Pleasant enough afternoon for a laid back seawatch from the Tobacco Dump today, so Bazzo and I got down to the site for 1240 to 1505.
Not a great deal on the move, but large rafts of Common Scoter were tantalisingly out of range near the horizon - at least 500 birds.
Small parties of Manxies scudded north at eye-watering range, and one or two Arctic Skuas stayed at a similar distance, but at least the Gannets and terns fished close in.
A first year Shag was unexpected - they seem to be getting more regular each year.
Parties of Swallows heading south a good way out in the bay.
Few Grayling, Gatekeepers and Common Blues in the dunes, which was better than the moth trap, which yielded very poor results at Dempsey Towers last night, mainly the three commoner yellow underwings, but you can't win 'em all.
Manx Shearwater 25
Shag 1
Gannet 97
Great Crested Grebe 3
Common Scoter 5-600
Arctic Skua 1-2
Sandwich Tern 180
Common Tern 220
Arctic Tern 1
Adult Harbour Porpoise fishing close inshore at 1250, before it swam out towards the rig, and up to five Grey Seals dozing in the shallows.
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...
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I think you will enjoy this blog:
www.planetbirds.blogspot.com
Check it out!!
Despite the UK being globally-renowned for its immense populations of seabirds – including puffins, terns and gannets - laws to designate marine protected areas in England and Wales are failing these iconic species because too few seabird sites are being protected, says the RSPB – Europe’s largest wildlife conservation charity.
Andrew Gouldstone is the area conservation manager for North West England. Commenting on the relative failure of seabird protection, he said: “The UK Government has an international commitment to designate a comprehensive network of marine protected areas by the end of next year. But for seabirds, at least, we’re on course to fail because the number of sites being considered is woefully inadequate and in some cases seabirds are being excluded from the designation process.
“The seas around the UK – including the Irish Sea - are rich in wildlife, but they are also important for economic interests too. Fisheries, renewable-energy projects, oil and gas exploration, tourism, shipping and aggregate extraction are just some of the industries that are competing with each other and the environment for growth. We believe that wildlife must be safeguarded alongside the marine ‘gold rush’ that’s currently underway. Protecting the most important sites would take them out of jeopardy and would provide much-needed clarity for marine developers and industry.
“Thankfully, most seabird nesting sites are already protected, but the areas where seabirds feed at sea are not, meaning that these species are only generally afforded protection on land. This is a nonsense: it’s like having robust laws preventing burglary, while having no laws preventing mugging. Seabirds need protection at sea too.”
There is new legislation in England and Wales enabling the designation of marine sites that are important at a national level. Currently, there are four English projects – involving a range of stakeholders – selecting a network of nationally-important Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) under the Marine and Coastal Access Act, enacted in 2009. But these projects have largely been told by government to exclude seabirds from the designation process.
Andrew said: “The only proposed Marine Conservation Zone in the Irish Sea with conservation objectives for seabirds is an area of sea around St Bee’s Head in Cumbria. This would be managed for black guillemots and would have indirect benefits for the other species of seabirds that breed at the colony such as puffins. So this MCZ is welcomed.
However there are five other MCZs proposed within the Irish Sea in areas that are used heavily by foraging seabirds including guillemot and gannets, and there is currently no planned measures to protect these birds. “
Since 1979, the UK Government has had the power to designate marine sites of European importance for birds under the European Union Birds Directive. But, so far, it has dragged its feet and is currently running 30 years behind schedule, with only a minimum number of sites designated so far.
Furthermore, the UK Government has recently revealed that it does not expect to complete its ecologically-coherent UK network of marine protected areas until at least 2015 – three years after the internationally-agreed deadline of next year.
Andrew added: “It is ironic that despite our global importance for seabirds we’re consistently failing to protect them at sea. The UK has the largest European Union population of 15 species of seabird, including puffin, gannet and kittiwake. Therefore, it doesn’t seem appropriate that countries with shorter coastlines and smaller sea areas, like Germany and Denmark, are shaming the UK with the extent of their marine protected area networks.”
Please step up for nature and support our campaign to ensure seabirds are fully protected. Sign our pledge and call on the Minister to stand up for nature by signing a pledge urging the UK Government ministers to ensure that seabirds are safeguarded at sea. To sign the pledge visit: www.rspb.org.uk/marinepetition
Hi John, I've found four, almost fully fed, Humming-bird Hawk-moth caterpillars locally over the past few weeks, so I think that we can expect to see good numbers of the adult moths when they start emerging later this month or in early September. Meanwhile my House Sparrow colony in the Ivy on the house wall has had a good year with over 50 preening together in the morning sunshine recently despite the best efforts of Sparrow Hawks, Magpies, Grey Squirrels and numerous loathsome domestic cats.