Cap de Carteret in 2020

Yann Mouchel, the ranger keeping a close eye on our chough in Carteret, has written an article for Birds On The Edge explaining some of the work his group have been doing to conserve bird species on their coast. 

The French Birds On The Edge if you will.

Anaïs Niobey, from Maison de la Normandie et de la Manche in St. Helier, very kindly translated Yann’s article into English. The original French document can be found below.

The Cap de Carteret is visited each year by an increasing number of visitors. Last spring’s lockdown has given nature some breathing space. The eco-counters located in the area to count the number of pedestrians were put on hold – there had, sometimes, been more than 500 people a day counted on the path called “Sentier des Douaniers” (literally: Path of Customs Officers).

Beaten by the wind and the ocean spray with very important sunshine when warmer weather comes back, life on the side of a cliff is not always easy. And yet, plants and animals have been able to develop coping strategies to withstand these extreme living conditions.

At first glance, one could say that the cliffs of Carteret are similar to those of Rozel or Flamanville and the tip of la Hague (all in the North of La Manche County). They are more modest, let’s recognize it, but even though they have a number of animals and plants in common, each of the capes of the Cotentin has its own set of specifications that makes them unique thanks to their geographical orientation or their geology.

The Nez de Carteret can be proud of its cliffs, though lower than those of the Nez de Voidries. It is at the heart of West Cotentin capes’ maritime history and a real ecological gem for Normandy.

And this year, this cape welcomed a new tenant: the peregrine falcon. With a wingspan of 95cm to 115cm, a height of 50cm and a weight of 750 grams to 1.35kg, this raptor is a fearsome predator. The female is a little more robust than the male. It feeds almost exclusively on birds caught in flight (from the size of a blackbird/robin to a pigeon, rarely larger), and its speeds are dizzying because it can fly up to 350 km/h when it dives in the air.

In the 1970s, peregrine falcon populations were severely decimated by the massive use of organochlorine pesticides such as lindane or DDT resulting in a dramatic decline of the species throughout its range. At that time, it only really survived in mountainous areas. However, the ban on these pesticides and efforts made to protect raptors were gradually felt and today we are witnessing, in many places, the return of the peregrine falcon to its areas of origin. In La Manche County, it finds favourable conditions in the sea cliffs or the rocky walls of the quarries.

The peregrine falcon has been seen around the cliffs of Cap de Carteret for several years now. But it quickly finds itself in competition with another rock species: the large raven, which uses the same nesting sites.

From February, every year, the two species compete for nesting sites and it is the pair of large corvids that has been winning the battle. Four young birds were born this year and it’s also not uncommon to see several adult ravens trying to take over the cliff. The known nearby nesting sites are located around Rozel, Diélette and Mount Doville.

After lockdown, we were amazed to discover that the two species had been able to share the cliffs this year; the peregrine falcon’s presence was probably helped by the lack of humans in the area. Nonetheless, these species remain very vulnerable to the disruption caused by outdoor activities. Even more so this year, because everyone naturally had a great need to breathe at the end of lockdown and wanted to go back to nature.

On the Preserved Natural Area, where nature is offered to the public, we decided, with the support of the municipality of Barneville Carteret, volunteers of LPO and an effective watch of the semaphore team, to temporarily close the portion of footpath right above the nesting area and create a diversion, so that the pair of peregrine falcons could raise their three young without any human disturbance. We also temporarily banned the take-off of paragliders and aero-modelling aircraft from the entire site. The paragliders of the “Cotentin Vol Libre” club were invited to the Cape for a presentation on the protection of this natural area and these two emblematic species. 

Information was gradually brought to the visitors and we found that this was generally respected and well understood. Those efforts were rewarded with the fledging of the three young falcons! We reopened the path on 6 July.

When we came out of lockdown, we also intervened in the same way to temporarily protect a small colony of sand martins in the Barneville dunes. Those birds, long-haul travellers, are relatively mobile and settle in different colonies where they dig their burrows in micro sand cliffs of eroded dunes. They can be seen in several places on the shores of the “Côte des Isles” (name of the area around Barneville).

