Seabirds

Seabirds There were two distinct peaks in the number of seabirds using the site; in late May, and during August and early September (Figure 3-100). The springtime peak is almost entirely explained by Arctic Terns, which were first recorded on 3rd May, and had largely passed through by the end of the month. Blackheaded Gulls are responsible for the high counts of seabirds in August and September. There was a discrete influx of Glaucous (and/or Iceland Gulls) in October, which peaked at 262 birds in the second week of the month. Otherwise, the number of seabirds was approximately between 50 and 200 during each survey, usually with more birds recorded during low tide surveys.

Low-tide Rising-tide

Number of seabirds 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Week number and month

Figure 3-100. Number of seabirds recorded during weekly low tide and rising tide estuarine surveys in the Andakíll Ramsar site between 12th March and 25th October 2017.