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8 June 2016

Breeding Stormies on the Brisons

The Brisons lie just off Cape Cornwall and really haven't been visited for a decade, so it was about time we made the effort and went and had a look! Thanks to the good fishing folk of Sennen Cove we were able to hitch a lift over for a couple of hours and ring a good number of birds and also try to get a handle on the number of breeding birds over there.

In total we were able to ring 42 Shags (two adults), 13 Razorbill (seven adults) and an unexpected 11 Guillemot (eight adults). Many auks were still on eggs, with a few abandoned Shag nests and several still with small chicks.

More significantly though, we also heard at least two Storm Petrels calling (or singing) from one of the boulder fields. This remains the only site in the county that Storm Petrel have been presumed to breed, although we're sure that other several other sites must exist but are just hard to access.

Very cute Razorbill chick, many of which are somewhat
difficult to get at in the boulder fields (below)!
Most Shag nests had broods of two, but a few had three feisty chicks
Adult Razorbill

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