In the future, if necessary, we can collectively reinstate these operations to protect the area and that do not call into question the discovery of these natural sites.

Suffice to say that the Cap de Carteret and the dunes have not yet finished surprising us and that nature is a source of beautiful emotions provided you respect and preserve it. A real challenge is to pass on this legacy to future generations so that they can enjoy it too!

Yann works for the Syndicat Mixte Espaces Littoraux de la Manche (SyMEL) which is responsible for the management of protected coastal sites within the Department of la Manche. 

Map of coastal areas protected by SyMel. Image courtesy of www.SyMEL.fr

 
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The State of the UK’s Birds 2020

From BTO

The State of UK’s Birds reports have provided an annual overview of the status of breeding and non-breeding bird species in the UK and its Overseas Territories since 1999. This year’s report highlights the continuing poor fortunes of the UK’s woodland birds.

SUKB collates data from annual, periodic and one-off surveys and monitoring studies of birds, such as the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), Rare Breeding Birds Panel (RBBP), the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS), Seabird Monitoring Programme (SMP) and Goose and Swan Monitoring Programme (GSMP). In addition, the 2020 report also includes results from the Nest Record Scheme, Constant Effort Sites (CES) Scheme and Re-trapping Adults for Survival (RAS) Scheme, the latter two schemes collecting demographic information through the efforts of bird ringers.

The report takes information from these and other schemes, research and surveys and delivers information at a country-specific scale, as well as providing an overview for the UK as a whole.

Volunteers play an essential role in bird monitoring in the UK, by donating their time, energy and expertise. The data they collect are vital for conservation, tracking changes in populations and supporting policy development. This year, many monitoring schemes have been adversely affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic and we want to say a special thank you to all of our volunteers for their continued support through this difficult time. Their skill, effort and dedication deserve huge recognition.

Woodland species

This year’s report highlights the continuing poor fortunes of the UK’s woodland birds. The UK Wild Bird Populations Indicator for woodland species show a long-term decline of 27% since the early 1970s, with declines of 7% evident over just the last five years. More worryingly, when looking at individual trends within the report, some specialist woodland birds have declined dramatically, including willow tit with a 94% decline since 1970 as illustrated by the joint Common Birds Census / Breeding Bird Survey UK-wide trend.

After worrying declines in breeding tawny owl populations were flagged-up by the Breeding Bird Survey, BTO launched targeted survey work on this species during 2018 and 2019. SUKB reports on some of the results from this research, which revealed a decline in site occupancy from 65% in 2005 to 53% in 2018/19. The BTO work has also sought to understand some of the reasons for this change in fortunes.

Results at different scales

Data from many of the surveys covered in SUKB also feed into European-wide schemes and the SUKB report goes from celebrating the publication of the latest European Breeding Bird Atlas, through to finer-scale country-specific results and research. Not bad for an 80-page report!

Country-specific headlines include increases in house sparrow populations in Wales, where work is also taking place to address the pronounced decline in curlew numbers. In Scotland, the fragile status of corncrake is highlighted, alongside increases in farmland species such as tree sparrow and yellowhammer. The Northern Ireland pages look into changing fortunes of seabirds and explore how proposed marine Special Protection Areas may be used to tackling the observed decline. The Northern Ireland pages also examine declines in wintering geese, such as light-bellied brent goose. Finally, over to England and promising results for stone curlew conservation work, as well as reporting back on the English Winter Bird Survey for which 1,485 sites were surveyed by volunteers to help us understand the value of agri-environment options.

As in previous reports, we hear about species from 14 UK Overseas Territories and three Crown Dependencies – including black-browed albatross, St Helena plover and South Georgia pipit, about the Gough Island Restoration Programme, and discover that 69 species in the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies are now Globally Threatened.

Closer to home, 25 years of BTO Garden BirdWatch is also celebrated, with goldfinch now the 8th most commonly recorded garden bird, up from 20th back in 1995.

Volunteers

There is a common theme in this report: volunteers. The sheer enormity of their contributions to bird monitoring as a whole is evident throughout this report. Most of the surveys and schemes covered here are only possible thanks to the dedication and skills of the thousands of volunteers who give up their time to help monitor birds and in turn, inform conservation action. Thank you.

