dafi
Well-known member
It has been one of my better weekends this weekend and its still only Sunday morning. But I am sitting here typing, stiff and sore and all scratched. and I have a huge grin on my face. If there is bike racing on the telly this afternoon I don’t think it could get much better. The reason for my glee is yesterday I had my first taste of ringing. I had always fancied seeing it going on and I was fortunate enough to get offered the opportunity to get out with members of the local ringing group and lend a hand. The plan is to go ringing sea birds on the uninhabited islands of Muckle Skerry and Swona that lie in the seething waters of the Pentland Firth.
We meet up at the southern ‘port’ of Burwick to join our transport for the day. A nice big fast RIB. I was expecting long nets strung between poles but the equipment is a lot different from what I expected. We have three poles with wire crooks on and a large net on a pole that looks like an enormous butterfly net. Today is a joint venture with the ringing group, RSPB and SNH. So after some introductions all round we are off speeding out over the waves. It’s a lovely morning and the weather is to improve all day. Muckle Skerry is our first destination.
Our first landing is on a small lighthouse landing built out of cliff side. Its really greasy underfoot but we are soon safe at the top of the cliff. With a quick coffee we are off along the cliffs. I am with two ringers, Brian and Colin. Its explained how to hold birds that are passed to me, so I don’t do any damage, and how to avoid getting bitten. Puffins look so cute - but don’t be fooled, they have very sharp claws and a beak like a can opener. The other thing to learn is how to record the rings and information. For this we record the species, adult or juvenile, how many in a brood; all ring recoveries and numbers of eggs in nests and chicks we can’t reach. All of this to gain as full and accurate a picture.. Most of my duties are to be as scribe, this will give the advantage of someone with clean hands to work the note book.
We descend into a geo (a water filled inlet in the cliff face) to ring the population of Shags. They are nesting in deep recesses within the cliffs. The ledges before them are swimming in guano. It was suddenly very clear why I was advised to wear my old clothes. I hadn’t really thought about this aspect of it and boy oh boy did it pong! However Colin is laying in it as he stretches to the back to retrieve some Shag chicks. He says, can you hold these while I come back with the other one; they are a bit messy mind. I say ‘no bover’ and the next thing I am kneeling in the shitty slime and holding one then two young shags. They are covered in downy fluff and a fair splattering of wet guano, looking like three pound dinosaur chicks as they swivel their heads to harmlessly bite at my hands and each other. They are just the cutest things ever and I cant believe I am holding them. Under my hands they are warm and I can feel there little hearts beating away.
Colin remerges with his bird and swiftly has the ring on .and pops the shag back toward the nest where it scampers off to and settles straight down. Taking the others one at a time he swiftly rings them and returns them to the nest where they settle straight down in their place of safety to eye us moving on to the next nest. The pattern now repeats itself as we work our way along the geo. The two ringers swiftly ringing and releasing and me recording and holding the occasional birds. Our first Razorbill and chick appears on this face and I’m shown how to hold them to avoid getting bitten. Colin gets a good bite on the finger, immediately drawing blood. The thing is not to flap about but get extracted as gently as possible. It is fantastic to be so close to wild birds I’m loving it. We get as far as we can go and safety is a serious concern as this is a very dangerous place.
Having completed that section we move along the cliff top to areas of likely Razorbill habitation. The search here is down holes in the loose rocks to extricate the chicks and adults. Where the birds can be seen but not reached a pole with a wire crook is used to scoop the birds forwards so they can be grabbed. It sounds a lot worse than it actually is [as I was glad to find out]. The others appeared now as there were no gulls to ring or terns to count. So we have a fast bash ringing and recording as much as we can before we are out of time. Every body is soon up to there oxters in the rocks and ringing furiously. Its now I see the first puffins netted in the big butterfly net but all to soon a halt is called and we are heading back to the RIB for the next stage.
Its warm and sunny and now we have a seven mile ride in a speed boat over flat seas. It’s a tough life, this birding. Landing on Swona involves an even narrower jetty fashioned out of the raw rock face, hidden in a wee geo. Outside the tide is flowing past at eight knots - it might not sound a lot but its ten times faster than you could swim and if you went in it would be bad, real bad. We move off to our area; the cliffs to the south. Here we trap more of the same, working along the cliff and climbing to the lower levels where we can. Razorbills and Puffins abound and we are soon engaged ringing and recording as much as we can with so many puffins around. Circling, we get the big net out and soon we have our first Puffins, extracting them from the net is a bit of an art and I am shown how to roll them on their backs and start to unravel from the bare belly. I am passed my first Puffin to hold and before I have even had a chance to go aww its bit through my hand and raked me with its feet! I soon have it immobilised but it shows you need you wits about you at all times. We work our way south ringing everything we can. I don’t know if it’s a good sign there are so many puffins about cos if they are loafing about here then they are not breeding but first year birds loaf about and don’t breed any way. One place we start to net puffins scooping them out of the air as they pass to quickly ring and record them all the time watching your feet as the rocks slope smoothly and steeply down ending in a fifty foot drop into the rushing tide This is the sort of spot you don’t want to be in the wet and every one Is careful as they move about; the last thing you want is a ducking here..
All to soon its over and we are moving back to the settlement to get ready for the ride back to Burwick It has been depressing to see the state of breeding bird numbers close up. But at the same time it has been fantastic to be handling and working with the birds close up. Hearing lots of interesting ringing tales. I know I’m going to be stiff from the unaccustomed stretching in holes and rock climbing. I’m a bit scratched up and the smell permeates everything, but I just don’t care. I will have a big shower when I get in. Its all been brilliant and if the opportunity comes around then I will be off like a shot for more!!!
Below are a few photos to give a wee taste. I didn’t use the camera that much as I was busy or my hands were pretty dirty.
