Cracking Stormie night and more French Kittiwakes

Same old, same old it seems at this time of year, but when the 'same old' is ringing Barn Owls, Kittiwakes and Storm Petrels then it's not so bad! With over half of our second visits to owl boxes now completed, it looks like the good start to the year hasn't quite come to fruition. Out of the clutches of five or six eggs we were seeing, we seem to be down to broods of just two or three chicks now, which perhaps isn't surprising considering the weather. It might be glorious out there, but the lack of rain means a lack of grass growth and a lack of rodents, so not good for demanding owlets! It's not all been bad news though and we have still seen a few broods of four or five chicks.

Sometimes the adults are just all very relaxed at nest visits,
watching from a handy perch!

Aside from owls, we had our first big Storm Petrel catch of the year at Gwennap Head, Porthgwarra at the weekend. A long busy night saw us ringing 159 birds, also catching six BTO-ringed birds from sites as diverse as Calf of Man, Cape Clear and Hartland Point, Devon. We also caught one French-ringed bird which I have a feeling is an old one, so it'll be interesting to see when that was ringed.

Last but not least, we caught up on some Kittiwake ringing and resighting recently and managed to ring 24 chicks at Trewavas Head. It's a real pity here that most nests are out of reach of a double ladder, but I guess they need to be safe from the Cornish swell! A quick look at Cornish resightings so far in 2018 shows that we've now seen 26 different French-ringed birds this year; eight at Trewavas Head, eight 'loafers' at Lizard, six at Ralph's Cupboard, Portreath and three at Rinsey. This is even more impressive when you consider that to the end of 2016 there had only been 92 reports of French-ringed Kittiwakes in the UK outside of Cornwall! We're sure there are many more out there, so we'll be out again in the week to check...