Monthly Archives: December 2022

Chough report: November 2022

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By Charlotte Dean

Wind, rain & DIY!

The wind and rain have been battering the aviary a lot this month, so the keepers have been kept hard at work carrying out regular aviary structure checks, keeping the hatch wires tight and tying down and fixing any loose panelling. With all these strong winds, the aviary definitely has a low groan, while still standing strong. Thanks to the strong winds and heavy downpours it’s been a month of aviary surprises. As you will see in the photograph, one of our release hatches broke at the hinges – just goes to show how windy it has been! Thankfully, it wasn’t a hatch that is regularly used so it didn’t cause any harm to the keepers or the birds. The hatch was fixed but will eventually be replaced with a new one in the New Year. Considering the aviary was built almost 10 years ago, it is surprising that it doesn’t have more wear and tear and, despite the terrible weather, it is quite clear that it doesn’t stop the choughs from having fun!

Colour-rings

It has come to that time of year when colour rings start dropping off our choughs; this is most likely caused by the drastic change in temperature making the already long worn colour rings brittle enough to fall off. This in turn can bring identification concerns, but nothing a catch-up and re-ring can’t fix! If we can catch them that is. We have recently had a few of our adults fly into the aviary with colour-rings missing but thankfully these are some of our pairs and, therefore, it’s easy to know who’s who by identifying the other bird in the pair. We can just be thankful though that they’ve been lost and haven’t caused any ring-related issues. As choughs are relatively large birds, we use ‘wrap-around’ plastic rings which can, luckily very rarely, trap toes and/or claws; but in most cases, other ring options can have similar problems.

When a chough has its toe and/or claw stuck in a colour-ring, it doesn’t worry the keepers too much as this is a common occurrence for some birds. Furthermore, trapped digits are often more common in female choughs during the breeding season as their rings get stuck while they’re incubating. However, the birds generally manage to correct themselves without the keepers intervening. At the moment, however, we have a two adults in the flock that have their digits stuck in their colour rings, which we are closely monitoring. So far, they’ve not shown any signs of injury, but it may be that they will be caught up in the near future if the problem doesn’t naturally correct itself.

Juveniles catch-up

An attempt was made at the end of November to catch some adults with plastic ring issues; however, as ever, the adults outsmarted the keepers and flew away before they had a chance to set up! As we had arranged a ‘back up’ of other happy helpers to the aviary, we took the opportunity to catch some unsuspecting juveniles that let their hunger get the better of them by entering the aviary. So, five of the thirteen 2022 chicks were caught in the aviary. Although the newest additions to this wild populations have already been given names, we took blood samples from the briefly held juveniles to find out their sexes! The first five choughs caught, and blood sampled were: Willow, Liberty, Pine, Sallow & Birch. The blood samples themselves will take a few weeks to be processed and for us to receive the results. However, on visual observations, some choughs are more obvious through sexual size dimorphism than others. Male choughs are generally much heavier and larger than female choughs. On close inspection it became very clear that Sallow is a very large bird and most likely a male, it was the largest of all five caught. Portelet, a female which hatched in 2020, has been warming to Sallow of late and was spotted waiting outside the aviary for Sallow’s release. This brings great hope for a new pairing of Sallow & Portelet in the near future. Birch was quite average in size, however, but like Sallow & Portelet; Chewbacca was also seen waiting outside the aviary for its release so there could be another pair on the horizon. In the meantime, watch this space!

 

Chough report: October 2022

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By Charlotte Dean

Young choughs to amateur choughs

It has been fantastic to watch as the chicks of 2022 learn and grow their skills within the flock. Some are trying to mutually preen the adults; many are swatted away. When attempting with other chicks and/or siblings it results in a play fight until one gives in. However, there’s one chick that we’ve been keeping a close eye on lately, and that is Sallow. Sallow has been trying to preen Portelet, a female which was wild-hatched in 2020. At first, Portelet had been dismissive but, we are now noticing Sallow & Portelet arriving to the aviary together and Sallow is regularly preening Portelet with no resistance. Could this be a new pair bond blossoming? Could these two become a new breeding pair in the near future? Only time (and blood tests) will tell, but we stand hopeful.

