It’s not often that we get a new mammal species in the Channel Islands so when we do it’s a pretty exciting event!
During a recent Jersey Bat Group bat trapping session in St Catherine’s Woods as part of the Woodland Project a small Myotis bat was caught which we were unable to formally identify. Following DNA analysis of a faecal sample by Warwick University Ecological Forensics Service we are delighted to confirm that the bat was an Alcathoe’s bat – Myotis alcathoe. This is the first record for this species in the Island.
Alcathoe’s bat is a rare species with narrow ecological requirements. It was only identified as a separate species in Greece in 2001, and was first found in the UK in 2010. It has only been confirmed in a few locations in the UK (in Sussex and Yorkshire) as well as from limited sites across Europe.
The IUCN Red List assesses Myotis alcathoe as Data Deficient, but it is considered threatened in several areas because of its rarity and vulnerability to habitat loss. The species is a woodland specialist, with a strong preference for roosting in trees.
Dr Amy Hall, Chair of the Jersey Bat Group said ‘We are very excited to find this species in the Island for the first time. As the Woodland Project moves forward there may be further exciting new discoveries’.
The majority of bat work in Jersey has been through sound recordings from emergence surveys and activity walks. Myotis bats have very similar calls and, therefore, cannot easily be confirmed through sound analysis alone. Myotis alcathoe is a woodland specialist and normally roosts in trees. As we currently have no known tree roosts in Jersey, this is another element of the research project we are currently undertaking. If this bat had been a male it would be possible that it is a vagrant from France, they sometimes get blown across in storms, or hitch a ride of boats, but as it was a pregnant female the odds are that it is a resident species, which we have always had but never previously come across.
We have only just started this type of research in Jersey, very few trapping sessions have been done previously, and therefore we are only now getting to see some species which are resident in Jersey for which we have no known roosts. The next step is to go back and see if we can catch any more using a harp trap and acoustic lure, with which we can attract the bats to the trap. If we are lucky enough to catch more then we hope to be able to attach a radio transmitter and track the bat back to the roost – this can currently only be done with assistance from UK bat workers as although Jersey Bat Group members are licenced to trap bats none are licenced to attach radio transmitters at the moment.
An exciting opportunity is available for a student placement at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, based in Jersey, working on the red-billed chough reintroduction project. This project, which began in 2013, is one of many within the Birds On The Edge project run in collaboration with the National Trust for Jersey and States of Jersey Department of the Environment.
Two placements are available, starting on 1st September 2016. Durrell houses a captive collection of choughs at the Wildlife Park, while the reintroduction project is based at an off-site aviary near Sorel Point. Juvenile choughs bred in captivity are being released to the north coast of Jersey. All birds are intensively monitored and managed post-release. The student placement will assist the Field Manager in carrying out these activities. Students will spend six months with the project from September to March or March to September, with the remaining six months spent working with Durrell’s Bird Department.
Choughs have been absent from the Channel Islands for nearly a century and with the UK population in serious decline this is an exciting opportunity to help restore an enigmatic species. You can read about the placement programme here and if you would like to apply, please contact eluned.price@durrell.org for further information and an application form. The closing date is 11th July 2016.
The Department of the Environment team are looking for two individuals to take leading roles in the Jersey iBats monitoring programme this summer. They are in Year 6 of an ongoing programme designed to monitor the diversity and abundance of Jersey’s bats. Further detail of the iBats programme can be found here
iBats is a car-based monitoring project that records bats on a series of 11 car-driven transects in July, repeated again in August. Transects are driven at a constant 15mph for up to 80 minutes after sunset on a predefined route and require patience and a strict adherence to the survey protocol. The monitoring needs both a driver and a navigator and uses mobile phone navigation technology and bat detectors connected to a sound recorder. Bat calls are audible live in the car as transect is driven. Monitoring requires transects be driven in good weather conditions only.
When: Five or six evenings per volunteer in July and five or six evenings per volunteer in August. Transects start 30mins after sunset, require an hour and 20 mins driving which is followed by uploading GPS and bat call data. Survey event may take three hrs from start to finish.
Volunteers must have a current driving licence, a Windows computer and broadband access, good technological competence and spare time in the evenings. The total time commitment for this entire study is 22 evenings throughout the summer survey period. Each evening takes between 2-3 hours from collecting the assistant, driving the transect and managing the data. This work offers a unique and unusual insight into Jersey wildlife. Full training and support will be given. If you are interested or would like more information, please contact David Tipping on telephone 441625 or email d.tipping@gov.je
Channel Islands Bat Conference 2016, Frances Le Sueur Centre, St Ouen, Jersey
The Jersey Bat Group cordially invites you to Jersey for the 2nd Channel Islands Bat Conference to be held on the 29th and 30th October 2016 at the Frances Le Sueur Centre, St Ouen, Jersey.
