More good stuff in conserv@tion today..................

[El Annie]

Will puffins benefit from regime change? ....................

Yesterday, the first puffin of the year, his new springtime bill just colouring up, was spotted floating a few yards offshore near the coast of Lundy in the Bristol Channel. The bird will remain nearby but at sea for the next few days and will then venture ashore, not to take immediate possession of the island but to establish a first tentative foothold before withdrawing again. Only in a week or two will it spend a night on land. Like its 900,000 British brethren, this Lundy puffin has spent the winter out in the Atlantic, huge crowds of them dispersed across the winter ocean, scattered at less than one per square mile of sea, away from the land and all its threats.
More information - Telegraph

Watch mounted to protect falcons...................

A 24-hour guard is being kept on a pair of peregrine falcons in Devon. The birds have chosen to return to Plymbridge Woods, near Plymouth, to nest - despite previous attempts on their lives and those of their chicks. Last year, thousands of people visited the woods to see the peregrines rear three young chicks. And, unusually, the peregrines have returned to their nesting site at Cann Quarry, where they have laid an unknown number of eggs. "It's quite unusual they have come back to precisely the same spot as last year," said Reg Fairburn, Plymbridge Peregrine Warden.
More information - BBC

Osprey's flight of fancy.......................

One of Scotland's most famous birds has returned home to nest after a flight spanning 3,000 miles. Olive the osprey flew from West Africa to reclaim her old home at Loch Garten, Strathspey, for the 10th consecutive year. She has settled into her nest and hopes to find love with a new partner, according to experts. Staff at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland's (RSPB) Abernethy reserve were "thrilled" to see the famous visitor fly directly into the nest. This was unusual behaviour, they said, because ospreys tend to circle a nest several times before landing.
More information - BBC

'Big Brother' protection for peregrines................

A Big Brother-style camera is to be set up to protect a nest of peregrine falcons from wildlife criminals, it was announced today. The crime-busting scheme to protect the birds - said to be the fastest flying predators on earth - is due to be launched later this month at Dare Valley Country Park in Aberdare, south Wales. Security measures at the site also include a DNA coded solution which will remain on the clothes of anyone who enters the nest area. The solution can later be detected using specialist equipment. The camera will watch the nest site 24 hours a day beaming live pictures of the nest to the visitor centre at the park to enable visitors to get up close to the family of birds.
More information - icWales

Special protection for Broads reed bed..................

A section of Broads reed bed is to get special protection – to prevent it being damaged by geese. English Nature is working with the Norfolk Wildlife Trust to install floating goose fences along more than a mile of reeds at Hickling Broad. The £50,000 floating fences are designed to keep Canada and greylag geese – both introduced to the Broads in the 1930s – away from fringing reeds, which protect the banks from erosion. Unlike native wild geese, the birds stay on the broad all year, eating reed shoots in the spring, as well as clambering through the edges, breaking and killing the shoots.
More information - EDP24

http://www.habitat.org.uk/news1.htm

Annie :)

[kingfisher]

Thanks Annie, all good information as usual, Puffins on Lundy, would love to see them. Lets hope all protection works in detering those who seek to do harm to the Peregrines.

[El Annie]

I too would love to see the Puffins on Lundy :) One of these days maybe........................

[Chris Monk]

Lundy seabird recovery project

Lundy Island receives national recognition and legal protection for
the variety of wildlife it supports. The main seabird conservation priority
on Lundy is the Manx shearwater, a bird with a highly restricted global
breeding range. Three quarters of the world population breeds on islands
around the UK and only a small number of islands support significant
numbers. Therefore, the UK has an international responsibility for this
species. The Lundy population of Manx shearwaters is only a 166 Pairs, based
on a survey in 2001. Earlier studies in 1940 estimate the population to be
approximately 1000 pairs indicating a significant decline has occurred.
Puffins are also an important part of the islands fauna and surveys
that started over 60 years ago also show that puffins have declined almost
to the point of extinction on the island with only 13 individuals being
observed during 2000.

In considering the factors responsible for population declines of
these two seabirds the Seabird Recovery Project looked at food supply,
disease and predation. Other islands close enough to Lundy for the birds to
interact socially and share feeding grounds have healthy populations of Manx
shearwater and puffins. Skomer, only 64 kilometres from Lundy has over
100,000 pairs of Manx shearwater, indicating food supply is not a
significant factor and there must be something else effecting the birds on
Lundy.

The significant difference between Lundy and the other islands is its
population of rats Skomer and Skokholm are rat free. Neither the brown or
black rats have protection in law and are not included in any of the widely
accepted expressions of conservation concern ie. Biodiversity Action Plans.
This reflects their global abundance and the fact that neither species is
native to the UK, owing their presence here to unintentional introductions
by man. Rats are known to eat the eggs and chicks of ground and
burrow-nesting birds like Manx shearwater and puffin. Rat eradications
programmes have previously been carried out on British sea bird islands
(Ramsey, Ailsa Craig). In these locations the seabird populations are
starting to recover.

In 2001 the Lundy Management Group agreed to attempt to remove rats
from the island. The Seabird Recovery Project team consisting of English
Nature, The National Trust, The Landmark Trust and the RSPB was formed to
manage the eradication of rats from Lundy. The group prepared a summary
document (Lundy Seabird Recovery Project - Project Brief (933kb)), capturing
the scientific rationale behind the project and incorporated details from
the feasibility study prepared by Wildlife Management International Ltd.

The decision to safeguard some wildlife by controlling others is never
taken lightly. Being signatories to a number of international conventions,
the UK is committed to protecting threatened species plants and animals.
These obligations and the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence have
led to the establishment of the Seabird Recovery Project