did not ring and also lots of eggs.

Gary Platt accompanied us on the trip and his main focus was on the breeding Black-headed Gulls. Gary runs colour ringing schemes on both Black-headed Gulls and Common Gulls in the north of Ireland and is one the most dedicated ring readers in Ireland. Gary managed to colour ring 28 new Black-headed Gull chicks. He also sighted two colour ringed Black-headed Gulls from 2017 but without his gear he was unable to read the rings - great to see them back though. 

Gary is also using blue darvic rings with white ringing on this current cohort but a four digit code starting with the number 2 with three letters after.

Katherine and I colour ringing a Sandwich Tern

The second visit took place on the 19th if June, this time Ken, Gary and I were joined by John Clarke, Katherine Booth Jones and Abbie Maiden as well as Lee, Martin & Ger from the NPWS. 

The heavens opened up on our way out across the lagoon in the small boat but thankfully it just stopped as we arrived on the islet. The rain started again just as we were leaving, so we got very lucky indeed.

Ken, John and the ladies focused on metal ringing Sandwich Terns and added another 68, taking us to a year total of 257 for the year.

This is a decent total compared to visits in the past 10 years

2018 -100

2017 -  139

2016 - 357

2015 - 189

2014 - 270

2013 - 251

2012 - 410

2011 - 94

2010 - 387

My focus was on colour ringing the largest Sandwich Tern chicks from the previous visit and I was able to add a further 22 chicks, giving us a total of 30 colour ringed Sandwich Terns - roll on the recoveries. We are particularly keen for recoveries in Ireland, as, if you check out the Tern & Gull tab above, we have more from 5/6 countries in Arica than we do in Ireland. 

The Common Terns breed in much smaller numbers and are always a few weeks later so just 14 were ringed. A further 4 large Black-headed Gull chicks were metal ringed for training.

Gary was again focused on colour ringing Black-headed Gulls and discovered two of the marked birds from the 4th had perished so the colour rings were reused. 26 more chicks were colour ringed giving a total of 52. You can check out Gary's blog on the link below

http://birdingatantrimmarina.blogspot.com/

One of the returning birds from 2017 (Gary Platt)

We have identified some habitat works to be carried out on the islet post breeding season to boost the breeding population. Originally the islet was open shingle and sand but overtime the vegetation has increased. The Terns prefer to nest on the bare ground and are being forced off the high of the island towards the lower edges and a number of nests have been lost in the last few years to higher waters. This is often the reason the Common Terns do not do too well here.

A big thank you as always to the NPWS for making supplying the boat, rings and maintaining the breeding islet. 

Colour Ringed Gulls and Waders

Throughout the season when we are out and about we pick up a few colour ringed birds, some of which are familiar to us and most new birds. There are plenty more metal ringed birds, particularly terns, which slip through without being identified.

I'm always particularly keen on colour-ringed birds in the Bann Estuary and the first of these was just so - a Sanderling. G4YWBG was ringed in south-west Iceland near Sandgerði on the 22nd of May 2016, presumably on route north to its breeding grounds. The colour rings were resighted by Wilbert McIlmoyle on the 23rd of this month and two days later by Gary Platt around the Barmouth at a minimum distance of 824 miles. These Sanderling generally originate from Greenland, possibly from the Canadian High Arctic. 

 Movement of Sanderling G4YWBG

Sanderling G4YWBG (image by Wilbert McIlmoyle)

The next Sanderling G1RRYW was ringed on the 10th May 2011in south-west at Sandgerði Iceland where it was seen a year later. Two years later it appeared in north-east Iceland near Grjotnes. In May 2017 it was sighted in South Uist, Scotland before appearing in the Bann Estuary the following winter. In 2018 it has been sighted a few times around the Bann Estuary and Magilligan Point. 

The final Sanderling, G4BBYY was ringed on the 24th of May 2016 SW Iceland, very close to the first bird and only two days apart. It's most recent sighting was by me on the 10th of October 2018 at Ramore Head, Portrush.  It was recorded a few times around Portush and Portballintrae both this winter and last winter before being recorded. It was seen again in Iceland in May 2018 and sighted on North Uist Scotland on the 4th of August on its way south. 

The location of the Sanderling on Ramore Head, Portrush - the best spot on the north coast for Purple Sandpipers also!

