North Sea Thread (3 Viewers)

[Gander]

Arrived back on the platform yesterday.

There were only a few Fulmars about out at sea, but in the afternoon, a Woodpigeon was seen to arrive on the platform.

Today, there are reports of a few small birds around, but I have not come across any myself yet. I have seen two Carrion Crows, and we have found that in our absence, they have built a nest on the South crane from plastic tie wraps, and even more surprisingly, there is a single egg in the nest.

 

[delia todd]

Hi Phwoffy and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. Where have you moved to? Are you still in Scotland?

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

 

[Gander]

Found this by chance, and am delighted. Lived in the islands for 10 years and miss it painfully, so it's lovely to hear what's happening out in the ol' North Sea.

Hope you have a nice bit at home; when you get back, do let us know if you spot any bonxies (great skuas), won't you? I am so sad for how badly bird flu has hit them.

Yes, I'll be reporting any Skuas. We have had as many as 5 at the same time in the past, and hopefully, we will see those days again.

 

[Gander]

Crows nest now has three eggs in it. Deck crew noticed that the first egg was sitting on bare grating, so they put a wad of padded material under the egg. This should stop them getting chilled from below.
The nest is on a set of movable steps on a grating walkway that surrounds our south crane. When we are onboard, there is lots of activity in this area. The guys will try to avoid it as much as possible, but there are limits to how much avoidance can be given.
I've no idea how the adults are finding enough food to survive, let alone what will happen if any of these eggs hatch. I stick to a fairly strict no interference policy, with no feeding allowed rule, but am considering waiving it for what is an exceptional circumstance. Of course the platform is unmanned for three out of 6 weeks, so they will be on their own for long periods.

 

[delia todd]

Good luck to them.... and you too Paul.

 

[Gander]

In regards to the crows nest, I have decided not to intervene in any way. That said, I know the crew will start feeding the birds if any chicks hatch.
Photo attached of the occupied nest taken from distance yesterday. This morning the crows were away from nest, so grabbed a photo of the eggs. I normally would not take photo of a nest, but as this is a pretty unique circumstance, I thought it should be properly recorded.
Also photo attached of what I take to be a crow pellet.

 

[Gander]

The day before yesterday, I was heading back to the accommodation block at end of shift, when I caught the briefest of glimpses of a small, brown bird flitting into cover. There had been reports during the day from the crew of similar encounters, but no definite IDs. As my bird disappeared, I heard a cheap, that if I was stood in a woodland at home, I would have put down to being a sparrow species. As we don't get sparrows out here, I discounted my initial thought.

Yesterday, I was again making my way to the accommodation at end of shift, but took a detour to one of the modules to shut a valve. At the door to the module, I came across a dead bird, and was amazed to find that we do get sparrows out here.

First new entry to the platform master list in quite a while is....

13) Tree Sparrow.

Note - Woodpigeon was 12th for year.

 

[delia todd]

Also photo attached of what I take to be a crow pellet.

There seems to be some plastic in there? Hope they can find something better to feed the chicks if they hatch!!!

12) Tree Sparrow.

A nice addition to the list Paul, but such unfortunate circumstances.

You must have more than 12 on the "Master List", so I presume this refers to sightings this year?

 

[Gander]

I have noted that we have gone through the 1000 posts mark this week, and as I have not updated the platform master list in quite a while, I decided it was high time to do so.
While reviewing the list, I found that Redpoll did not appear on it, as although reported to me a few years ago, we were unable to definitely decide on which species of Redpoll it had been. Thankfully, those very nice people at the IOC have decided that Redpoll is now one species, so it is now on my master list.
Redshank, about a year ago, turns out to be our 100th bird on the list, with yesterday's Tree Sparrow setting the total so far at 101 species.

Just under nine years of recording. 1000+ posts. 100+ species. Lots of highs and lows. If nothing else, it has been an education for me, and I greatly appreciate those who have chipped in along the way with observations, identifications, corrections, encouragement and help. I hope anyone following this thread has enjoyed reading about my birds, as much as I have enjoyed finding and reporting on them.

Now, let's see if we can get to 120!