Who produces this report?

SUKB 2020 is produced by a coalition of three NGOs: the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), together with the UK’s statutory nature conservation bodies: Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Northern Ireland (DAERA), the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), Natural England (NE), Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and NatureScot.

Download The State of the UK’s Birds 2020 here 

 

Chough report: December 2020

Green, the oldest chough in Jersey's flock, has reared eleven young in the wild since his release in 2013. Photo by Liz Corry

December 2020 has been our quietest month to date. Partly pandemic-related as staff and student make a desperate bid to use up annual leave. A 10-day stint of isolation was thrown in for festive ‘fun’ (direct contact with a positive case).

Moreover, the choughs kept themselves to themselves. No injuries to report. No births, deaths, or marriages. Travel to France on hold – no more chough flights and no human travel either. Condor Ferries cancelled its service until April 2021. Pleased to say Cappy the Carteret chough is still alive! We will have to wait until next year to go visit.

As December draws to a close and we say good riddance 2020, it just leaves me to say a big thank you to the project volunteers for their time and support this year.

Happy New Year!

Sunset at St Ouen’s Bay. Photo by Liz Corry.

Chough report: November 2020

The Jersey chough is still doing well in France. Photo by Yann Mouchel.

Vive la France!

Happy to report that the chough who found her way to France is still there. We will call her Cappy from now on as she appears to be enjoying life at the Cap Carteret. Yann is trying to get a photo of the metal ring in case we can read the number to confirm her identity. She has definitely not been at the November supplemental feeds back here in Jersey.

The other choughs were still travelling around the Island to places such as Noirmont, Corbière, and Les Landes. No reports from Trinity or St Martin’s parish. 

Student observations

As November drew to a close, we were seeing more choughs at the supplemental feed. It made the observations fairly challenging for our student, David, with thirty plus birds to ID in the howling winds.

Whilst we still believe the total population size is in the forties there are concerns for a couple of individuals we haven’t clocked in a while. In particular the female from the Corbière pair.

Honeydew has not been seen at the supplemental feeds, yet her partner Minty has. When David has visited Corbière in the mornings he has been seeing two choughs. One is definitely Minty. Eventually he discovered that the second chough was not Honeydew but another female Yarila.

It seems history has repeated itself and whilst the individuals are different the scenario is the same. A pair spend their summer in the southwest then, as autumn turns to winter, the female is lost and the male spends more time at Sorel. This time round, however, the male is still visiting and possibly even roosting in the south along with a new female.

Honeydew (foreground) disappeared this month and Yarila (behind) has snatched up her man. Photo by Liz Corry.

David has seen two pairs fly west over Devil’s Hole at roost time. One is likely to be the Plémont pair. He thinks the Crabbé site has been abandoned so the other pair could be the Corbière birds.

Connecting islands 10,000km apart.

More damage to report at the Sorel aviary. Rodents again but also tears in the netting higher up likely to be weather related. The Zoo’s Site Services team came up to help with repairs. Frustratingly a day later the rodents had chewed back through.

I have been in contact with the team behind the RSPB Gough Island Restoration work. Their aviaries have to be resistant to killer mice! They shared photos and drawings of their rail aviaries with suggestions of what we could do in Jersey.

Rodent-proof aviary on Gough island. Photo by Richard Switzer.

Fun fact: they based their design on the chough release aviary! Richard Switzer, RSPB aviculturalist, used to teach at the Durrell Academy. Richard also worked for San Diego Zoo’s Conservation team with birds such as the Hawaiian crow, another species linked to the chough project. He has followed the chough reintroduction from the start and visited Sorel which is where he got the idea for the rail aviary.

From discussing ideas, it looks like we need to strip our aviary of the ineffective upturned guttering and replace it with aluminium flashing. If they can get it delivered to an island in the middle of the Atlantic and fit it themselves, it must be super easy to do here in Jersey. Right?!

To find out more about the Gough Island restoration work click here. I must warn you there is graphic content of predation on their website from the get go.

Gorilla on the loose in Jersey!