If you find any colour-ringed Sanderlings please check out - https://animaltrack.org/

Oystercatcher OW-Gr(PY) has returned to the Bann Estuary after spending a few weeks there between the 23rd September and 5th of October last year. The bird was originally ringed as a chick on 23rd June 2017, also near Sandgerði in SW Iceland. I picked the bird up again from 14th of September this year and seen it on a few more occasions in the following weeks. I received an email from Gary Platt today saying that he had sighted the bird 4 days ago in the same spot.

Oystercatcher OW-Gr(PY)

One of the most interesting sightings was of a German ringed Mediterranean Gull which was sighted first by Steve and then by John 2 days later but surprisingly some 35 miles apart. Steve sighted the bird at Lough Shore Park in Antrim on the shore of Lough Neagh on the 30th of July before it upped sticks and moved up to Coleraine along the Lower Bann River (a c43 mile journey by river).

The bird was ringed as a chick at Rehbach Gravel Pit, Leipzig, Germany (c95 miles SSW of Berlin) on the 25th of June 2018, roughly 835 miles from Coleraine and only 54 days after ringing.

                  

Along the Lower Bann River in Coleraine (and McDonalds) has been quite productive for colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls and it has yet again produced another two birds. The first was another Icelandic bird from Brekka, Álftanes, Kjósarsýsla - ringed as a chick on the 16th June 2017.
This one was a metal ring read by John on the 8th of March. 

The second Black-headed Gull was a Norweigan bird who is used to spending winters in sunnier climes in Spain. It was ringed as a chick in Boganesholmane, Stavanger, Norway on the 19th of June 2015, resighted close to home in both 2017 and 2018. It spent the winters of 2016 and 2017 in Santander, Spain and was likely on route when sighted by John in Coleraine.
Life history below - 

Date Place Coordinates Observers Days/km/°
19.06 2015 Boganesholmane, Stavanger, Rogaland, Norway
06.07 2015 Grudavatnet, Klepp, Rogaland, Norway
25.01 2016 Limpias, Santander, Spain
21.05 2017  Sandnes Brygge, Sandnes, Rogaland, Norway
12.06 2017 Sandnes Brygge, Sandnes, Rogaland, Norway
12.06 2017 Sandnes Brygge, Sandnes, Rogaland, Norway
27.06 2017 Holme SV Jåttåholmen, Stavanger, Rogaland, Norway
05.07 2017 Holme SV for Jåttåholmen, Stavanger, Rogaland, Norway
20.01 2018 Limpias, Cantabria, Santander, Spain
07.06 2018 Hanaslippen, Sandnes, Rogaland, Norway
10.06 2018 Sandnes Brygge, Sandnes, Rogaland, Norway
18.06 2018 Sandnes Brygge, Sandnes, Rogaland, Norway
09.07 2018 Vågen vgs, Sandnes, Rogaland, Norway
09.08 2018 Strand Road (Jetty), Coleraine, Londonderry, Great Britain

Gary Platt and Adam McClure have been keeping us updated with our Black-headed Gulls from Inch Island in Donegal. So far, five of the 2016 recruits have been re-encountered, four within Northern Ireland. The first lot in this year were metal ringed only, with a number of birds being colour ringed on the second visit. To keep up to date with colour ring reading across Northern Ireland, particularly gulls - check out Gary Platt's blog here - http://birdingatantrimmarina.blogspot.com/

Black-headed Gull Orange 2ATJ was sighted by Gary himself on the Kinnegar Shore, Belfast Lough on the 11th of March 2018. It was ringed on the 31st of May 2016 and a colour ring added 8 days later.

Black-headed Gull Orange 2BRP made it over to Bracknell Forest near Reading, England but was found in unfortunate circumstances - fresh dead in a horse water trough on the 14th of July this year. It was ringed 25 months before. Given the time of year, it was possibly going to breed here.

EZ61022 appeared at McDonalds, Coleraine on the 17th & 31st of October 2016 having been ringed on the 31st May 2016.

Black-headed Gull (Gary Platt)

Orange 2AXT was sighted at Millquarter Bay, Co. Down (missing the date), ringed on the 8th May 2016,

Black-headed Gull (Gary Platt)

 

The last Black-headed Gull was a partial metal ring read of EZ610-- at Portrush. The digits gathered are sufficient to say that it was ringed on the 31st May 2016 at Inch.

The final bird was one of our metal ringed Curlews that was resighted by one of the local photographers, Mervyn Campbell, just in front of the Bann Estuary bird hide. The bird was ringed on the 25th of August last year in Grangemore 1.1km away and was photographed on the 9th and 24th of August. We don't have any local breeding Curlew so who knows where this bird was over the breeding season.

