Finding our feet in Amble

Today we set out to get things going and make sure people knew we were about and starting work. In the morning we made a number of calls, and we negotiated internet access with a nearby guest house to use their WiFi (hence why I can write this blog).

We couldn't go out in the RIB today so went up the coast to Long Nanny where there is a National Trust wardened tern colony. At the car park, we bumped into a birder called Gary who seemed to have heard of us and the work we are going to be doing. He has a birding blog: http://newtonstringer.blogspot.com/

Posing Arctic tern

The tern colony is vast, with hundreds of pairs of Arctic terns and a small but growing number of little terns. We made contact with the wardens and found out how the season is progressing. We plan to return to the area later in the season to study the forgaging trips of the little terns and study their use of the sea. But the little terns have only recently started to lay eggs, and the first chicks won't start to be fed for another two weeks or so. The early indications are that the nesting season is a bit later. We watched as a carrion crow made repeated forays into the colony, accompanied by a swarm of furious Arctic terns, only to emerge seconds later with an egg in its beak. A volunteer warden was trying to pursue it with what looked like a high-tech catapult. But it was too wily and managed to keep its distance. I wonder how long before more drastic measures will be employed.

There seemed to be plenty of sandeels coming into the colony as display fish for the Arctic terns. I did see a gadid and a very young 0-group sandeel, so they aren't all bringing in grade-A display fish.

Arctic tern with grade-A display fish (sandeel)

We did some trial watches of the little terns, picking a spot a short distance away from the colony where we could try to watch them feeding from a high vantage point. The first thing we tried was to count the rate at which little terns passed in either direction. At first, all was quiet, then the final minutes of the watch were quite frantic. Out high vantage point proved difficult to be sure that we'd detected all flights. Most of the birds we saw uttered an occasional call to betray their presence. More interesting was when we spend half an hour watching individuals leaving the colony to see what they did. They all seemed to spend a bit of time at the mouth of the Long Nanny river, if they didn't get chased off by another bird if already present. They then flew fast northward toward Beadnell harbour, and starting to search for food at the same place each time. Often it proved difficult to follow an individual, because there seemed to be quite a bit of territorial behaviou - if a bird was already feeding at a particular spot, it wouldn't tolerate another bird encroaching on "its patch". We started to see a pattern by the end of the watch.

We returned to the car, did a shop in Alnwick on the way back to the house. Julie cooked a delicious meal (aubergine bake for the foodies out there). We were visited by Graeme, who will be driving the boat for us. It was good to meet him and just talk through what we want to do and make plans for our first attempts in the boat tomorrow. First impressions were good, and I hope he felt the same way about us. I think we're all a little apprehensive and at the same time excited by the work we'll be doing.