One unusual visitor to the supplemental feed site this month was a Jersey Gorilla. Don’t worry not a zoo escapee, rather Will Highfield the fundraising legend that is ‘Jersey Gorilla‘. Will has been setting himself crazy challenges since 2019 initially raising funds for the new Jersey Zoo Gorilla enclosure.  He surpassed everyone’s expectations, even his own, and smashed his target. With the onset of the pandemic, Will continued his gallant/insane  efforts (you decide) and started raising funds to support all the work the Zoo do including the chough project.

On 28th November Will set himself a challenge worthy of being committed  – run 100 miles in under 24 hours! On a 9 x 5 mile island! Starting at 4am in St Aubin’s, he ran anticlockwise around the Island’s roads, trails and cliff paths almost two and a half times. And he wasn’t alone, more lunatics, sorry runners, joined him along the way for support.

Speaking of support, when Will reached Sorel he was joined by Fiona Robertson of Performance Physiotherapy Jersey for what has to be the most picturesque clinic setting.

Physio on the go for the Jersey Gorilla. Photo by Fiona Robertson.

Will finally finished the challenge at 9am the next morning after 29 hours and 53 seconds of running. This is a phenomenal achievement. It might not have been within 24 hours, but considering all the miles he has run for charity over the past year and the subsequent injuries that plagued him along the way, 29 hours is equally bonkers.

A huge thank you to Will for his support. Now please go and put your feet up!

Follow Will’s journey via Facebook and Instagram and learn how to support the cause https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/will-highfield5

 

A Christmas card to all our supporters

This Christmas is going to a bit different for everyone. One thing that has not changed though is our gratitude for your support over the year.

Below is an eCard from us to you. To see the festive animation, click on the link and download to view in PowerPoint.

https://www.slideshare.net/ElizabethCorry/birds-on-the-edge-christmas-2020

Alternatively click through the slides below whilst humming a festive tune and let you imagination run wild.

Chough report: October 2020

Sacré bleu!

“Sacré bleu, c’est crave à bec rouge!”…Is what I imagined the Frenchman exclaimed on the morning on the 23rd when a red-billed chough appeared in the skies of Normandy. Why so alarmed? Choughs are only found in three locations in France: the Alps, the Pyrenees, and a tiny population on the north west corner of Brittany. This was a first! Well, a first for a long time.

The man in question is Yann Mouchel a park ranger for the Conservatoire du Littoral, La Manche, based at Cap de Carteret. Yann has followed Birds On The Edge for the last few years after meeting a group of visiting Jersey Botanists. So, whilst surprised by the sight he wasn’t overly shocked. In fact Yann had been dreaming of this moment…and so had we.

For the chough in question was none other than a Jersey chough! Unmistakable from the leg rings adorning the bird. Our first confirmed report of a Jersey chough dispersing off-Island. In France no less. 

Yann first noticed the bird around 10am at the Nez de Carteret. It had lost one of its plastic colour rings which hampered identification. With the remaining rings we could narrow it down to just a few options. We set to work trying to dwindle it down further by confirming which birds were still flying around Jersey.

I think the chough in Carteret is one of this year’s chicks. We had not got round to naming her other than by her ring combo dark blue over mauve.  She has been absent at the Sorel supplemental feed since the 21st.

The alternative option is Bean who went missing over a year ago. Whilst I would love it if our little hand-reared Bean was still alive, it seems more likely that a youngster has dispersed off-Island.

The other news Yann shared was that the chough was lame. He speculated that the resident peregrine pair might be to blame. Having looked after these birds for so long, my initial reaction was a desire to rush over to Carteret with a vet.

Two things put a stop to this: COVID and reality. Travel restrictions and impractical 14-day quarantining (impractical for zookeepers at least) prevent me from leaving the Island. Then of course is the reality. We want the choughs to disperse. It is natural.

For now I’m resigned to stare longingly across the waters and rely on Yann monitoring her progress.

If you want to travel virtually from Jersey to Carteret and learn more about where the chough is choosing to hang out then visit Google Earth. I have put together a presentation which you can access here and click on Presentation. Please be aware you may be asked to download Google Earth if viewing on a tablet or smartphone. 