Curlew (image by Mervyn Campbell)

Wader Bonaza and roosting Hirundines

On Wednesday evening (31st of August) Ken, Steve and I attempted a double roost catch, targeting hirundines and waders.  We had earmarked our Grangemore site as having great potential for both species groups, so thought there was no time like the present to test it out!

The conditions were ideal with 10-15mph westerlies blowing over the open saltmarsh while remaining cloudy and dry.  The reedbed, where we were targeting the hirundines, was much more sheltered by the deeply eroded river banks.  The timing of high tide wasn't perfect, coming at 19.45ish, roughly an hour and a half before darkness.

Curlew Sandpiper (Left) and Dunlin

We haven't quite worked out where all the estuaries waders, gulls, terns etc. go to roost.  There are 1000's of birds at low tide but the vast majority head out the mouth of the river at high tide.  The most likely location are the Skerries Islands off Portrush, which are 8-9km away and it is almost certainly where the gulls head; including the hundreds from further up river.  The nearest shores of Lough Foyle are 13km away and are a possibility for waders, although it would be the turf fields of Myroe which would be most suitable for roosting, but the 20km seems unlikely (why bother return the Bann Estuary twice a day?).  We have no idea about the Terns but the beaches of Magilligan Point (11-12km) or perhaps the Skerries would fit the bill.
What we do know is that perhaps up to 500-750 waders remain to roost in the estuary at this time of year, mainly Curlew, Black-tailed Godwits, a few Redshank and perhaps a couple of hundred Calidrids (a number seem to roost on the piers at the mouth of the river).  The oxbow lake (very shallow, partially exposed mud) holds the main concentrations (when not disturbed) and seems to appeal to a wider range of species, perhaps due to the water being less saline and the more consistent levels.  The oxbow lake is cut off from both rivers, sitting a few feet above high tide and surrounded by salt marsh and wet meadows.

Wader nets

We opted for two 18 metre wader nets in a 'V' shape over the open water of the oxbow lake, which is no deeper than 25cm.  On arrival there were 200/300 birds on the pools already with all but a few Dunlin, Teal and Snipe flushing.  We placed a tape lure in the middle playing the infamous Redshank tape from the Wash. 

Trying for roosting hirundines was a first for the site but the habitat (reedbeds) is much better than our usual site plus it is in close proximity to our Grangemore Sand Martin colony.  I had created a net ride through the reedbed earlier in the year for Sedge Warblers, which was around 50 metres long but the high tide meant we could only use the last 12m.  We added another 18m net running at the edge of the reeds to create another 'V' shape'.  A Swallow and Sand Martin tape lure were placed in the centre.

Net locations

A few Dunlin and Black-tailed Godwit showed a little interest early on when it was still bright but the nets were a bit obvious.  Four/five Dunlin did fly into the nets but only one stuck with the rest bouncing out and a few others going under.  We altered the nets a little making the pockets a bit deeper and slightly lower, but still high enough to keep a big bird out of the water. 
  
The hirundines built around sunset and we managed a catch of 15 Swallow, 6 Sand Martin and 2 Sedge Warbler.  There didn't appear to be many more birds about, so a decent catch.  While keeping an eye on the other nets, we ringed and released the birds straight from the nets (still light) and closed up. 

Ruff

Just after dark, perhaps 300 waders appeared and descended on the pools giving us an initial big hit.  We turned the tape off straight away as we were not equipped for too large a catch.  The result was really pleasing with 20 birds in the nets of five species.  The majority of birds were Dunlin (14) plus 2 Redshank and 1 Black-headed Gull but the real big surprise was 2 Ruff and a Curlew Sandpiper.
These two species were new ones to us and very unexpected.  The Curlew Sandpiper is the first to ringed in Northern Ireland since at least 1977, possibly ever.  In the same period there were only 4 Ruff ringed in Northern Ireland with the last one coming in 1983.

Dunlin

Grangemore Ringing Totals 31/08/2016

                                        New              

Black-headed Gull            1

Curlew Sandpiper             1

Dunlin                              14

Redshank                          2

Ruff                                   2 

Sand Martin                      6

Sedge Warbler                  2

Swallow                           15                                  

Total                                43                     

We plan to get out to Portstewart Strand at the weekend and are hoping for an arrival of some new birds.  The next attempt at wader and hirundine roost catches will probably be next week if we can muster the manpower and work the weather and tides!

