Skokholm 29.07-02.08

Hello,

We made it onto Skokholm on the 29th July which is two days later than we should of due to the strong westerly winds and the large swell around the dock. We then came off a day early too, on the 2nd August again because of the horrible foretold weather for the upcoming days.

The Wednesday night we went out to attempt to catch a small number of Manx Shearwaters which we did concluding to catch 10 birds. However Skokholm is the largest Manx Shearwater colony in the world so we hardly touched the surface on the number of birds on the island. In the morning some of us woke after only having a couple of hours sleep to catch the roosting Jackdaws in one of their Heligoland traps.

The Thursday was our first full day on the island with the 16 strong members of the ringing group which I am apart of, the Northants Ringing Group with helpers and friends along with us of which most were starting to catch and ring wild birds on the island. The weather helped as we woke to a lovely sunny day as the slowly started to stop.

We caught birds using a variety of ways including Mist Nets, Spring Traps and Heligoland traps. Birds caught included many Willow Warbler but also Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat, Pied Wagtail, Meadow and Rock Pipit and Wheatear.

Waders on show were a Green Sandpiper, Redshank, Ruff and Whimbrel. Island birds were Peregrine, Chough, Raven and common sea birds.

During the Afternoon some of us elected to go on a fast RIB boat, which took us on a tour around the Gannet island of Grassholm. Here we took advantage of the excellent views of the thousands of Gannets going around the boat to take large amount of pictures. The waders including three Purple Sandpipers and some Turnstones.

Gannets leaving Grassholm to feed on fish in the surrounding area

A flock of Gannets flying towards Grassholm probably from a large distance 

During Thursday's night and Fridays early hours we caught around 180 Storm Petrels. Our catch was probably reduced as a full moon and no cloud made our nets more visible. However we worked until 11pm and 4am. When we stopped we decided to attempt a catch some Jackdaws leading to just the one bird caught.

On Friday, during the day we went out to catch some small passerines which we did leading to a large catch of migrant Willow Warblers. We also caught the other migrants and some breeders on the island including Wheatears. During the Friday night we caught a small number of Manx Shearwaters.

On Saturday the weather was more cloudy and some sunny parts. In this we caught Swallow, Meadow Pipit, Willow Warbler and Wheatear. During Saturday night we caught another large catch of Stormies and a dozen Manxies.

Regards,

Jacob

The group from Northants who went to Skokholm

A Grey Seal at South Haven, Skokholm.

Shag

Oystercatcher