Domestic flights

The rest of our October news seems relatively boring now. Although at the time it wasn’t as the following happened before the 23rd. In fact, think of it as the prelude to the Carteret story as the flock were well and truly on the move this month.

We had our first Airport sighting. Two birds had been checking out one of the hangers. An interesting choice of residence. Think they might need to find a new estate agent. Airport staff have not seen them since. 

These two could be the same birds we reported on last month flying below the runway. We also know a pair are using the dunes and the sand pits both in close proximity to the airport.

Moving away from the Airport, the pair at Corbière are still doing well. This month they were joined by other choughs who made daily visits to Corbière. One of Durrell’s long term volunteers lives near the lighthouse and kept seeing small groups of four or six flying over her garden.

Another first has been sightings of choughs foraging in the horse fields near the Portlet Inn. Portlet adjoins Noirmont, an area we have seen choughs visit before.

In fact our second release in spring 2014 saw one radio-tracked bird end up by Noirmont Manor. Sadly never seen again, but over the years other choughs have been reported flying around. This month a small group seemed to be targeting the area and clearly finding food.

Biological diversity evokes human happiness

From PHYS.ORG 

Researchers have found that more bird species in the vicinity increase the life contentment of Europeans at least as much as a comparable increase in income.

Under the current pandemic conditions, activities out in nature are a popular pastime. The beneficial effects of a diverse nature on people’s mental health have already been documented by studies on a smaller scale. Scientists of the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung and the University of Kiel examined for the first time whether a diverse nature also increases human well-being on a Europe-wide scale.

To this end, the researchers used the data from the “2012 European quality of Life Survey” to study the connection between the species diversity in their surroundings and the life satisfaction in more than 26,000 adults from 26 European countries. Species diversity was measured based on the diversity of avian species, as documented in the European breeding bird atlas.

“Europeans are particularly satisfied with their lives if their immediate surroundings host a high species diversity,” explains the study’s lead author, Joel Methorst, from the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center, the iDiv, and the Goethe University in Frankfurt, and he continues, “According to our findings, the happiest Europeans are those who can experience numerous different bird species in their daily life, or who live in near-natural surroundings that are home to many species.”

Birds are well-suited as indicators of biological diversity, since they are among the most visible elements of the animate nature—particularly in urban areas. Moreover, their song can often be heard even if the bird itself is not visible, and most birds are popular, and people like to watch them. But there is also a second aspect that affects life satisfaction: the surroundings. A particularly high number of bird species can be found in areas with a high proportion of near-natural and diverse landscapes that hold numerous greenspaces and bodies of water.

“We also examined the socio-economic data of the people that were surveyed, and, much to our surprise, we found that avian diversity is as important for their life satisfaction as is their income,” explains Prof. Katrin Böhning-Gaese, director of the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center. This result becomes particularly obvious when both values increase by ten percent. Fourteen additional bird species in the vicinity raise the level of life satisfaction at least as much as an extra 124 Euros per month in the household account, based on an average income of 1,237 Euro per month in Europe.

According to the study, a diverse nature, therefore, plays an important role for human well-being across Europe—even beyond its material services. At the same time, the researchers draw attention to impending health-related problems. “The Global Assessment 2019 by the World Biodiversity Council IPBES and studies of avian species in agricultural landscapes in Europe clearly show that the biological diversity is currently undergoing a dramatic decline. This poses the risk that human well-being will also suffer from an impoverished nature. Nature conservation, therefore, not only ensures our material basis of life, but it also constitutes an investment in the well-being of us all,” adds Methorst in conclusion.

Download the paper The importance of species diversity for human well-being in Europe here

December volunteer activity

Sunday 13th December 2020 –– La Coupe, St Martin 10:00-13.00

From Jersey Conservation Volunteers

****Please note that due to COVID-19, you will need to book a place to attend this task through Eventbright here and numbers will be restricted to a total of 25.

It is also advised to bring your own tools, work gloves and a mug for refreshments****

Task Come along for a morning of tree planting with the National Trust for Jersey. As part of the Trust’s ongoing re-wilding efforts we will be planting various species of native trees in a previously neglected corner of La Coupe along the north east coast of the island.