Platform Master List

1. Barnacle Goose
2. Greylag Goose
3. Pink-Footed Goose
4. Gadwall
5. Teal
6. Common Eider
7. Velvet Scoter
8. Common Scoter
9. Long-Tailed Duck
10. Red-Breasted Merganser
11. Nightjar (d)
12. Woodpigeon
13. Collared Dove
14. Water Rail
15. Oystercatcher*
16. Golden Plover
17. Ringed Plover (d)
18. Curlew
19. Turnstone
20. Ruff (d*)
21. Dunlin
22. Woodcock
23. Snipe
24. Grey Phalarope
25. Redshank
26. Spotted Redshank
27. Greenshank
28. Kittiwake
29. Black-Headed Gull
30. Common Gull
31. Great Black-Backed Gull
32. Glaucous Gull
33. Iceland Gull
34. Herring Gull
35. Lesser Black-Backed Gull
36. Arctic Tern
37. Great Skua
38. Arctic Skua
39. Common Guillemot
40. Razorbill
41. Puffin
42. Storm Petrel
43. Fulmar
44. Balearic Shearwater
45. Gannet
46. Shag
47. Cormorant
48. Grey Heron
49. Osprey*
50. Honey Buzzard*
51. Sparrowhawk
52. Long-Eared Owl
53. Short-Eared Owl
54. Wryneck (d)
55. Great Spotted Woodpecker (d)
56. Kestrel
57. Merlin
58. Peregrine
59. Red-Backed Shrike
60. Carrion Crow
61. Hooded Crow
62. Waxwing
63. Blue Tit*
64. Great Tit
65. Sand Martin
66. Swallow
67. House Martin
68. Yellow-Browed Warbler
69. Willow Warbler
70. Chiffchaff
71. Sedge Warbler
72. Icterine Warbler
73. Blackcap
74. Lesser Whitethroat
75. Goldcrest
76. Wren
77. Starling
78. Blackbird
79. Fieldfare
80. Redwing
81. Song Thrush
82. Spotted Flycatcher
83. Robin
84. Pied Flycatcher
85. Black Redstart
86. Common Redstart
87. Stonechat
88. Wheatear
89. Tree Sparrow
90. Yellow Wagtail
91. Grey Wagtail
92. Pied Wagtail
93. Meadow Pipit
94. Rock Pipit
95. Chaffinch
96. Brambling
97. Redpoll*
98. Goldfinch
99. Siskin
100. Yellowhammer
101. Little Bunting (d)

 

[Gander]

There seems to be some plastic in there? Hope they can find something better to feed the chicks if they hatch!!!


A nice addition to the list Paul, but such unfortunate circumstances.

You must have more than 12 on the "Master List", so I presume this refers to sightings this year?

Yes, 12 is the running total for the platform this year. Funnily enough, I've just posted an update of the master list.

NB - Just noticed I forgot to list Woodpigeon, so Tree Sparrow is now 13th for the year.

 

[delia todd]

Funnily enough, I've just posted an update of the master list.

LOL yes... thanks Paul I'd just been reading it.

Congratulations on getting to 1000+ posts in this thread. It's great to read long-running threads like this.... so full of history.

 

[Gander]

Crow update.
Next to the main nest, there is an adjoining extension that we believe the male has been roosting in. There are now another 2 eggs in this part of the structure.

 

[Gander]

Just back from checking bird reported on Spider deck. First Wheatear of the year seen feeding on the seaweed encrusted legs.

2025 List
1) Kittiwake
2) Great Black-backed Gull
3) Herring Gull
4) Gannet
5) Greylag Goose*
6) Carrion Crow
7) Fulmar
8) Robin
9) Common Gull
10) Common Scoter
11) Chiffchaff
12) Woodpigeon
13) Tree Sparrow (d)
14) Wheatear

 

[Gander]

Yesterday's Wheatear, and today's crow nest with 5 eggs.

 

[Gander]

Now 7 eggs in the Crow nest.

We are going for a new sub-species

 

[Weasel1]

The crow's nest really is something else, such ingenuity and intelligence went into creating it with the materials available.