On Sunday I took a trip to Wexford to visit the Saltee Islands. This is a Island in the St Georges channel, 5 kilometers off Kilmore Quay in Wexford.
To get there you need to book a place on a boat that runs at weekends......or else organise a group of a dozen people.
The Island is privately owned and permission is given to visitors between the hours of 11.00 and 4.30
Our group waiting for the off, being greeted by the fatest seal ive ever seen
It seems theres a couple of seals that live in the harbour waiting for returning fishing boats
There is nothing on the Island but Birds.....so a visit to the loos before you leave is essential!
Once you get there the place is a wonderland for bird watchers and photographers!
You can make it as hard...or as easy as you like
Get to the first bay and just sit for hours.
Or walk the coast
Either way you'll enjoy
Razorbills and Guillemot are everywhere
And so are every ones favourite.....Puffins
And these little chaps seem to love to pose
Dungarvan Camera Club were having a day out when I was there
This fella was a star......getting into every pose possible for us
In a short space of time we were treated to every pose and angle
I wonder if I should have tipped him?
While I was sat there this cheeky fella landed beside me and them moved to
within 5 foot from me.....then turned his back.....That's confidence!
on the way to the Gannet Colony you leave the coastline for a sort time but keep your eyes open and you'll see some Larks and some Oystercatchers
This Oystercatcher was defending a nest
The Great Black-backed Gull is the largest of all the Gulls
Kittiwakes were scattered everywhere, nesting
More Guillemots and Razorbills
The Guillemot's lay a single egg and its on the ledges of the cliffs.....
But the Razorbills hid there nests under slabs of rocks
Razorbills
you can see this lady has her chick well protected
Theres more Puffin to be seen later in the day after they have spent the day out at sea
As you get near to the Gannets, theres a small Cormorant Colony
a juvenile Cormorant
After the Cormorants you need to climb a steep hill
This is when you regret taking that extra camera and lens
You can look back and see , not only the tail end of the Island but also
Little Saltee Island
and of course everywhere theres these creatures
These are female..you can tell by the longer hair....although this is not always a reliable guide
In between the rocks you'll find some Fulmars nesting
A Fulmar in Flight
near the Gannets we started to see more Shags......mostly they were nesting
a easy way to tell the difference is by the crest that the Shag has,
a cormorant has none
Older Chicks
Strangely while many of these seabirds only have single chicks
The Shag will sometimes lay as many as 7/8 eggs.....often rearing 2/4
If you have missed placed any twine, netting or fishing line the chances are its on Saltee Island being
used as nesting material
As you come over the hill you will see the Gannet Colony ahead
Its truly splendid.....a place to sit and watch.....and as a fair wind blows over the rock
Its a amazing sight to see dozens of gannets constantly hovering on the wind
Its a great place to practice your Bird In Flight photography
The wind even manages to slow the gulls down
You can't help but love the Gannets
Theres such interaction between them
and big trouble for anyone landing in the wrong house
a single chick will fledge after 53 days
it will be another 5/6 years before it breeds its self
theres much preening going on
any plenty of status placed on the nesting material
You can see how the head is shaped to dive into the sea at high speed
Wall to Wall Gannets
A cormorant heading out to sea
With so much happening on the rocks and in the air , you often forget to look below and into the sea
here two Razorbills were having a fight
Only for a gull to drop on them and beat them both up
THE SEABIRD YEAR
The auks (Guillemots, Razorbills & Puffins) have a very short breeding season - generally from late April to mid-August, although birds can visit breeding colonies for short periods any time from January. By August, most of the breeding birds will be back out at sea.
May
At South Stack, the first eggs are usually laid in the first week of May. The cliff ledges will be full of birds from now on with many a conflict as the birds seek to maintain their tiny personal spaces.
June
Chicks start to hatch from the beginning of June. The adults brood them closely to start with, so the chicks are hard to see. As the chicks grow, they become slightly easier to see -they look like miniature, fluffey versions of the adults. This is the busiest time of year at the colony. The adults need to bring in a constant supply of fish to feed the young.
July
By the middle of the month, some of the chicks will be almost two-thirds adult size - and almost ready to leave the cliffs. When they do, they won't return until the following year.
August
The numbers of seabirds on the cliffs drops off sharply now as chicks are called down to the sea by their parents. The chicks may have to jump as much as 150 metres to reach the safety of the sea. Most of them do this on still, dark nights, away from prying eyes of predators.
Once the chicks have reached the sea, the whole family will paddle out to sea. Many head from South Stack to the good feeding grounds in the west of the Irish Sea. During this time the adults will undergo their annual feather moult. For up to three weeks, they will be flightless as their new feathers grow.
August-December
The auks disperse through the Irish Sea. Some guillemots get as far south as the Bay of Biscay.
December-April
A general return to waters nearer breeding sites takes place. Sometimes whole colonies appear back on the breeding cliffs during calm periods for a day or two at a time from January onwards