The general aim of the Channel Islands Bat Conference is to give Government bodies, NGOs, environmental managers and relevant individuals the opportunity to discuss the status of bats within the islands and wider landscape. The CI Bat Conference is relevant to ecological, conservation, environmental management bodies (government/NGO) and individuals from the Channel Islands and other regions, such as the Isle of Man and UK.
The 2016 CI Bat Conference comprises of three objectives, for delegates to:
Present a range of bat-related topics relevant to their organisation and island
Discuss current or future island projects which effectively link ecological research with environmental management or conservation
Discuss topics from the wider world of bat work.
Delegates are encouraged to present on research related to the objectives via talk or poster formats. Talks will normally be 20 minutes long, with five minutes for questions unless longer time is requested by presenters. Presenters are requested to submit a title and abstract (maximum of 500 words) to the JBG by 1st October.
If you would like to attend the Channel Islands Bat Conference 2016 please visit the Jersey Bat group website and fill out the application form here or contact Ani Binet on enquiries@jerseybatgroup.org to discuss and submit your presentation ideas.
Easter may have been early this year, but our chough eggs waited until April was in full swing to make an appearance. The first sign of egg-laying at the Wildlife Park was on 12th April when the nest cameras revealed an egg in Iseult’s nest. Within a week she had finished laying and started incubating.
Iseult’s eggs – view from the nest camera monitor. Photo by Hester Whitehead.
Choughs normally lay around five eggs in captivity with the female starting incubation when the third egg is laid. Issy appeared to be quite restless at first, leaving the nest whenever she was disturbed. As the aviary is on show to the public the decision was made to cordon off the footpath which runs alongside the nest site. This seemed to work well and Issy continued incubating.
The public footpath was blocked to prevent disturbance to the nest whilst Isuelt was incubating. Photo by Liz Corry.
Egg-laying for the other two breeding pairs in the Park was not as straightforward. Both pairs took a long time to progress from a few twigs in their nest-box to a fully lined chough nest. Then it was a matter of waiting for the first egg. It turned out to be a very long wait to the point we had almost given up expecting anything. Seventeen days after Issy laid her first egg Gwinny and Mrs D started laying their own.
Denzel and Mrs D have very little experience in breeding and this is their first time together. Everything appeared ok when Mrs D laid her first egg. Then keepers had a moment of doubt when they checked the nest cameras. “I’m sure there was an egg there before?”, “Is that an egg or a bit of wool?”, “It’s ok its still there”, “Wait, has the egg gone again?” Checking back over the camera footage we realised that what was hoped to be lighting issues and camera trickery was actually Denzel carefully removing the egg from the nest and Mrs D laying her second egg. He did the same thing to the second egg in the evening when staff had gone home. The remaining eggs were rescued before he had chance to act and given to Gianna to foster incubate.
A slightly different scenario played out next door in Gwinny and Lucifer‘s nest-box. This time it was not just the eggs in danger. Gwinny and Lucifer have had clutches for the past two seasons. There have been issues with each clutch and eggs being tampered with. Staff usually have to rescue to artificially incubate. CeCe being the result of last year’s rescue efforts. We were quite prepared for the same to happen this year. What we were not prepared for was Lucifer‘s reaction to the first egg. As can been seen in the video below he became extremely aggressive to the point where Gwinny was in danger.
Staff reacted quickly and re-housed Lucifer away from the breeding aviaries. There was the slight risk that Gwinny may abandon egg-laying due to the disturbance and not her ‘partner’ not being around. The risk to Gwinny by leaving him in the aviary far outweighed this and our actions were justified as she continued to lay over the next few days and has incubated consistently since then.
Staff rescued the first egg as planned and gave it to Gianna to foster-incubate along with Mrs D‘s two rescued eggs. Gwinny went on to lay three more eggs which were left with her to incubate as she was sitting so well.
Gianna has shown that she has learnt from her experience as a first time mother last year and is even more attentive to her nest this year. As with last year she was given a dummy egg to stimulate egg-laying. This seemed to work and a few days later she produced her own, followed by two more. This is quite interesting as last year her first egg was her only egg. Gianna will be used for foster-incubating and foster-rearing. We are not 100% confident in her ability to look after hatching eggs so any fertile eggs she has will be transferred to an incubator in the Bird Department and subsequent chicks hand-reared for the crucial first few days before returning to Gianna.