Redshank

Black-headed Gull

Curlew Sandpiper (right, top, bottom) and Dunlin

PSS Ringing + Blawit and BHG Recoveries

John, Dineka and I were out again on Sunday morning in what were forecast to be perfect conditions.  We were on site for around 06.15 and set the usual nets minus the yet to be cleared West Ride.  Unfortunately the forecast proved wrong and we were hit with a prolonged spell of misty rain.  We waited it out for over an hour as the forecast maintained there would be no rain and took down a few of the furthest nets.
There were a few new birds about in the bushes with a couple of calling Willow Warbler, Song Thrush, Goldcrest and Blackbird.  Other birds around included the first arrival of Snipe with c25 feeding on the open mudflats, a single Great Crested Grebe and a flock c30 Swallows.  Blackcaps were again conspicuous in their absence with no birds heard or seen for a few weeks now.  At this time of year we would expect to catch 4/5 birds per session so it may hint at a poor breeding year.  Any Blackcaps we catch from now to December are quite possibly migrants from elsewhere.  The few Willow Warblers we heard today are likely to be the last of the year.       

Whitethroat

Despite the rain stopping play we managed to catch a nice mixed bag of birds, if not numbers and it was clear that there were some birds moving with the capture of our second Whitethroat for the year and site (they don't breed at PSS), plus a juvenile Stonechat and Sedge Warbler.  We also managed a new ringing tick for the site in the form of a Pied Wagtail.  There are usually a few pairs around the estuary although they don't often venture near the nets.  We also get autumn movements of White Wagtails but they tend to stick to the mudflats.  The feeders failed to attract many birds but they are still being heavily used so I'll put that one down to the weather. 

Portstewart Strand 14/08/2016                                     
                                       New     Retraps
     
Bullfinch                          1
Dunnock                          1
Goldfinch                         5           
Lesser Redpoll                                 2
Meadow Pipit                   1
Pied Wagtail                     1
Reed Bunting                   1
Robin                                1                        

Sedge Warbler                  1
Song Thrush                      2
Stonechat                          1
Whitethroat                       1
Wren                                 1

Total                                17             2        

Pied Wagtail

Gary from the Northern Ireland Black-headed Gull survey has been out ring reading on the North Coast and has picked up the first mover from the Black-headed Gull chicks ringed at Inch this year.  Surprisingly it was one of the 39 birds ringed on the 8th of June without a colour ring that he spotted at the East Strand, Portrush (in our broader local patch); 34 miles from Inch.
With 122 birds now bearing colour rings we are expecting a number of recoveries and it will hopefully paint a better picture of the winter movements of these birds.  Whilst out, Gary also picked up the returning BHG from Finland at Christie Park, Coleraine plus a partial ring read on a Sandwich Tern - DK6678#  Ring a bell to anyone?

Black-headed Gull movement

The ringing details of the latest colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit have arrived and it is the second bird we have picked up from Charente Maritime, Moëze (A) on the west coast of France, roughly 30km south of La Rochelle. 
It was ringed on the 7th of March 2009 as a 2+ year female and sighted on the Bann Estuary 2613 days later at a distance of 686 miles.  The bird was re-sighted three times around the Moëze area  - 24/08/2010, 08/03/3012 and 07/12/2012.  It was also sighted in Conyer, Kent (B) in England on the 14th of October 2011 and located exactly a month later on the north coast of France near Pontorson (C), 214 miles away.     

Colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit Movement

Details of the last bird from Moëze are available from the post on the 12th of May 2015 -
http://causewaycoastrg.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/french-and-icelandic-black-tailed.html


We plan to have our first go at catching roosting Swallows this Thursday so hopefully there are birds about.  Once we finish up with the Swallows we plan to head to Rinnagree for another Storm Petrel session.

June 2016

I've arrived back in Northern Ireland to pretty cold, wet and breezy conditions, so I haven't been able to jump straight back into any ringing but the others have been doing bits and pieces over the last three weeks.  We also received news of our best Blackbird control yet plus some new funding!


On the 22nd of June, the team assembled at Inch Wild Fowl Reserve, Donegal for the final visit of the season to the Gull/Tern colony, hoping to ring the remaining chicks.  Ken, John and the National Parks and Wildlife Service Team were again joined by Adam and Gary from the Northern Ireland Black-headed Gull Study.
The weather had taken a bit of turn over the preceding weeks with more wet/cold weather and some thundery showers, resulting in higher water levels (closer to the norm), making access to the Islet much easier than the previous visit. 
The results were a little disappointing considering the potential of it shaping it up to be one of the best years at the colony.  The Sandwich Tern result was decent with 22 more birds ringed from the c30 eggs counted on the previous visit.  These 22 birds take the total up to 357 birds for the year, which compares well with previous years.  2016 represents the sixth most successful breeding year for Sandwich Terns in the 31 years of the study, the most productive year was 453 birds ringed in 2004.  For more information, check out the Terns/Gulls tab above.

