Stormies

Matt Wood from the University of Gloucestershire visited us recently to do some ringing of breeding adult storm petrels. With help from the wardens and volunteers, 30 storm petrels were encountered during ringing at Tom's House: 14 unringed birds were given shiny new rings, 15 birds were found already with rings including three not seen since Dave Boyle and Rich Brown started ringing there in 2006. The last was a control - a bird not seen before on Skomer that has been ringed by someone elsewhere - we'll find out where soon from the British Trust for Ornithology. A short spell at North Haven yielded four new birds, and found one ringed at Wooltack Point that's at least 14 years old. This work is best done at this time of year, when storm petrels have hatched their eggs and are not put off visiting their chicks if they're trapped, ringed and released. It builds on the hard work of ringers like Dave, Rich and others including Rob Thomas from Cardiff University, with the aim of monitoring the adult survival rates of these amazing ocean wanderers.

Strom Petrel with ring