Gianna will hopefully help out again by foster rearing this year. Photo by Liz Corry.
Over in Cornwall our partners at Paradise Park appear to be having an easier time with their five breeding pairs. You can watch live footage from their nest cameras by clicking here. Potentially one or more of the chicks you will see on camera will be joining the flock out at Sorel later on this year.Update from Sorel
It was a little harder to determine when the choughs at Sorel started egg-laying. There was a period towards the end of the nest-building stage when the males started displaying to their partners and several mating attempts were observed. Green in particular liked to show off by spreading his wings to full extent and parading around Black. Or any other female that happened to be in sight.
Green showing off the size of his wings to his partner (on the right) on the roof of the aviary. Photo by Liz Corry.
Dingle joined in with collecting wool for his nest with Red. This is really promising behaviour and progress from last season when he partnered up for the first time. He has also been observed taking nesting material from the quarry in the form of lagging around pipes. Very resourceful. A recent roost check showed that the pair have switched from roosting at the aviary to roosting in the quarry. A sure sign they now feel invested in their nest and want to keep a close eye on it.
Dingle collecting nesting material from outside the aviary. Photo by Liz Corry.
We determined that the females had started incubating eggs by observing behaviour before and after the supplementary feeds at the aviary. Black was the first no-show of the three incubating females. As it is only the females who incubate the eggs they try not to leave the nest too often. When they need to leave, they need to know ‘abandoning’ their eggs is worthwhile. The choughs know when to expect food at the aviary because staff stick to set times. Sometimes, however, staff are delayed so instead of taking the risk of flying to the aviary to find there are no food dishes out Black waits for Green to return with the supplementary diet, thereby letting her know staff have put the food dishes in the aviary. After a minute or two discussing the tardiness of the keepers and what’s on today’s menu, the pair will then head over to the aviary, quickly feed, and return on a full stomach to continue incubating the eggs. Mauve and Red followed suit so now all that remains is to continue observing behaviour and count down the days to the expected hatch dates.
We still have the young pairs feeding and preening each other but not yet ready to nest. A new pairing we noticed this month was that of Lee and Caûvette. It will be interesting to see if this relationship continues throughout the year. Caûvette was hand-reared. Any nesting attempt by her will be followed with great enthusiasm not just by the chough team, but by other reintroduction projects around the world.
Lee and Cauvette, a hand-reared female, have paired up. Too young for this year’s breeding season but promising for next year. Photo by Bea Denton.
The other new pairings appear to be going well. Q and his female Noir can be seen below taking part in a spot of mutual preening after lunch.
Q and Noir have bonded over the past couple of months. Photo by Bea Denton.
Q invites Noir to return the favour and preen him. Photo by Bea Denton.
We had one piece of information this month which helped add solid facts to our breeding records, but also brought with it upsetting news. Early morning on the 4th April and email came in from quarryman Kevin Le Herissier that said “have a bit of good news and a bit of bad news”. I might have then stolen his thunder by suggesting the good news was the discovery of a chough nest.
Dingle and Red’s nest before Red starting laying. Chough nests are protected in the UK and cannot be photographed or approached without a licence. Photo by Liz Corry
What could not have been predicted was the bit that came next. The bad news.
Kevin had been working in the asphalt plant that morning and suddenly heard a group of choughs alarm-calling outside. He noticed several birds looking very distressed, hopping around on the ground, shouting at something. When he got closer he realised that in amongst the cacophony of choughs there was a chough head! No body, no feathers, just a head. We arrived on site shortly after the phone call and after a little detective work we found, at various sites, a piece of wing, intestines, and tail feathers with a radio transmitter attached. From this and her absence at the aviary feeds we knew the deceased was Ormer one of the 2015 chicks from Paradise Park.
Ormer was found dead in the quarry this month potentially predated by great black-backed gulls. Photo by Liz Corry.
Whilst not wanting to sound uncaring, quarry and bird staff breathed a sigh of relief. It was not one of the breeding females and it was not Dusty the wild chick. A loss nonetheless though. I presented the remains to a somewhat perplexed vet team to try to gather as much information as possible from a post mortem examination. Blunt trauma fracture on the skull and descriptions from quarry staff suggest that Ormer and the others had had a run-in with the gulls who also nest in the quarry. Great black-backed gulls are notorious for their aggressiveness and predatory behaviour and were seen nearby (a number of pairs nest in the quarry alongside the more numerous herring gulls) and were considered responsible.
