The Second Batch

The last week or two have been a bit quieter than the start of July The first batch of chicks has come and gone. The vast majority of them have successfully fledged, and it's immensely gratifying to see row upon row of fresh-faced juvenile little terns sitting along the foreshore amongst their adult counterparts. They are feeding up and preparing to leave for Africa, Some have already left and as a result we're seeing the number of terns present in the colony start to dwindle. But we're not done yet!

    The 50 or so nests we lost to a tidal surge on the 12th of June were re-layed, and have been hatching for just over a week now. As it stands we're down to about 4 remaining nests with eggs, the rest have hatched and the chicks can be seen bumbling about on the foreshore. Two to three weeks time and these birds too will be headed off for West African coasts with their parents.

    After what has been a fantastic heatwave we've started to see our first showers of rain during the last week. Yesterday I sat in the hide and watched as the terns weathered the worst of the rain on the shore. Parent birds will incubate their still-downy chicks as these feathers are not yet waterproof and a soaking could result in a chick dying of exposure. The adult terns did a wonderful job of sheltering their chicks from the rain but the sight was hilarious...

Three small chicks can just about fit underneath an adult Little Tern. Three week-old chicks? Not so much. I watched in amusement as three chicks attempted to muscle their way under their mother. At one stage they all squeezed under, but lifted her off her feet, at which point she let out a disgruntled squawk and moved off to dig a scrape for them to shelter in.

    One particularly special chick was discovered on a nest check last week, the chick was highly leucistic, or partially albino in plain terms. Compared to its sibling it was chalk and cheese. Surprisingly it was even more camouflaged than the regularly coloured chicks in its company, this of course due to the presence of white stones nearby. We'll be keeping a keen eye out for this guy in the future.

    The main blanket on our enthusiasm at the minute is the kestrel, who still occasionally visits the colony. The odd time it's successful and makes off with a tern chick. We've ramped up our kestrel chasing/scaring tactics though, and it's not taken a chick in over a week now. Long may it last!

    In general bird news; wader passage is increasing, highlights being 2 Ruff and large flocks of Black-tailed Godwit. Mediterranean Gulls are still regularly streaming by the colony. One Pochard was seen south of the colony, but the undoubted highlight was a flyover Short-Eared Owl one evening, which was vociferously mobbed by the terns and oystercatchers.

Make sure to check in over the next few weeks as the project begins to wind down, there should be a few more blog posts on the way too. 

One of the new recruits! Little Tern Chick

Not just terns! I found a skylark nest in the colony too. Here is the sole chick being
moved to safety after straying onto the public path. It successfully fledged a few days later

Steve applying a colour ring to a tern chick

Chris and Steve Colour-Ringing

Tern-ling showing off some new bling

The very-rare and beautiful white chick

    

Tern Chicks Galore and Flooded Shore

Since the last post it's been all go at Kilcoole. Not long after the last update we lost nearly 50 nests to a high spring tide. This was a major set back, wiping out many three-egg clutches. What could have been a disaster has proven not to be so, as good weather has allowed the terns to re-lay en masse.

    The wardens have been extremely busy lately conducting nest checks and monitoring/ringing chicks. Last week 59 chicks were given unique alpha-numeric plastic rings. These green 'colour-rings' were first placed on chicks here back in 2014. They are unique in allowing wardens to identify individual birds by reading the combination on the ring through a telescope.

    The heat-wave that has swept the country over the past few weeks has hit Kilcoole too, and while never getting too hot due to the cooling sea-breeze it has been hot enough to become a risk for the chicks; the air temperature could be 17 degrees but the temperature at chick height on the shingle would be far hotter. In an attempt to aid chicks struggling with heat exposure we have once again started placing chick-shelters on the beach. These consist of roof tiles, and chicks can use these to shelter from wind, rain, sun and predators.

    Speaking of predators we've been having serious problems with a local pair of kestrels lately. These brazen birds of prey have taken ten chicks already and show no signs of slowing down. It's a difficult situation for us, knowing that this is a part of nature and that the kestrels are feeding young of their own. Our current and only method of defence is trying to deter the birds, via shouting and banging pans together. This is having limited success. Will update on proceedings here soon. 

    There is some good news though. We had our first little tern chick fledge yesterday, and there's now another three or four fledged with it. In addition to this i'm pleased to report that the Oystercatcher nest between the train tracks has successfully hatched, and these two fluffy chicks can be seen hanging around the lagoon with their diligent father.

    The last week also had us saying farewell to Sally, our relief warden. Sally spent two months here and was a huge asset to the team. She's now off pursuing seabirds on the R.V Celtic Explorer, and we wish her well(and lots of whales and rare seabirds).

Thanks for reading, keep an eye on the blog for updates soon.

Cathal.

One last note: Walkers on the beach familiar with this blog will already be aware that we ask that dogs be kept on leads at all times, and many people do just that. However there are those who disregard this plea, and as a result of this a three week old chick is now dead. We ask you to spread the word that dogs really do need to be kept on leads in this area. Thanks

Adult tern with young chick

Chunky Chick

Tiny Chick

Chicks are experts at hiding. Can you see it?

Chick shelter in use

Oystercatcher 

                            

Ringed Plover- What a difference three weeks makes!