First is a shot of the tide boiling along the the cliff face.
Second is a Razorbill chick getting ringed..
Third is a puffin[don’t worry its not Puffin blood you can see]
Fourth is a Puffin in flight. My what elegant graceful creatures they are.
We meet up at the southern ‘port’ of Burwick to join our transport for the day. A nice big fast RIB. I was expecting long nets strung between poles but the equipment is a lot different from what I expected. We have three poles with wire crooks on and a large net on a pole that looks like an enormous butterfly net. Today is a joint venture with the ringing group, RSPB and SNH. So after some introductions all round we are off speeding out over the waves. It’s a lovely morning and the weather is to improve all day. Muckle Skerry is our first destination.
Our first landing is on a small lighthouse landing built out of cliff side. Its really greasy underfoot but we are soon safe at the top of the cliff. With a quick coffee we are off along the cliffs. I am with two ringers, Brian and Colin. Its explained how to hold birds that are passed to me, so I don’t do any damage, and how to avoid getting bitten. Puffins look so cute - but don’t be fooled, they have very sharp claws and a beak like a can opener. The other thing to learn is how to record the rings and information. For this we record the species, adult or juvenile, how many in a brood; all ring recoveries and numbers of eggs in nests and chicks we can’t reach. All of this to gain as full and accurate a picture.. Most of my duties are to be as scribe, this will give the advantage of someone with clean hands to work the note book.
We descend into a geo (a water filled inlet in the cliff face) to ring the population of Shags. They are nesting in deep recesses within the cliffs. The ledges before them are swimming in guano. It was suddenly very clear why I was advised to wear my old clothes. I hadn’t really thought about this aspect of it and boy oh boy did it pong! However Colin is laying in it as he stretches to the back to retrieve some Shag chicks. He says, can you hold these while I come back with the other one; they are a bit messy mind. I say ‘no bover’ and the next thing I am kneeling in the shitty slime and holding one then two young shags. They are covered in downy fluff and a fair splattering of wet guano, looking like three pound dinosaur chicks as they swivel their heads to harmlessly bite at my hands and each other. They are just the cutest things ever and I cant believe I am holding them. Under my hands they are warm and I can feel there little hearts beating away.
Colin remerges with his bird and swiftly has the ring on .and pops the shag back toward the nest where it scampers off to and settles straight down. Taking the others one at a time he swiftly rings them and returns them to the nest where they settle straight down in their place of safety to eye us moving on to the next nest. The pattern now repeats itself as we work our way along the geo. The two ringers swiftly ringing and releasing and me recording and holding the occasional birds. Our first Razorbill and chick appears on this face and I’m shown how to hold them to avoid getting bitten. Colin gets a good bite on the finger, immediately drawing blood. The thing is not to flap about but get extracted as gently as possible. It is fantastic to be so close to wild birds I’m loving it. We get as far as we can go and safety is a serious concern as this is a very dangerous place.
Having completed that section we move along the cliff top to areas of likely Razorbill habitation. The search here is down holes in the loose rocks to extricate the chicks and adults. Where the birds can be seen but not reached a pole with a wire crook is used to scoop the birds forwards so they can be grabbed. It sounds a lot worse than it actually is [as I was glad to find out]. The others appeared now as there were no gulls to ring or terns to count. So we have a fast bash ringing and recording as much as we can before we are out of time. Every body is soon up to there oxters in the rocks and ringing furiously. Its now I see the first puffins netted in the big butterfly net but all to soon a halt is called and we are heading back to the RIB for the next stage.
Its warm and sunny and now we have a seven mile ride in a speed boat over flat seas. It’s a tough life, this birding. Landing on Swona involves an even narrower jetty fashioned out of the raw rock face, hidden in a wee geo. Outside the tide is flowing past at eight knots - it might not sound a lot but its ten times faster than you could swim and if you went in it would be bad, real bad. We move off to our area; the cliffs to the south. Here we trap more of the same, working along the cliff and climbing to the lower levels where we can. Razorbills and Puffins abound and we are soon engaged ringing and recording as much as we can with so many puffins around. Circling, we get the big net out and soon we have our first Puffins, extracting them from the net is a bit of an art and I am shown how to roll them on their backs and start to unravel from the bare belly. I am passed my first Puffin to hold and before I have even had a chance to go aww its bit through my hand and raked me with its feet! I soon have it immobilised but it shows you need you wits about you at all times. We work our way south ringing everything we can. I don’t know if it’s a good sign there are so many puffins about cos if they are loafing about here then they are not breeding but first year birds loaf about and don’t breed any way. One place we start to net puffins scooping them out of the air as they pass to quickly ring and record them all the time watching your feet as the rocks slope smoothly and steeply down ending in a fifty foot drop into the rushing tide This is the sort of spot you don’t want to be in the wet and every one Is careful as they move about; the last thing you want is a ducking here..
All to soon its over and we are moving back to the settlement to get ready for the ride back to Burwick It has been depressing to see the state of breeding bird numbers close up. But at the same time it has been fantastic to be handling and working with the birds close up. Hearing lots of interesting ringing tales. I know I’m going to be stiff from the unaccustomed stretching in holes and rock climbing. I’m a bit scratched up and the smell permeates everything, but I just don’t care. I will have a big shower when I get in. Its all been brilliant and if the opportunity comes around then I will be off like a shot for more!!!
Below are a few photos to give a wee taste. I didn’t use the camera that much as I was busy or my hands were pretty dirty.
First is a shot of the tide boiling along the the cliff face.
Second is a Razorbill chick getting ringed..
Third is a puffin[don’t worry its not Puffin blood you can see]
Fourth is a Puffin in flight. My what elegant graceful creatures they are.