We have observed choughs chase off gulls (normally, or always, herring gulls) simply so they could play on the rocks the gulls were sitting on. Some may use the term ‘bullying’, but we like to think of it as being over-confident. Unfortunately this time around Ormer met with an even more confident species.
Another impressive sunset as staff carry out a roost check. Photo by Bea Denton.
It takes a special kind of fish diet to feed a growing Atlantic puffin. A chick can eat more than 2,000 fish before leaving the nest, and they all need to have the perfect size, shape, and fat content. This report from the USA range of the Atlantic puffin is very relevant to this species on our side of the Atlantic.
Each summer off the coast of Maine (USA), scientists with Audubon’s Project Puffin document the finicky diets of pufflings, tracking the species, quantity, and size of the fish that the parents deliver to their young. They also weigh and measure the fuzzy nestlings and track their hatching, fledging, and survival rates. This type of long-term data is scarce for this species, says Steve Kress, director of Project Puffin—yet it’s integral for connecting puffin survival rates to the effects of climate change and commercial fisheries.
Now, a new study by Kress and co-authors, published last week in FACETS, forges that link by showing that pufflings’ diets are changing fast. Using data that dates back to 1993, the experts calculated that post-fledging survival rates have declined by an average of 2.5 percent per year, and that the chicks’ body condition has declined as well. The reason, Kress says, is a less-than-ideal menu, caused by climate change and pressures from fisheries.
How are the chicks’ diets changing?
Puffins are particularly sensitive to changes in local fish populations because they return to the same island burrows year after year; most end up raising their own chicks at the same sites where they hatched. Parents generally gather fish and crustaceans for their pufflings within a 12-mile radius of the nest. Little is known about what the adults eat, since they feed at sea, so the young provide a window into the relationship between fish and puffins. “I think of them as little fishing fleets going out every day . . . to see what they can catch, and then they come back with the catch of the day,” Kress says.
The most frequent catch recorded between 2005 and 2014 was white hake, followed by Atlantic herring, but fewer of these fish were seen over time. On the other hand, the proportion of butterfish, haddock, and redfish increased in the birds’ diets—none of these species were present during the earlier years of the study.
This changing menu is important because puffin chicks are very particular about their meals. They can only fit smaller, narrower fish – like white hake (a species not seen in European waters) – into their beaks and often have trouble swallowing larger, oval-shaped species like butterfish (another species not seen in Europe where snake pipefish represent a similar problem). And since puffin parents don’t tear up the fish for their young (unlike some other birds), the babies have to swallow their food whole. In 2012, Audubon’s Puffin Cam documented Petey the chick starving to death after his parents brought him butterfish that were impossible for him to eat.
What’s causing these shifts?
It seems that climate change is disrupting the pufflings’ diets—and the entire marine food web—by heating up the ocean and reducing the abundance of plankton that fish need to eat. White hake and Atlantic herring thrive in colder waters, as there tends to be more plankton there. That means schools are moving northward and deeper, where puffin parents may not be able to reach them. Plankton and fish populations are also affected by climate-driven increases in precipitation and ice melt, which alter water clarity and salinity.
Additionally, on the two islands where the scientists studied the chicks, hatching success and fledging rates declined significantly from 2010 to 2013, with the two worst years corresponding to unusually warm ocean temperatures. They rebounded in 2014 following a winter with colder water. This type of “ocean heat wave” is expected to become more frequent due to climate change, so the low hatching and fledging rates could be a preview of how puffins respond to warmer seas.
Humans may also be playing a direct role in the chicks’ hardships, specifically through mismanagement of commercial fisheries. It’s a double bind for the young, inexperienced birds, Kress says. “The puffin [fledgling] is headed off into a warmer sea affected by climate, which is less productive, and it’s also headed into a sea that’s being heavily fished by commercial fisheries.” For example, most of Maine’s herring—a puffling favourite—is snapped up for lobster bait. It’s possible that the new, more heat-tolerant species could meet the chicks’ dietary needs, but it’s still up in the air whether the timing of their migrations will match the puffins’ breeding season.
Kress emphasizes that there is hope for protecting Atlantic puffins in the future. But people need to look at the bigger picture. Tightening up restrictions on commercial fisheries, limiting carbon emissions, and protecting the birds’ wintering grounds will be essential in the years ahead. “You can protect the islands, as we are and as we must,” Kress says, “but if the fish are not protected and the habitat is not protected, then the work on the islands is not sufficient.”