Meeting point will be at La Coupe, St Martin where you park for the beach.

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

The site La Coupe, St Martin. Jersey phone directory Map 5 (inset) LL8, Google maps here

Parking There is limited space so once this is full we will have some parking available in the field opposite La Coupe House at the top of the hill. Rangers will be on hand to direct.

Tools needed Due to COVID restrictions we are discouraging the sharing of tools and ensuring that any borrowed tools are disinfected before and after the event. With this in mind, if you have your own spade, or cutting tools such as shears and loppers then please do bring them along.

Clothing needed Please dress for the weather, you will also need to bring gardening gloves and wear decent footwear as the terrain can be quite slippery and muddy.  

Children All are welcome, young or old although we do ask that volunteers under 16 years of age are directly supervised by a parent or guardian.

Refreshments We will be finishing at 1pm where we will be able to have a socially distanced cuppa and piece of cake.

Chough report: September 2020

Choughs foraging at Les Landes Racecourse. Photo by Liz Corry.

We don’t have much to say for September. Thankfully. The public can’t stop talking about choughs! Whether it be via website, WhatsApp, email, or simply stopping me in the street, the reports have come in thick and fast.

The birds are spending more time flocking together now the pressure of the breeding season is behind them. Quite literally going where the wind takes them, often to areas they already use just in greater numbers. Makes it nice and obvious to onlookers. The chattering of choughs is hard to ignore.

Les Landes Racecourse is once again proving popular. Both with birds and people. Easy access by car, pleasant pathways to stroll or walk dogs off lead, and stunning summer views across to the other Channel Islands. Obviously from the people’s point of view. For choughs, and plenty of other bird species, there appeared to be an abundance of invertebrate food attracting them to the site.

Beanie Baby and Beaker were two such birds visiting Les Landes. One report of the pair described them to be with a third unringed bird. Could this be Xaviour?! If she had lost all the plastic rings the remaining metal can often be hard to see depending on the angle of the sun. Another, more exciting option is that the third was an unringed chick. Sorry Xaviour, but a fledged chick from a wild pair out trumps your card. We’ve not had further sightings to lend support to either theory.

Beaker (left) and Beanie Baby at Grosnez. Photo by Mick Dryden.

Under the category of ‘not surprising, but still a first’

A pair of choughs have been frequenting the fields near The Elms, headquarters of the National Trust for Jersey. Seems only fair. They’ve ticked off Durrell headquarters already. Next month Howard Davis Farm to say hello to the Government of Jersey’s Environment team?

Another pair rested on the chimney of the observer’s home in St Peter’s before heading off. This lane is sandwiched between the Airport and Les Mielles in St Ouen’s Bay. An airport might not sound like the best place for a bird to be, but it is surrounded by chough-friendly habitat. The sand pits, home a pair last year, is very close by. Could this be an indication that a new pair have moved in?   

Choughs have been spotted close to St Ouen’s Bay and Jersey Airport. Image by Google Earth.

Closer to Sorel, a gentleman sent in two reports of choughs at La Tête de Frémont and Bonne Nuit Bay. I’m surprised we don’t get more sightings in this area given the dramatic cliffs and suitable foraging habitat. It is also a likely route for them to take if heading over to Les Platons.

File these under ‘need to know more’

We’ve had a reliable report of chough over Grouville Common. An, historic report from nearby Gorey village was more likely the resident jackdaws. There have been choughs checking out Gorey Castle in past years. Grouville Common is a little too woody to appeal to choughs. It does, however, join up to the Royal Jersey Golf Course. Plenty of short grass and close to the high tide strand line of Longbeach if the choughs fancied a maritime invertebrate mix in their diet.

The fairways of Royal Jersey Golf Club could look very attractive to hungry choughs. Photo by Royal Jersey Golf.

