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wonders of nature Scottish Seabird Centre Members’ magazine
Our Seabird ambassadors:
Dirleton Gullane
Princes Street
Aberlady
Abbeyhill
124 X24
Portobello
Semple Street
Musselburgh Prestonpans Longniddry
X2 4
Duddingston Park South
12 4
124 X24 X5
The Jewel A1
X5
X5
Edinburgh City Centre
Scottish Seabird Centre North Berwick 124 X24 X5
Year of Young People 08 Winter events 20 North Berwick Wildlife Watch 22 SOS Puffin 300
Scottish Seabird Centre and the environment Sustainability and the environment are at the heart of everything we do. We have produced this magazine in an environmentally-friendly way. However, to help save trees and to reduce costs, you can receive your magazine by email – just contact membership@seabird.org or call +44(0)1620 890202. Also, sign up to our enewsletters to be kept up-to-date with our latest news. You can do this at www.seabird.org
Visit us*
February, March, September and October Monday – Friday 10:00 –17:00 Saturday & Sunday 10:00 –17:30 April – August Monday – Sunday 10:00 –18:00 November – January Monday – Friday 10:00 –16:00 Saturday & Sunday 10:00 –17:00 *P lease note we will be closed for refurbishment during January to early April 2019. Check our website for further details. Design: Wordpicturestory / www.wordpicturestory.co.uk
News
Features
05 News 06 Young Seabird Ambassadors 08 Winter Events 10 Plans for the Centre in 2019 22 SOS Puffin 300! 24 Bubbles beat balloons 26 Migration May 28 The future for Scotland’s Seabirds? 30 Snorkel heaven at Kingsbarns 32 Cirrus Logic
Regulars
12 Education 16 Holiday Club 20 Wildlife Watch 34 Volunteers 36 Gift Shop 38 Seabird Café 40 Boats 44 Kids
ick...perfectly w r e B th r o N t a lore the located to exnptr yside Perfect Holidays and Coast & Cou othian L t s Holiday Home Ownership of Ea Lodges with Hot Tubs Caravans • Camping Cabins For Families • For Golfers For Walkers or just for getting away...
Find us
Scottish Seabird Centre, The Harbour, North Berwick, EH39 4SS W: www.seabird.org E: info@seabird.org T: +44(0)1620 890202
Grange Road, North Berwick EH39 5JA 01620 893 790 • 07779 167 253 carlene@gilslandpark.co.uk • www.gilslandpark.co.uk
03
Welcome from Nigel As our new interim CEO, it gives me great pleasure to welcome all our members to the 47th edition of your Members’ magazine.
It has been another dramatic year for wildlife around our shores; poor weather over Spring meant that the island bird colonies all experienced late breeding seasons, however, the amazing weather over the summer helped to ensure that our visitors were able to enjoy fantastic views of puffins, gannets and other wildlife, including regular dolphin sightings, over an extended period. We are currently working on some exciting plans to refurbish the inside of the Centre. In order to complete the programme of work the Centre will be closed for approximately 12 weeks over January, February and March. We look forward to welcoming you back to our Centre in April 2019. Finally, we are looking forward to welcoming you all to an exclusive members’ shopping event being held from 6 to 9 December. As a big thank you for your support, we are increasing the discount for this members’ event to 30% (some exclusions apply) so start planning your Christmas shopping soon!
Nigel Ward Interim CEO
Update from Jess Welcome to the Winter edition of the wonders of nature. It’s been a very busy few months here at the Centre and an exciting time for me to join the team, who have all been incredibly welcoming. We’ve been moving ahead with our education outreach work – attending Science Festivals across the country including, Edinburgh, Dundee and Orkney: and our new loan box initiative for schools is also well underway.