The full report Recent changes in the diet and survival of Atlantic puffin chicks in the face of climate change and commercial fishing in midcoast Maine, USA can be downloadedhere
I can’t quite believe that this is the last task before you volunteers take a well-deserved summer break!
The details
Join the National Trust Rangers at Hamptonne meadow on Sunday to undertake wet meadow restoration management. The flora in the meadow has responded well to management since the Trust acquired it in 2011. That said, hemlock water dropwort is still abundant. This native plant is invasive in many of Jersey’s wet meadows, especially those that have suffered from a lack of management in the past. This task will entail walking through the meadow and selectively cutting and removing hemlock water dropwort in order to speed up the restoration of the meadow to a favourable condition.
A note of caution, as hemlock water dropwort is the most toxic plant in Britain please ensure that you wear long-sleeved clothing regardless of the weather. The roots are the most toxic part of the plant so we will only be handling the stems and leaves. We will provide protective gloves as well as hand washing facilities and ask that all attendees kindly use them.
The site We will meet in the Hamptonne Country Life Museum car park at 10:20 for a 10:30 start. Work will finish by 1pm when cake and refreshments will be served
Parking There is parking available at Hamptonne Country Life Museum.
The task Wet meadow restoration management.
Tools needed Tools will be provided but if you have a sickle/scythe it would be helpful if you could bring it along with you.
Clothing needed . Please check the weather forecast and wear suitable clothing (including wellington boots and long-sleeved tops).
Children All are welcome, young or old. Children under 16 must be supervised by a parent or guardian during the task.
Finally, and some would say most importantly, Kim the Kake will supply us with hot drinks and her yummy homemade cakes.
A recent collaboration between Jersey Trees for Life and Birds On The Edge has seen a new hedge planted at an important conservation site in St Ouen’s Bay.
The new hedge, approximately 200m long, was planted at the edge of the National Trust for Jersey land and the Site of Special Interest of St Ouen’s Pond (SSI La Mare au Seigneur). The boundary lies between the Trust’s grazed pastures east of the reedbeds, and privately farmed fields west of the Rue du Val de la Mare. The potential value of creating a hedge in this area was identified during recent habitat and wildlife surveys carried out by BOTE, as part of a larger group of actions to enhance opportunities for wild birds in the area which were recommended as a result of the surveys. Other actions that were suggested included the planting of winter bird crops and setting up farmland feeding stations.
A few months ago the local charity Jersey Trees for Life got in contact with BOTE to find a location for a new hedge project in St Ouen’s Bay, for which they already had possible sponsors, and this location was suggested. After obtaining permissions from NTJ and other landowners, the staff of JTFL proceeded to plant a total of 606 hedging whips. The bulk of the plants was comprised mainly of hawthorn, with some blackthorn, wild plum, grey sallow and a few shrubby aspen in as well. They were planted in double and triple rows over on the top of the wide existing bank, and the hedge was completed by mid-March.
It is hoped that the particular placement of this hedge will connect various habitats of importance to birds, especially the reedbeds near the pond that extend to one side of the grazed area, and the arable fields on the other side of it, which most crucially are planted every year with Winter Bird Crops. Many birds have been found in these crops during winter surveys, in particular the locally extinct (as a breeding bird) reed bunting, which now only winters in Jersey with a population of 200-400 birds, mainly in St Ouen’s Bay. These buntings roost at night in the reedbeds and travel across the Island during the day to feed on small seeds from weeds, crops and marginal vegetation at small and spread-out sites. They do not like to feed on open ground like linnets nor are tame enough to visit garden feeders, but they have found a great source of food in the Winter Bird Crops managed by BOTE, especially the ones near the pond. However, to get to these fields from the safety of the reeds they still have to cross a large expanse of open ground, namely grassland and pastures. It is hoped that this hedge will provide them with a safety corridor to use not only for travelling between the roosting and feeding areas but also with shelter from predators and adverse weather, allowing them to remain in the feeding area for longer periods at a time.
Many other birds can potentially benefit from this hedge, as it can also provide nesting habitat and a varied source of food (in the form of buds, berries and insects). Greenfinches, chaffinches, linnets, stonechats, Dartford warblers, starlings and many more are likely to benefit from this hedge and the other habitats and features that the hedge will make accessible to them. Other wildlife that will probably use it too includes green lizards, grass snakes, rodents and shrews, toads, numerous insects and other invertebrates.