Lastly and very importantly are two sightings from one of our project partners in Trinity Parish. Regular readers will know that we are still trying to solve the mystery of the Trinity pair. Who are they and where do the roost (or nest back in summer)? Don your deerstalker hat, light the Holmes pipe, and ponder the latest clues. On 14th September, two choughs were seen flying over Petit Pré Woods at 19:10. They had been flying around the Royal Jersey Showground and headed off inland. With the sun setting at 19:22 that day it wouldn’t be long before they went to roost. Inland? Or a quick U-turn back to a coastal site? At dawn, on the 16th, two choughs were flying over Victoria Village. The ‘village’ (actually a housing estate) is 100 metres away from the showground as the chough flies. Two sightings in the same area, one going to bed, one leaving for the morning feed? Could we be closer to solving the mystery?

In other news

The choughs have welcomed a pair of jackdaws into their flock. Photo by Liz Corry.

The aviary at Sorel is starting to be used by more than just the choughs and our visiting barn owls and kestrel. A pair of jackdaws have been hanging around at the supplemental feed. They don’t interfere with the choughs or go inside the aviary. Think they just like the company.

Magpies on the other hand are known to go in the aviary. This month, for the first time, we have witnessed juvenile magpies go inside. Much like the chough parents bringing their fledglings to feed, the magpies have done the same. The choughs do not appear bothered and will defend their food supplies when they need to. The problem is with the young magpies who haven’t quite got to grips with how to get out of the aviary. When keepers arrive to feed, the magpies’ stress levels increase and they fling themselves into the netting in panic.

On two occasions the keeper trapped them in the aviary, caught them with a hand net and released them unharmed. It seemed like the best thing to do, but actually they need to learn how to get out by themselves. Otherwise the behaviour pattern happens all over again. The magpie in the video below eventually walked out of the aviary and flew away.

Less welcome at the aviary are rats. Many a curse word has been uttered when keepers find a new hole chewed in the netting. This month the rats stepped up their game. Keepers have seen a rat in the aviary during the daytime when the supplemental feed goes out. This has happened a few times. It poses a disease risk to the choughs as rat droppings and urine can fester harmful bacteria.

We have been extra vigilant when cleaning the water tray and dishes. Surfaces are already cleaned daily. I will be setting up traps and investigating options for rodent proofing. The up-turned guttering clearly isn’t deterring the Sorel rats (think agouti more than average lab rat!).

Corvid-2020

Sign of things to come: bitter winds at Sorel pre-COVID-19. Photo by Liz Corry.

Avid readers may have noticed it has been quiet on the chough front of late. Life has been a little different since the arrival of COVID-19 in Jersey. As it has for everyone around the world.

Jersey’s first case was confirmed on 10th March with the Zoo closing its doors to the public on the 24th. Shortly before that happened, Zoo animal staff were arranged into teams, or bubbles, working a 4 day on 4 day off rota. The Bird Department had two teams, one of which I joined. Glyn Young was shielding but took on the visits to Sorel as his daily activity and where, with his daughter Mairi, he could keep isolated from people, although less so from sheep. 

Suddenly my days were filled with flamingos, Madagascan birds, and pond scrubbing to name a few. Supplemental feeds at Sorel were still factored in, however, time constraints meant observations were limited and not achievable during working hours (which rarely kept to schedule). 

We are very grateful to Sue Müller who, once Government advice permitted, volunteered to monitor nest sites. She helped to confirm all the active nest sites in the quarry. For me, the routine dog walks became chough hunts. Fun times for my furry friends.

The Zoo reopened to the public on the 12th May adhering to the Government of Jersey’s advice. We were the first British Isles zoo to make this call. I’m proud to say that, through staff dedication, volunteer support, and visitor co-operation we were able to become operational again and still remain so.

Social distancing and isolation have become the norm during this pandemic. Photo by Liz Corry.

Our working week returned to normal a few weeks after reopening. Glyn continued to isolate and cover the Sorel feeds along with two volunteers who returned to help. I continue to work on the ground in the Zoo as well as the chough project which hopefully explains the reason for delaying  publication of the monthly reports. 

It has been a very surreal eight months. Our team has been extremely fortunate in terms of the personal impact of COVID. For many of you that might not have been the case. 

Stay safe. Be kind. And remember hands, face, space, read the monthly chough reports. That last one is imperative.

Click on the blue links on the images below to read the monthly chough reports.