Common Tern

Common Terns on the other hand were the big disappointment with only 22 birds ringed from what could have been over 150.  The Common Terns nest at the edge of the colony so are a little more susceptible to predation, changes in water levels and probably the weather.
It would appear that predation, potentially from large gulls, is the issue.  Twenty odd larger Black-headed gull chicks were found dead at the edge of the tern nesting area and looked to have been killed.  We reckon that it is more the case of missing eggs, rather than chicks.  A total of 32 Common Terns were ringed this year, which is just one more than the previous year and much better than the years of complete breeding failure. 



Adam and Gary were again busy colour-ringing Black-headed Gull pulli and added a further 52 new birds to the study, making it a grand total of 122 colour-ringed BHG's at Inch, plus a further 39 metal ringed.  The numbers ringed looks very favourable against numbers from the last 31 years but BHG's have never been a focus of study in the past and the total this year represents only a fraction of the population of the islet.  It will be really interesting to see where these guys start to crop up in future years and whether many will return to breed on the Islet. 
You can stay up to date with any findings on the Northern Ireland Black-headed Gull Study Blog or their Facebook Page - the blog can be found on the following link -   http://bhgullsni.blogspot.co.uk/

Colour-ringed Black-headed Gull

It has been a while since we got a long-distance control, so we were very pleased to receive news of a Blackbird that I had ringed in my garden, had been recovered in Norway!  The bird was found in unfortunate circumstances with just its leg and the ring recovered all the way up in Hundorp, Opland.  The female, born in 2013, was originally ringed on the 2nd of January 2014 and recovered 881 days later on the 1st of June this year, presumably on its breeding grounds.  The straight line distance between the two locations is 1202km.  This is our first control to Norway but hopefully not the last. 

Blackbird control to Hundorp, Norway

John and Steve visited the new Sand Martin colony at Grangemore a few weeks back for the first time to test out its potential.  The late morning visit was a little breezy and made the nets a bit obvious.  The colony is on the outer bank of a meander on a small tidal river, which makes setting a net quite difficult.  They opted for an 18m, 3 shelf net but a few shorter nets may be more suitable in future visits.  The catch was decent enough considering the conditions with 16 new birds caught.  14 of these birds were juveniles plus two adult females.  The following two visits will hopefully pick up more of the adult birds plus more of the juveniles.      

Sand Martin

The final bit of good news is that we were successful in gaining a little bit of funding from the Centre for Environmental Data and Recording at the National Museums Northern Ireland.  An application had been put forward for the Environmental Recorders Group Fund to cover the cost of rings and we received partial funding.  The £137 granted is around a quarter of the amount requested but it will still go a long way in enabling our scientific research and we are very grateful to CEDaR. 

Inch Island - Terns and Gull

On Wednesday morning, Ken, Steve and I headed up to Inch Wild Fowl Reserve in Donegal to study the breeding Sandwich Terns for the 31st continuous year.  We met up with a team of four from the Irish National Parks and Wildlife Service and were also enjoyed by Adam and Gary from the Northern Ireland Black-headed Gull Study.  The weather has been brilliant with temperatures hitting 30°C in recent days but torrential rain on Tuesday afternoon had us a little worried, as, this is often a major killer of chicks during prolonged periods.  It turns out that it hadn't been too bad around Inch and the day itself was dull, calm and warm - perfect conditions!

The really dry weather presented us with a new problem and that was really low water levels, in what is already a relatively shallow lagoon.  The Islet itself was now probably 150% larger, although much of that was thick, sticky mud/clay.  We had to do quite a bit of manoeuvring to get the boat in position to ferry people across the short crossing which was now only roughly 75 metres.  Andrew did a great job getting us across safely and would probably be quite nifty on the Gondolas in Venice! 

Sandwich Tern

I had mentioned the success of the previous visit in a recent post and the great year continues.  The small islet was covered in chicks and nests with Sandwich Terns, Common Terns, Black-headed Gulls, Tufted Ducks, Mute Swans and Mallard.  The majority of the 200+ Sandwich Tern eggs on the last visit have now hatched with around 30 left to go.  The Common Tern colony has increased further with many new nests, again mostly with three eggs.  Only a handful of the eggs have hatched but should be out for the final visit in a couple of weeks.  The Black-headed Gulls are the most numerous bird on the island and I would hazard a guess at a of 500 pairs, probably many more.  They are at many different stages with birds already fledged, to eggs yet to hatch and everything in between. 

