June/July 2016

Another random collection of pictures from the summer. Only managed to locate one pair of breeding Merlin out on the bogs this summer. We ringed the four chicks on the same day that we ringed a late brood of two Peregrine chicks and two broods of Kestrels. One of the Kestrel chicks was actually too small to be ringed making it one of the latest Kestrel broods we've ringed in Connemara. This was the first time that we managed to ring all three Irish breeding falcons on the one day.

Juvenile Merlin 

Juvenile Merlin  

Juvenile Merlin

Juvenile Merlin

Third-calendar Common Gull

Adult Common Gull in attack mode. 

Adult Common Gull

Juvenile Kestrel on Mason Island beach. 

Rock Island Lighthouse off to the west of Inishmore.

Common Tern  colony near Carna.

Common Tern  colony near Carna.

Adult Common Tern

Irish Hare 

Irish Hare 

Inishbofin Ferry

Great Skua 

Great Skua

Stonechat 

Stonechat

Inishmore October 2015 Part Two



A few more pictures from my week out on Inishmore, mostly non-passerines. I recorded about 82 species during my time. Good week for raptors with up to three Kestrels seen in a day. Many were most noticeable hovering very early in the day before sunrise. Merlin was seen on most days and probably involved a few different birds. It was nice to see an adult pair of Peregrines tag teaming a Woodpigeon one particular morning even though they missed on the occasion. A few Sparrowhawks out there but like Kestrels and Peregrine they probably breed on the island anyway.

Not as many Red-legged Partridges seen this year compared to last October. One showy pair over at Bun Gabhla which obviously didn't breed as would be expected. I'd imagine that the majority of them will have died off by next year as they aren't likely to reproduce and are very short lived birds anyway. Seem to large numbers of Pheasants out there too. I don't quite get why people go to the expense and time releasing large numbers of non native species onto an offshore island like this. It would be far more beneficial to do something with native species. Most people actually don't realise that Pheasants aren't native to Ireland. There was even a white farmyard duck on Loch Phort Chórrúch. I've seen a few domestic ducks released here in the past, most of which die of starvation.

It was sad to see several landowners/farmers spraying brambles and shrub with what is most likely Roundup. The island has a big problem of land abandonment and many fields are now clogged up with brambles, ferns, blackthorn and hazel. It also makes finding migrants who seek out such habitat extremely difficult e.g. shrikes, Wrynecks, Barred Warblers, etc. Traditionally these would have been correctly controlled by livestock, fire and manual clearance. The use of these chemicals in such a pristine habitat is disappointing to see. The long term effects of these herbicides is still being debated but could be likely to be damaging to environmental and human health. The islands are essentially an extension of the Burren habitat-wise and are rightly renowned for their flora which has been the result of active farming over many centuries. The use of these chemicals could well result in the loss of some of these important flora communities. The majority of farming is dry stock cattle, horse/pony and with some goats which have become more popular again in recent years. I only saw two sheep during the whole week which was two too many as far as I'm concerned. Sheep are just bad news in just about every Irish habitat you can imagine. There are no longer any cereals or root crops apart from the very rare small vegetable patch here and there. This has been responsible for the loss of species like Yellowhammer to these islands. I'm sure Corn Bunting must have been a resident out here in the past although there is no written evidence of this.

There's a great agri-environmental scheme just started on the Aran islands called AranLIFE. Mirrored on the BurrenLife project it describes itself as - "The AranLIFE project is a demonstration project operating on the three Aran Islands over a 4 year period from 2014-2017, co-funded under the EU LIFE Nature programme. It seeks to develop and demonstrate the best conservation management practices of local farmers on the designated Natura 2000 sites of the three islands (protected habitats for flora and fauna of European importance). The project focuses on farming activities on the islands within the Natura designated sites, harnessing local farming knowledge and experience with the scientific expertise of other project partners to overcome some of the challenges of island farming and to improve the conservation status of the designated sites."
It's good to see such projects that reward the farmer for actual results rather than giving money for plans on paper that have no measurable outcomes. It seems to have a good take-up by local farmers. Have a look at the website for further information. http://www.aranlife.ie/

Kestrel

Kestrel

Kestrel

Kestrel

Merlin

Peregrine

Pintail

Moorhen

 

Red-legged Partridge

Red-legged Partridge

Red-legged Partridge

Red-legged Partridge

Black Guillemot

Common Guillemot

Gannet

 

Brown Rat

Kilmurvey Cat

Belted Galloway Cow

Young Rabbit

 

Gable stone on old shed, built in 1888 I think?

Rock Island Lighthouse

This used to be one of the best gradens on the west side of the island. It's had Dusky Warbler, 1+ Red-breasted Flycatcher, 2 Wood Warblers and several Yellow-browed Warblers. That all changed with the construction of a house right in the middle of the Sycamore grove with only a third of it now remaining. I didn't see a single warbler or even Goldcrest in there during the whole week but that's progress as they'd say :-(

Wild Strawberry, rather tasty!

First-year male breeding Merlin

I dropped into one of the Merlin families that we ringed two weeks ago to check if they had successfully fledged. There were at least two juveniles (male and female) out of the nest and I suspect the other two chicks were in the area also. The adult female was on site the whole time. At one stage a male showed up which I initially thought was the adult male but it was apparent that it was a "brown" male. I naturally assumed it was one of the chicks. However I managed to get a few woeful record shots of it and on later inspection it proved to be a second-calendar/first-summer male. The light was atrocious at the time as it was raining for most the time. While the UK and to a lesser degree the east of Ireland has been experiencing a heat wave recently, typically for the west of Ireland we've had rain and windy conditions for the last while with temperatures struggling to even reach the high teens.
The male can be aged as a young bird by the newly moulted adult male-type black inner primaries contrasting with the old brown outer primaries and new grey scapulars, rump and tail although these aren't too easy to see in these crap shots. Female Merlin tend to nest for the first time earlier than males. Two different studies put the average age of first breeding of female Merlin at 1.3 ± 0.1 years and 1.3 ± 0.6 years while the age of males was 2.3 ± 0.1 and 1.9 ± 0.7 years. Another study in Northumberland, UK found that 18% of breeding pairs contained a first year female but only 8 - 9% contained a first year male. Adult pairs tend to breed early in the year and are more productive than pairs with at least one first year bird.
One hypothesis for males taking that extra year to commence breeding compared to females is that they generally require more hunting experience as it largely falls on them to provide most of the food during the laying, incubation and early chick stages of the breeding cycle. Thankfully this young male was able to provide enough food to raise a brood of chicks in this instance. This isn't the first first year male that I've encountered in the small sample size of pairs I've had in Connemara with another first-year male seen two years ago. This relative high rate of breeding first year males may be a sign that all may not be well with the species here. It would suggest that there may be a lack of recruitment of adult males into the population i.e. that survival rates for males past their first year may be poor as females would certainly prefer older more experienced males. It's interesting to consider that the average life span of a Merlin is only 3 - 5 years. I'm assuming the breeding female was a at least a second-year or an older female but they are much more difficult to age but can be aged by the shape of tail feathers and the shape of the tail bars.

Second-calendar male Merlin.

Second-calendar male Merlin.

 

Second-calendar male Merlin.

 

Second-calendar male Merlin.

Adult female Merlin.

Adult female Merlin.

Adult female Merlin.

Adult female Merlin.

Adult female Merlin.

Adult female Merlin.