The future looks good for this area, as there is already an agreement with the local farmers to plant more Winter Bird Crops in 2016 for next winter, and further good news also from Jersey Trees for Life, as they plan to extend the hedge next winter following the same boundary southwards. From our side at Bird On The Edge, we will continue to monitor the birds using the crops and the hedge, and we hope that the data collected over the next few years will reflect the improvements on this area promoted by the bird crops and the newly planted hedge, especially as it develops and reaches full maturity.
*This project has been possible thanks to a very positive collaboration between the local farmers, landowners, JTFL and the BOTE partnership.
The breeding season got underway this month with both birds and staff busy nest building. For Durrell staff at the Wildlife Park, work actually began back in February. The breeding aviaries needed a spring clean, fresh perching, and the nest cameras turning on before the pairs could be moved from their flocking aviary on public display to their individual breeding aviaries.
Keeper Jess Maxwell securing the nest box in one of the off-show breeding aviaries. Photo by Kathryn Smith.
Keeper Jess Maxwell switching on the nest camera recording equipment for the 2016 season. Photo by Kathryn Smith.
Two of the breeding aviaries are off-show. Their positioning and foundations make it very difficult to get grass to grow providing natural foraging habitat for the choughs and their chicks to develop natural skills. To compensate for this, various substrates are added such as bark chip and compost. Logs and rocks are strategically placed around the floor and on the shelves.
Keeper, Kathryn Smith, adding substrate to the breeding aviaries. Photo by Jess Maxwell.
These serve a dual purpose. Staff can hide insects in or under them to encourage natural foraging and the hard surface edges allow the birds to clean their bills after feeding. The abrasion from rubbing the bill also prevents the mandibles from becoming overgrown.
Keeper, Kathryn Smith, drilling holes into logs to hide mealworms in for the choughs. Photo by Jess Maxwell.
In the short video clip below you can see Gianna demonstrating one of the ways we keep the choughs active.
There are three potential pairs this year. The flocking aviary will become a breeding aviary between March and July for the third pair. If the choughs take to nesting in here, keepers will have to monitor disturbance levels and manage accordingly as this is on-show to the public. Having already lived in the aviary over the winter the pair will hopefully be accustomed to people walking past and won’t feel threatened.
We don’t pick the pairs, the choughs do that for us. Their choices are limited as we only have six birds in the breeding programme. Tom Lancashire, a Nottingham Trent University student undertaking a twelve-month work placement at Durrell, conducted a behavioural study of our choughs as part of his Zoo Biology degree.
Student Tom Lancashire studied the social relationships amongst our captive choughs to determine breeding pairs. It appears Cece our hand reared bird made her own observations. Cece has since moved from Durrell to live at Paradise Park. Photo by Tom Lancashire.
His observations showed that Issy and Tristan have once again paired up. They are very defensive over the food dishes in the flocking aviary and make sure they get to the food first. They probably view the aviary as their territory and tolerate the others being there outside of the breeding season.
For this reason they will have the flocking aviary as their breeding aviary. True to their legendary namesakes their relationship has been a turbulent one. That being said they have both had nests before which have seen chicks hatch, but not survived to fledge. Hopefully 2016 will be their year!
Tom Lancashire studying social interactions within the choughs at Durrell. Photo by Edward Bell.
Gwinny is still with her young male friend who Tom named ‘Lucifer’ on account of his black leg ring and tendency to throw eggs out of nests. Admittedly it doesn’t sound like a promising pair. We are hoping that Lucifer may change his ways this year as he matures and becomes more familiar with the concept of parental care.
Denzel and his (unnamed as yet) female also appear to be a pairing albeit by default. He was put with her when he came out of quarantine on arriving at Durrell last year. He still sticks by her in the flocking aviary and they have been seen to preen each other. We will have to wait and see whether or not this relationship blossoms.
The pairs were moved into their breeding aviaries at the start of March after a few delays. Keepers provided nesting material and watched to see what would happen. Issy and Tristan were first off the mark carrying twigs to their nest box. Gwinny has also been quite active. Alas Lucifer has been equally active in removing the twigs!
The other important chough at Durrell doing its part for the breeding programme is of course Gianna. We hope to use her as a foster parent again this year. This means she is given her own aviary complete with nest-box and nesting material. It’s probably her favourite time of year as she gets pampered by the keeper trying to convince her she has a partner who can provide whilst she is on the nest. The keeper also needs to ensure she goes through all the right steps at the right time. We need her to be in sync with the breeding pairs in case we need to rescue eggs or chicks from their nest and give them to Gianna to care for.