As well as all of this, we’re continuing to welcome lots of school groups to the
Education Centre and children to our fantastic holiday and wildlife clubs, allowing us to teach them about our amazing marine environment and how to protect it. We’re particularly excited to share more details of our 2019 refurbishment in this edition. We’ll be sharing news of the refurb progress on twitter and facebook, so please follow us and let us know your thoughts as the plans develop. We’d love to hear from you. As an organisation we continue to strive to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Our preference is to communicate with our Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
members by email, to help reduce our use of print and paper. If you have not done so already and are happy to share your email address, please forward it to info@seabird.org. We will only use your email to contact you about membership issues and Centre news. It will not be shared with any 3rd parties. We hope you enjoy this issue and look forward to welcoming you to the Centre throughout December and then again in the Spring when we re-open. Exciting times ahead!
Jess Thompson Marketing Manager
04 Special thanks The Scottish Seabird Centre is an independent charity dedicated to inspiring people to appreciate and care for wildlife and the natural environment. Registered Scottish charity no. SC025837. Registered in Scotland no. 172288.
Special thanks and editorial contributions
Our thanks go to all who have helped to support our education and conservation work over the last year. Like all charities, we are reliant on the generosity of our members and supporters.
Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust Hamish and Doris Crichton Charitable Trust Hugh Fraser Foundation Inchcape Foundation J and JR Wilson Trust JTH Charitable Trust Lindsays Charitable Trust Mackintosh Foundation McCarthy and Stone Montague Panton Animal Welfare Trust North Berwick Trust N Smith Charitable Settlement Robertson Trust Russell Trust Scottish Enterprise Scottish Natural Heritage Sea-Changers Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust Shirley Pugh Foundation Sir James Miller Edinburgh Trust Spear Charitable Trust Stafford Trust St Mary’s Charity Susan H Guy’s Charitable Trust Tay Charitable Trust T D Paton Trust Tennant Southpark Trust Tesco: Bags of Help Tori Ratcliffe Art William Dean Countryside and Educational Trust William Grant Foundation William Haddon Charitable Trust Wolfson Foundation
The grants and donations we receive are vital in helping us to develop and deliver our charitable activities, as well as being able to extend our work and plan new initiatives. Some of those who have committed support over the last twelve months are named below. This list is in no way comprehensive; we are grateful to all who have supported us, many of whom choose to remain anonymous. Thank you! Recent donors include: Astor Foundation Bothwell Charitable Trust Castansa Trust Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust Cirrus Logic Coastal Communities Fund Cray Trust Cross Trust Cruden Foundation Ltd. David Doig Foundation D S Smith Foundation Eda Lady Jardine Charitable Trust Ellem Foundation Enterprise Holdings Foundation Forth Ports Gannet and Guga café Garfield Weston Foundation
Photography credits Images bring our magazine to life! We would like to say thanks to the following: Carrie Bevan, Keith Broomfield, Gareth Easton, Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
Jan Ferguson, Andrew Grieveson, John Hunt, Dawn Melville Kane, Greg Macvean, Rob McDougall, Maggie Sheddan, David Steel, Phil Taylor. Special thanks goes to our Seabird Ambassador, Chris Cachia Zammit, for our wonderful cover image. Editorial contributions This issue contains articles from many valued contributors and we would like to extend a huge thanks to all of them. For this edition we would like to introduce Phil Taylor, who is one of our newest Trustees. Phil Taylor Appointed as a Trustee for Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018, Phil is Head of Policy and Operations at Open Seas, an organisation working to improve the sustainability of our seafood and health of our seas. He is a passionate and committed environmentalist and has been since his teens. Phil worked for several years at RSPB Scotland leading seabird conservation work, including projects like the Shiant Isles Recovery and BirdLife International, working to identify and protect some of the world’s most important patches of sea.
Phil’s real passion lies in engaging people with the natural world and thinking about the future of our environment.