The greeny/brown areas the newly exposed parts of the Islet because of the low water levels

The trip was a great success with another 154 Sandwich Terns ringed, taking the total up to 334 and the first 10 Common Terns.  Adam and Gary have a colour ringing project for Black-headed Gulls in the North and have picked up metal ringed birds from Inch as part of their study.  They came armed with colour rings and added 70 new birds to the study with 66 of those being new birds and 4 from the last visit when 43 were ringed.  The majority of the birds colour ringed were well developed chicks, close to fledging.  The colour rings are orange with a four digit alpha-numeric black inscription.  The first digit is always the number 2 then three letters after e.g. 2ABC.  Please keep an eye out for these birds and for more information check out: http://bhgullsni.blogspot.co.uk/ .


You can follow updates from Inch Wildfowl Reserve on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/inchandfoyle/?fref=ts

We plan to do the first visit to the Sand Martin colonies on Saturday before I head to Croatia for three weeks.  I'll try and post an update on that before I head off on Sunday.  Looking at other first visits around the UK it looks like the Sand Martins have bred early with come catches of up to 30% juveniles already! 

Summer Season - Terns, Gulls and Nest Boxes

John hosted two trainees at the University River Site on Bank Holiday Monday.  The conditions started off overcast but the cloud soon burnt off leaving a hot sunny morning.  They had a decent session, catching the first fledged birds of the year in the form of two Robins.  Two Sedge Warblers were also a nice catch as they don't breed that often at the site and we usually only manage half a dozen each year in total.

Sedge Warbler

River Site 30/05/2016                                 

                                   New       Retraps          

Blackbird                    1                                                                                 

Bullfinch                     2                1               

Dunnock                     1                1              

Lesser Redpoll           1

Robin                          2                1                

Sedge Warbler           2     

Song Thrush                                 1

Willow Warbler          2                 1 

                   

Total                          11                5             

Ken and a team of five (three from the National Parks and Wildlife Service) made the first follow up ringing trip to Inch Wildfowl Reserve in Donegal on Tuesday, following the initial visit back on the 10th of May to gauge the number of nests, eggs etc.
The team  had a successful day and ringed 180 Sandwich Tern chicks, which is only 9 birds shy of last years total with the second visit to come in a week or so.  There had been around 400 eggs counted on the first visit so, all being well, there should be many more fledged birds on the final visit.  They also managed to ring 43 larger Black-headed Gull chicks.  Andrew took the opportunity to count the Common Tern nests and found 57, the majority with 3 eggs.  If the fantastic weather and lower water levels continue and the local predators stay at bay, we could be set for one of the best years for the Common Terns.  The most productive year at Inch was back in 1999 with 86 chicks ringed.

For some videos of the trip check out the Inch Wildfowl Reserve on Facebook -  https://www.facebook.com/inchandfoyle/


Over the long weekend I managed to get around the rest of the general nest boxes scattered around the estuary and in Castleroe Wood.  The boxes in the estuary haven't had a great uptake with just one pair of Blue Tits at each of three.  I did manage to get at least one pair of Tree Sparrows with eggs and a second partially complete nest.  It is a decent start for the target species and they will hopefully use the boxes further and increase. 
Castleroe Wood has improved on the dismal year in 2015 when only 27% of the boxes were occupied.  So far this year it looks liked c40% are occupied, which is still down on the norm of c75% in the wood.  I ringed 24 Great Tit chicks, 3 adult females plus two adult female Blue Tits on this visit.  The Blue Tits are well behind, mostly still at the egg stage but they should be ready for ringing this weekend.  I did find 4/5 Spotted Flycatcher territories around the wood, 3 with vacant open faced boxes but no interest in them as yet.     

Blue Tit

Ken also checked his boxes back on the 26th of May in the University campus and ringed 39 Blue and Great Tit chicks.  This scheme is part of a study on the preference of tree species for nesting, comparing c30 species, so it will be interesting to hear the initial results from year one! 

John has been keeping an eye on an accessible Long-eared owl nest in the University campus over the past few weeks but we have missed the opportunity and the chick has fledged already.  It is still nice to see the birds in such close proximity and that they continue to fledge young every year. 

Long-eared Owls by John Clarke

I have received news of one of the colour ringed Black-tailed Godwits and of a local movement of a Meadow Pipit, so I'll try and update on those next time!