Manx Shearwater (1 Viewer)

Been a casual birder ever since my nanna collected those PG Tips cards for my little books back in the fifties.
Now I live in an area where I have now identified 70 different species in our garden or flying over it.
The reason for my post is this, back in the 90's I used to go sea fishing off the mouth at Ravenglass in Cumbria. I think is was 1996, a very hot still summer, with an explosive migration of the 4 pink ringed jellyfish. The sea was like a mill pond, and we must have been half way to the Isle of Man, when in the summer haze I spotted a large flock of brown birds in the water,
Turning the engine down to approach them, we got to about thirty yards away and it was clear, about twenty five juvenile fluffy Manx Shearwaters being shepherded by four adults....a crèche.
We watched this for about half an hour. There is no doubt in my mind what I saw, and on checking, we were only about 8 miles from a known breeding site in Ramsay.
I simply cannot find any reference to MS crèches anywhere. Is it a given, or has it never been documented before?B
Can anyone help?

Hi Squodgy and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators.

I've moved your post to the Bird Behaviour forum, where I think more people with the expertise to answer this question are likely to see it.

I've subscribed you to the thread too, so you can keep track of it. I hope you enjoy your time here with us.

Squodgy,

Welcome to the Forum.

I always thought that young Manx Shearwaters were left in their burrows by their parents for the last few days before the young have to fly away, which would mean that creches are unlikely to form. However, I do not have firsthand knowledge of this, as I haven't been to a colony during the time the young leave the nesting burrows or, indeed, at other times.

I set to in order to try to find references to this in books but gave up after two failed searches. However, I Googled the subject and found the following in the Welsh Wildlife Trust Skomer Island Manx Shearwater Factsheet:
Young Manx Shearwaters go to sea, at night, without their parents, and immediately head for the winter quarters off the coast of southern Brazil and Argentina.

http://14f522daa698e78c0c81-f9ac00b...9.cf3.rackcdn.com/2011/05/Manx-Shearwater.pdf

That suggests that the young wouldn't meet up with their parents or other adults in the Irish Sea in the way that you mention. Auks, such as the Common Guillemot, do disperse with their young. Maybe that is what you saw, or did you see the adult shearwaters fly off in their distinctive way?

You mention that you were about half way from Ravenglass to the Isle of Man and found that you "were only about 8 miles from a known breeding site in Ramsay." Ramsey town in the Isle of Man is not a breeding site, at least not of Manx Shearwaters. Indeed, in the Isle of Man Manx Shearwaters have only ever nested on the Calf of Man at the opposite end. I wonder if you source meant Ramsay island in Pembroke (Wales), although I haven't found a reference to Manx Shearwaters nesting there, either, unlike in the large colonies on Skomer and Skokholm.

If it helps I worked with Manx Shearwaters on Skomer for about 10 years - I've never heard or seen anything like this, & like Allen says, it doesn't really sound right for Manx Shearwaters as the chicks tend to be left for about 10 days before they fledge at night so parents are normally long gone.

Also Manxie chicks aren't fluffy when they leave, the spend those 10 nights or so exercising & exploring around their burrows & loose all the down - the odd one does leave with tiny patches of down left but it wouldn't last long at all in the sea.

What time of year was your sighting Squodgy? Manxies don't start fledging until late August

It doesn't sound right for an auk either, as the male stays with the chick - they might flock up if there's loads of food around I suppose but there would still be an adult with each chick so they don't creche either

Ramsey Island in Pembrokeshire does have Manxies, somewhere in the region of 2-3,000 pairs now, up from a couple of hundred or so before rats were eradicated in the late '90s.

Actually the only time I've seen a creche like this was with Eiders on the Treshnish Islands. Where 3-4 females where ushering all their youngsters into a large rock pool. They were still fluffy and obviously not long hatched.

We had to get back to the boat, so I didn't see if they then moved them on out to sea. But it was quite clear that the ladies were working together to look after them all.

I can't remember if I took a picture and am not sure if it still exists if I did!!