Robert E Fuller short film RSPB Bempton: Seabird Dramas Unfold on Cliffs
https://youtu.be/o-05J98KI1Q?si=jfzmBVdH-IUjg0Xh
#Seabirds #RSPB #Bempton

Wales’ biggest Gannet colony suffers severe population crash - numbers on Grassholm have halved following HPAI

https://nation.cymru/news/wales-biggest-gannet-colony-suffers-severe-population-crash/

#Gannets #Seabirds #HPAI

Reduced breeding success in Great Black-backed Gulls (Larus marinus) due to harness-mounted GPS device

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ibi.13247

#Seabirds #Ornithology #Gulls #GPSTagging

"Over five years in the making, a major new feature documentary film PLASTIC PIONEERS - & PLASTIC WARRIORS for UK audiences - investigates the damaging effects plastic pollution is having on our health, lifestyle and wildlife. Following the work of eminent scientists, front line campaigners, and innovative designers working on solutions to the greatest pollution crisis of our time. An eye-opening film that inspires action."

https://plasticpioneersdocumentary.com/

#Seabirds #PlasticPollution

Early reports suggest that Little Tern has enjoyed a successful breeding season in parts of Britain in 2023, despite many seabird colonies being devastated by bird flu

https://www.birdguides.com/news/early-signs-of-successful-little-tern-breeding-season/

#BirdGuides #Terns #Seabirds #LittleTerns

Scottish wild bird highly pathogenic avian influenza response plan

https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-wild-bird-highly-pathogenic-avian-influenza-response-plan/documents/

#HPAI #Seabirds #ScotGov

Again no sign of bird flu in the gulls, which is great. Lots of evidence of rats, but it doesn't look like they really predate the gulls. On the contrary - when we spooked up the colony on arrival, one must have panicked and coughed up a recently eaten young rat! Also saw a couple of pellets containing rat bones, as well as plastic and shellfish.

#Seabirds #Gulls #TeamGull

Just wondering if the previously excellent World Seabird Twitter Conference will be happening again, ever?
A fantastic example of how great a tool twitter was
#WTSC #Seabirds #SeabirdGroup
https://www.seabirds.net/events/wstc/

Elsewhere at Walney, reserve staff think they've gotten about 20 Little tern chicks fledged from 10 pairs, which is phenomenal and a new record for the site. The place is doing great now I've left! 🤔

#Seabirds #TeamGull #LittleTern

@javaraptor my tips:
follow everyone who posts anything you find interesting - you can always unfollow them later
Boost anything you find interesting so other people can find it
Favourite so they know you liked it!
Hashtag as much as possible, without search it's the only way to find anything
Read your local timeline, on ecoevo it's brilliant and I've found so many new science folk to follow through it
Follow hashtags! I follow various #Gulls and #Seabirds related ones, and found lots that way

Speaking of the excellent Seabird Group, I'm surprised they don't already have a mastodon? They've been brilliant on EDI issues, and membership gets you a discount at not just Cotswold Outdoor and the Scottish Seabird Centre, but 20% off mooncup. I've been massively impressed by their commitment to this over the past few years.

Of course I can no longer view their twitter account, so I've no idea if this is something that they are talking about, but I hope they are
#Seabirds #SeabirdGroup

Was the ratio wildly different in previous years, or was the method flawed? I don't think there's any way to tell
#TeamGull #Seabirds

After counting all 4,965 ducks I moved on to counting the juveniles/big chicks in the gull colony. Because we aren't ringing due to HPAI, I am trying to count them with drones.

I need good detail, so rather than an orthomosaic (which can reduce image quality) I flew a 30m high flight with just 10% overlap, and then I'm just going through each picture individually rather than stitching them all together. It's quite sweet seeing the chicks from this angle.
#UAV #Drone #TeamGull #Seabirds

I investigate great skua pellets and prey remains to study their diet, and more recently to investigate plastic occurence in the seabird foodchain. Can you guess the prey species? #ecotoxicology #seabirds #plastic

Individual life histories: neither slow nor fast, just diverse | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2023.0511
#seabirds #ecology #Evolution

Bird flu wipes out Arctic Tern chicks at Long Nanny colony in Northumberland
#HPAI #Seabirds

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/10/dead-arctic-tern-chicks-northumberland-long-nanny-bird-flu-suspected

We won!! So thrilled for my team who received the #Birdlife #Indigenous Award for 2023 (proud to have written the successful application) 🐦💙🎉 #EsperanceTjaltjraak #AboriginalRangers #seabirds #FisheriesBycatch

"Police are investigating two incidents involving birds after a man reportedly shot an air rifle at a seagull and another was allegedly kicked to death"
#Gulls #Seabirds

https://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/23635868.cumbria-police-investigate-bird-incidents-barrow/

I'm also still amazed at how dense the colony still was in 2018 (3,450 pairs) vs 2021 when it was at it's lowest ever, about 500 pairs.

#Gulls #Drones #Seabirds #UAV

So I dug up some old drone imagery; in previous years at Walney I would do 2 drone maps on two consecutive days, and mark a gull in the same place on both as a nest. This time I'm just counting all the gulls visible.

I also found some imagery from when I was first trying out a drone and learning about mapping back in 2018, which is great - I didn't think I'd kept them, and they also fit the 0.7 multiplier

#Gulls #Seabirds #Drones #UAVs #Ornithology