2009 totals

Stormies: 854new 143retraps (including 23 controls -one of which was norwegion and two Portuguese).
Great Skua: 1retrap
Greater Black-Backed Gull: 1new
Meadow Pipit: 3new
Pied Wagtail: 1retrap
Wren: 2new 1retrap
Twite: 1new

thus 861new 146retrap = 1007 birds handled.

Albino Storm Petrel

This one would cause a few raised eyebrows, voices and temperatures if it flew past a seawatch point!

This partial albino Storm Petrel was caught (and ringed) recently on Eilean nan Ron, off the Kyle of Tongue, Scotland. It was an adult bird and had its right foot missing! This might seem odd, but is actually quite a common occurrence in petrels - one of the hazards of dangling your feet in the water whilst feeding!

Thanks to Colin McShane (and Lisa Salt) for the photo

Guys: nicked from the BTO demog blog - I'm sure no one will mind too much.

ENR History

Just 'found' a new bit on the web. Check this out:
http://www.scottishweb.net/articles/40/1/The-Story-Of-Island-Roan/Page1.html

and also:
http://www.melness.org.uk/islandroanmaster.html

Prelim results from 2009

A final team of nine - Kenny, Tony, Bob, Alan, Liz, Derek(Fred), Stephen, Roy and Joe. The journey up was in glorious sunny weather, the crossing in a heavy drizzle (which continued on and off for most of the morning) and the rest of the week was predominantly dry and sunny.

Sunday night: the whole team at The Maze for a full session. 234 new birds, 41 retraps.
Monday night: all at The Maze again for a full night. 191 new, 33 retraps.
Tuesday night: split teams - Bob, Liz and Roy with one net on the Slabs for a full night, with the rest still at The Maze - but with a shortened night due to malfunctioning sound system. From the Slabs - 150 new, 56 retraps; The Maze 57 new, 4 retraps.
Wednesday night: relocation of all nets to the lower camp site. Team of four - Liz and Tony extracting, Bob and Stephen ringing. 207 new, 13 retraps.

Totals: 839 new 147 retraps - two Portuguese and one Norwegian control with several British controls.

In addition caught one juvenile Great Black-backed gull, three wren, one Pied Wagtail, three Meadow Pipit and one Twite (not included in the figures above which all relate to Storm Petrels).

Forty-nine Fulmar nests were recorded and three of Shag.

Forty-nine species of bird were recorded along with six species of butterfly and seven grey seals.

More to follow...

...only two days to go - hurrah.

Our time for 2009 approaches. Only a small team are making the trip this year (eight in total assuming we all catch the boat) but I'm sure we'll all have a great time. The weather is looking a little challenging - but who cares?
I'll post our exploits upon our return - assuming the weather allows us to get off on time!!

Skua'd

A skua, darvic'd in 2001 has been recovered. Unfortunately it was only the ring, the bird having become chick fodder. The ring was found in a Golden Eagle eyrie somewhere in Scotland. The site is listed as "confidential", so we'll never truly find out where it was.