Spooky enrichment

We’re always looking for new ideas to spice up the wild choughs’ lives at Sorel and being the month of Halloween; we had plenty of fun ideas for spooky enrichment. Our chough student, Kira, was given the task of carving out a little pumpkin for the wild chough and what a good job she did! For starters, it was placed inside the aviary but it became quite clear, however, that the choughs were slightly concerned when it came to this very bright orange object looming in their aviary as they were very reluctant to go near it. So instead, we placed it into the sloping field behind the aviary allowing them to freely decide if they wanted to advance any closer to it. With a little encouragement with tasty insects, some of the choughs did start to explore this new scary bright orange object in one of their foraging spots. The adults seemed to be the most reluctant to check out this new object. However, the 2022 chicks were the brave ones with Hazel & Birch both being the main two approaching this chough inspired pumpkin.

Aviary TLC

Apart from giving the choughs a ‘scare’, we’ve been giving the aviary some well-deserved TLC of late. With the colder and wetter weather setting into Jersey; it’s a good time to make sure the aviary is in tip top condition. This involves, and is not limited to, updating old bolts. As the aviary is situated in the elements all year round, the weather can certainly take its toll on the aviary including the metal structures such as padlocks, bolts, hatches and hinges. The keepers do their best to ensure that all the metal structures are well looked after by regularly greasing them for extra waterproofing protection. However, constant weathering over time is inevitable and metals do become rusty and must be removed and replaced. Some jobs are easier to complete than others; but that’s all part of the aviary maintenance challenge. This newly installed bolt will allow easy keeper access inside the aviary as well as keeping the door safely shut when the weather is blowing a gale – which in turn prevents any chough related accidents!

Camera trap capture success

We’ve kept our camera-trap strapped around a feeder stand in the aviary to see if we could find our hole and mound-making rodents that are obviously thriving in the aviary. We managed to capture one of the cheeky wood mice that lurk in the aviary while the keepers weren’t present. The wood mouse is a very common mouse found across the whole island. They are generally nocturnal and live in complex underground burrows where they nest and keep food stores of fruits and seeds. However, there are plenty of other small mammals such as bank voles and shrews that also use burrows. So, this wood mouse most likely isn’t the only culprit involved in creating these holes throughout the aviary, but it is definitely one of the contenders.

December volunteer activity

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Coppiced willow - geograph.org.uk. Photo by Richard Webb Wikimedia CommonsSunday 11th December 2022 – Vallee des Vaux, St Helier 10:30-13.00

From Jersey Conservation Volunteers

Task Coppicing is the practice of cutting trees and shrubs (typically willow and hazel) to the ground in order to promote a fresh re-growth of the shoots and stems and prevent the woodland floor from drying out. A further result of a coppice is that it allows more sunlight to flood the woodland floor – allowing more vegetation to grow. The varying heights of the willow branches (‘rods’) also attracts differing species of animals.

Hazel is a very popular wood for creating living structures such as pergolas, arches, fences and tunnels. By cutting the branches, the willow rods will also grow stronger and straighter, which makes them more suitable for creating structures.

We will be using the material we cut to create a ‘dead hedge’ living structure. This will make good use of what we cut down, as well providing an aesthetically pleasing new habitat for wildlife.

If you have any questions, or if you wish to be added (or removed) to/from the Wild About Jersey email list, please contact either Julia Clively (tel: 441600; j.clively@gov.je) or Jon Parkes (tel: 483193; jon.parkes@nationaltrust.je).

The site Please see map screenshot (below) for where to park on the day. We will be working in small woodlands called Le Don Nerou and Le Don le Gallais in Vallee des Vaux, St Helier.

Jersey Phone Directory Map 9, 13X

Time Meet at 10.15, ready to start work at 10:30. We will finish work at approximately 12:30 to give us the chance for a catch up over a cuppa.

Parking See map above.

Tools needed All the tools/equipment will be supplied, but please do bring your own gloves if possible.

Clothing needed Please also keep an eye out for the weather forecast and dress appropriately. Waterproofs may be required, and outdoor footwear or wellies are recommended.

Children All are welcome, although we do ask that volunteers under 16 years of age are accompanied by an adult. Due to the uneven ground, a reasonable level of fitness is required.

Refreshments

*Please make sure you bring your own mug or reusable cup*

Homemade cake and a cuppa will be available from Kim to reward the workers after the task.