05 News The latest from the Seabird team and what we have been working on!
Collaboration with SQA
Marine Loan Boxes
In our last members’ magazine, we shared news of our Education Officer’s (Andrew) collaboration with the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) to develop curriculumlinked approved coursework. Our first set of coursework (which was based around assessing species distribution down a rocky shoreline) has now been supplemented with, a new set of resources entitled “Assessing plastic pollution on a beach”.
Here at the Seabird Centre, education is central to our mission to help conserve and protect seabirds and marine wildlife. We want to inspire people of all ages to learn about Scotland’s seas and the creatures that live in it.
Most beaches around the world will have some plastic pollution washed up. Much of this will be small, as a lot of plastic is spilled into the ocean as small beads (known as ‘nurdles’) on their way to be processed. Larger plastic items will break up over time into smaller pieces and be deposited in sand and mud. Using the sand on a beach as a natural collector of plastics, samples can be taken and the mass and distribution of plastic waste determined on a sandy shoreline. Using our new SQA-approved guides (one for pupils and one for teachers), National 5 Environmental Science students (and indeed Geography and Biology students) can follow instructions to collect multiple sand samples from the beach in a structured way, filter these for traces of plastic and measure the mass of the plastic found.
To help us deliver this objective, we have developed loan boxes, which are available for schools and community groups across Scotland to borrow free of charge. The ability to handle objects and use the senses can often lead to a more memorable learning experience. We are anticipating that our loan boxes will be of particular interest to schools and organisations that are unable to visit the Centre in person or that live far from the coast. Each box contains marine-related real and replica items, books, toys, activities and reference materials chosen to complement one another. The contents are fully supported with teacher’s notes and curriculum linked classroom activities. It is our hope that these marine loan boxes will bring the wonders of the seaside into the lives of kids who have not had the opportunity to experience this before. More information is available on the learning section of our website. www.seabird.org/learning/resources
The aim of the investigation is to examine the distribution of plastic waste on a beach. Students are also prompted to draw conclusions and explore ideas as to how the problem may be tackled. All of our SQA approved guides can be found on the ‘Learning’ section of our website. Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
06 News
News from around the Centre Tobais Bekkers Trugg
Ritchie Brand
Young Seabird Ambassadors Continuing our support of the Year of Young People, we are delighted to introduce you to our seven Young Seabird Ambassadors who were selected earlier this year to contribute to our blog and support our work. Our Seabird Ambassadors all have a particular passion for nature, conservation or wildlife. Check our website www.seabirdyoungpeople. wordpress.com and read their fantastic blogs.
Thomas Lucas
We are very lucky to have tapped into such enthusiastic supporters and extend a massive thank you for their work with us this year. Tobias Bekkers Trugg I applied to be a Seabird Ambassador because I love nature and I want to become a marine biologist when I am older. I also think people should care about nature more and not littering. I am very interested in birds. I mainly want to photograph and film birds because I find it fascinating how a pair of wings can carry a body with ease.
I volunteer at the lobster hatchery in North Berwick.
Ruby Rutherford
Ritchie Brand I applied to be a Young Seabird Ambassador because I love ocean life and live next to the Seabird Centre which is one of my favourite places to visit.
I am interested in all types of sharks and seabirds. My favourite seabird is a puffin and my favourite shark is a whale shark.
Pedro Matos
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
07 News
Chris Cachia Zammit
Thomas Lucas Hi, my name is Thomas and I have really enjoyed the Wildlife Club at the Seabird Centre. I applied be a Young Seabird Ambassador as I would like to carry on learning and pass information to others. I have been going to the Seabird Centre since I was little and now I am very pleased to represent it.
Mark Pitt
Chris Cachia Zammit I am very passionate about seabirds and love to share my passion and knowledge with other people, making them aware of the pressures that humans are putting on these species and how can we (humans) make their life easier and protect them and their habitat.
I am interested in conservation and protecting the seas and I like to dive and snorkel. I would also like to be a zoologist one day and protect wildlife. It’s important to protect the world we live in to make it happier for everyone.