The video below shows just how excited Gianna was when she saw the nest-box for the first time. Choughs in the wild will make similar calls and collect similar nesting material. The only difference is that the keepers disinfect the wool and twigs as a precaution before adding them to the aviary; the wild ones throw caution to the wind.
Sorel
The pairs at Sorel had us all second-guessing with their nesting activity. On 29th February White was spotted taking a twig to one of the cliff nest-boxes closely followed by Mauve. He also had most of the juveniles hanging around the site. We observed the group until the birds went to roost, but did not see any other signs of nesting activity.
The pairs at Sorel started nest building in March although finding food still took priority. Photo by Liz Corry
In fact nothing else was observed for a few weeks. Conspiracy theories abounded. Why were they not carrying twigs around? Had they given up because of all the rain? Last year they didn’t start until mid-March. Was White simply too quick off the mark? Were they sneaking materials out of the quarry behind our backs and binoculars?
By the end of the month we had our answer. On the 25th a lone chough was spotted flying with a gorse twig in its bill. A few days later wool was flying back and forth. So no, they had not given up. Although yes, White was probably a bit eager. And yes, they probably did sneak materials from the quarry as the jump from twig stage to wool lining does not happen in three days.
The juveniles continue with their objectives; eat, play, eat some more, sleep. As the weather improves food availability will improve. Warm sheep poo being a favourite source of grubs for some.
Caûvette finding larvae to eat from the sheep poo. Photo by Liz Corry
For two particular choughs change is afoot. We have a couple of ‘buddy’ pairs. Females Flieur and Helier look after each other. Kevin and Lee‘s clutch-mate ‘bromance’ continues. Then, headline news, the pair which currently holds the award for ‘cutest couple’ is none other than Dusty the wild-hatched chick and Egg a two-year-old female. We will be watching them very closely over the next few months.
Dusty, wild juvenile, feeding Egg a captive-reared two-year-old at Sorel. Jersey. Photo by Mick Dryden
At Sorel we often receive visitors as the project is not only very popular in Jersey but increasingly it is becoming a showcase for reintroduction of a native bird and co-operation between partners and landowners and users to help restore our countryside. This month we hosted international students from Durrell Academy’s DESMAN course and students from Nottingham Trent University’s MSc in Endangered Species Recovery course under the guidance of Samantha Bremner-Harrison. On the 18th we introduced countryside journalist Robin Page and his wife Lulu to the project. Luckily the choughs put in suitably spectacular appearances on each occasion despite the obviously lees than pleasant weather.
This year’s Wild About Jersey event is themed around becoming involved in wildlife monitoring projects around the Island and will take place on the weekend of 23rd and 24th of April 2016, at Highland’s College, St Saviour.
This event is open to everyone so whether you are interested in learning more about local wildlife; you are an existing volunteer or would like to learn about becoming a volunteer for the first time we hope you can join us.
There is no cost for the weekend and lunch and refreshments are included (however, do let us know if you have any special dietary requirements). You can attend as little or as much as you would like to, however, as places are limited booking is essential and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
Please fill in the booking form here, clearly stating the names of those attending and return it to Julia Meldrum at J.Meldrum@gov.je no later than Friday 15th April.
Programme – Saturday 23rd April 2016
09:00 – 09:15 Steve Luce, Minister for the Environment – ‘Welcome / Introduction’.
09:15 – 09:30 Key Note speaker – TBC
09:30 – 10:00 Dr Tim Wright – Botany Section Société Jersiaise – Plants Count – recording plant diversity in Jersey
10:00 – 10:30 Julia Meldrum & Allison Caldeira – Jersey Conservation Volunteers – Mud, sweat and cake – what it takes to be a conservation volunteer.
Break 10:30-11:00
11:00 – 11:30 Dr Glyn Young & Tony Paintin – Durrell & Société Jersiaise – Why do we count birds? Bird monitoring projects in Jersey
11:30 – 12:00 Kevin Mcllwee – Jersey Seasearch – Polka on the Rocks.
12:00 – 12:30 Helen Miler – Bat Conservation Trust – An Introduction to Bats.
Lunch 12:30-13:30
Workshops (choose one)
13:30 – 15:30 – Jersey Bird Monitoring – Dr Glyn Young & Tony Paintin
Basic techniques in bird monitoring methods and instruction on how to carry out a bird survey transect. There will be a field element to this workshop by carrying out a transect.
or
13:30 – 15:30 – Bat Conservation Trust – Helen Miler The Importance for Woodland for Jersey Bats.
