6 August 2011

Fulmar Time

Finally we have a nice sunny day, blue sky and little wind and just in time too for today is the annual Fulmar ringing trip to the uninhabited island of Swona.

The yacht Emerald which had been moored up in the bay in front of the cottage here since Thursday due to the bad weather finally managed to move on just after 07:00.

The ringing party arrived at Burwick Harbour, South Ronaldsay and set off for Swona at 10:00am. We landed around 10:30 and set off to the South end of the island, split into two groups and set about ringing the Fulmar chicks.

The challenge of the day is to avoid these cute little bundles of fluff from gobbing a stinking oily fish mixture all over you as you put the rings on.

The trip went well and around 260 chicks were ringed, slightly up on last year so the earlier rumours that the breeding season may not have been quite so successful this year might seemed unfounded.

Fulmar chick on nest

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