Thanks to Bob Harris for the link to the Joint Nature Conservancy's status report on seabirds for 2005, and thanks to Neill Hunt for this stonking pic of Gannets to go with it....
I have linked straight to the report, below, because the 107 page document is fascinating reading.
After the breeding disasters of seabird populations in 2004, when the only thing that seemed to be thriving was Great Skua, there seemed to be some recovery around the UK.
Good news for all seawatchers - and seabird colonies.
The 2004 crash was largely down to the decimation of sand eels on fishing grounds, which had a catastrophic "domino effect" on the rest of the food chain.
Meanwhile Record numbers of Common Tern pulli have been ringed at Shotton this year - to date 1032 - the first time a thousand has been breached.
I watched one pootling over Litherland heading north earlier this week on a hot afternoon. The address to the full report is:
http://www.jncc.gov.uk/pdf/pub06_Seabird_numbers2005.pdf
(This is a large file, so you may want to download it - click (or right-click) the link and chose "Save file as ...")
My Daily Post column tomorrow is about Lesser Emperor Dragonfly, Phil Smith and Jellyhead Jackson - a potent combination if ever there was one.
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies....
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