Identifying the importance of Jersey’s woodlands for bats including the opportunities for roosting, foraging and commuting and how different species use woodland and why. Sensitive woodland management for bats will also be explored. There will be a field element to this workshop visiting a local woodland, to put into practice what has been discussed and to look for potential roost features in trees.
Programme – Sunday 24th April 2016
09:00- 09:30 Dr Richard Comont – Bumblebee Conservation – Monitoring the plight of the bumblebee
09:30 – 10:00 Bob Tompkins – Barn Owl Conservation Network Jersey – Talons all about it – helping local barn owls
10:00 – 10:30 Dr Paul Chambers – Natural Environment Officer States of Jersey – Winging it: the Jersey’s Butterfly Monitoring Scheme.
Break 10:30-11:00
11:00 – 11:30 Dr John Wilkinson – Amphibian and Reptile Conservation – Here Toady Gone Tomorrow? An update on Toadwatch and NARRS
11:30 – 12:00 Rob Ward – University of Kent – Ghosts in the grass: the secret lives of grass snakes and slow-worms
12:00 – 12:30 Nick Aubin – Biodiversity Officer – Jersey Biodiversity Centre (JBC) – Dolphins to dung beetles – role of the JBC.
Lunch 12:30-13:30
Workshops (choose one)
13:30 – 15:30 – National Amphibian Monitoring Group – Dr John Wilkinson & Rob Ward
Training in amphibian and reptile identification, habitat assessment, survey methods, recording, health & safety. Including advanced skills for grass snake surveys: highlighting the issues in detecting grass snakes in Jersey and how to improve your chances of finding them. We will provide guidance on what data should be collected if you find one, and training on how to do so.
or
13:30 – 15:30 – Jersey Butterfly Monitoring Scheme – Dr Paul Chambers & Richard Perchard
Basic techniques for the identification and monitoring of Jersey’s butterflies and bumblebees. Attendees will learn how to spot and identify common species and how to count them when walking along one of our transects. These are simple biological monitoring techniques that are used across the world and which will allow people to enjoy nature while also contributing to our understanding of it.
This is the very real consequence of not being a responsible dog owner. I’d first like to say thank you, thank you to all the good owners out there, who understand their own animal, and respect others, but even if you think this is you, please read on….
To the culprits, I really don’t know what to say. You may think that this is just a sheep, but I’d say you’re wrong. Her name is Bercail Gallant, she was born on the 7th March lastyear at quarter to two in the afternoon and weighed just 2.9kg. You could hold her in the palm of one hand. I did, I was there. This is a living, breathing creature that gets scared like we do, that has instincts like we do, that feels pain like we do, and that deserves compassion and respect in equal measure to your pet. No animal ever deserves to go through this, and what makes it so difficult to swallow is that there is absolutely no need for it.
It would be easier to sleep at night to think this dog owner was an awful malicious person, with a menacing dog. The difficult reality is that all too often these attacks are caused by well-meaning people, who never for a second think their dog would have this in them, but they do. They all do. So, if the video (on Facebook) upsets you, please, please be responsible. Train your dog to have a solid recall, never let them out of your sight, and if you can’t control your dog, use a lead. But if something like this does happen, let the owner know, don’t ever leave the animal suffering. PLEASE.
This happened on Tuesday morning last week in the early hours, sometime before 0800, in the Beauport area. Five sheep in total had various wounds and injuries. Thanks to some outstanding veterinary work, Gallant has a shot of pulling through, it will be a long road, which she doesn’t deserve, but we will give her every chance.
Please don’t forget, these sheep are members of the Birds On The Edge team like us and like the choughs and deserve every bit as much respect as we all do.
You can see a video of Bercail Gallant on The Reserve (Jersey) Facebook page here but be warned this video is graphic and upsetting (and some of the comments are ‘colourful’!).
The IUCN Red List assesses Myotis alcathoe as Data Deficient, but it is considered threatened in several areas because of its rarity and vulnerability to habitat loss. The species is a woodland specialist, with a strong preference for roosting in trees.
iBats surveyors needed
When: Five or six evenings per volunteer in July and five or six evenings per volunteer in August. Transects start 30mins after sunset, require an hour and 20 mins driving which is followed by uploading GPS and bat call data. Survey event may take three hrs from start to finish.