I have volunteered as a field worker in a number of seabird projects both in Malta and in the UK, these include Yelkouan Shearwater LIFE project, Shearwater LIFE. I have also volunteered, assisting ringers on Filfla, whilst ringing Mediterranean Storm Petrels.
Ruby Rutherford I’m really happy to be a Young Seabird Ambassador! I applied because I’m interested in marine wildlife and also our environment. I am interested in lots of marine animals such as puffins, gannets, seals, dolphins and whales.
I recently finished my internship with RSPB Scotland on Project Puffin UK, where I had to conduct census work on puffin colonies and track birds. I am also a wildlife photographer, with a number of photos being published in Maltese and Scottish publications.
Pedro Matos I’m really happy to be a Young Seabird Ambassador!
Mark Pitt I applied to be a young Seabird Ambassador as I firmly believe that our coasts require more protections from the government and that the most effective way to achieve this is to spread the message of conservation through the younger generation.
As a film student from the Edinburgh College, and a nature and outdoors enthusiast, I am interested in using filmmaking to support and educate about wildlife and marine conservation, so being one of the Young Seabird Ambassadors will provide me the opportunity to fulfil this ambition, meet new people with similar interests and get involved in the Seabird Centre projects. I am interested in any conservation initiatives and environmental practices; however, marine wildlife is what really motivates me and I would like to learn and discover more about it.
I have always had a passion for nature, particularly in all things related to birds. Seabirds have always piqued my interest due to how massive and remote their colonies are, however, and more importantly, our seabirds and other coastal animals are under intense pressures that they have not faced before. Their suffering is due to us humans, with our plastic waste and the warming oceans caused by carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions causing major losses across many seabird species.
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
08 Winter Events We have a great selection of events for you to enjoy over the winter months.
Upcoming months:
Some great events to suit all tastes. We’d love to see you.
Winter Exhibition – Marine Scotland Daily October to December 2018 We welcome Marine Scotland to the Centre with the winter exhibition in the Discovery Centre. The exhibition will be focussed on their work around fisheries protection, with a large model ship as a centrepiece. Pop along to see posters, videos, models, uniforms and grab instructions on how to build a Lego ship.
James, our retail manager has worked hard to stock the Gift Shop with lots of fantastic gifts, wildlife-themed homewares, Scottish jewellery, soft toys, range of Scottish gins and plenty of Christmas gift ideas. Our Puffin, Seal or Gannet adoption packs are very popular Christmas gifts. Each adoption pack includes a soft toy, fact sheet, adoption certificate and a gift voucher for entry to the Discovery Centre for a family of four. Further gift ideas include Membership to the Centre and also gift vouchers for use in the Seabird Gift Shop, Café or Discovery Centre. Vouchers for a range of boat trips for 2019 will also be available. To add extra festive spirit, the choir from Law Primary School in North Berwick will entertain you with Christmas carols at the start of the evening. We look forward to welcoming you to our Christmas Shopping Event! * Excluding binoculars, books, adoptions, membership, vouchers and alcohol.
Members’ Christmas Shopping Event 6 December 2018 17:00 to 20:00 This year, we have an extra special Christmas Shopping Event for our members. The event will begin at 5pm on Thursday 6 December, where we will welcome you to the Centre to enjoy mulled punch and mince pies as you shop. Members will enjoy a special discount of 30% off (with some exceptions *). We understand this is a very busy time of the year so we have extended the shopping event over the weekend, from Friday 7 December through to Sunday 9 December.
Gin tasting at the Puffin 7 February 2019 Forget the winter blues and enjoy a wonderful variety of gin, in the lovely setting of The Puffin on North Berwick High Street. Tickets will be available online or at The Puffin (from January). Please note that the Centre will be closed but full details will be available on our website www.seabird.org or call 01620 890202.
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
Meet the scientist:
Threats to our beautiful marine environment. Meet the Scientist 21 February 2019 Hope Rooms, North Berwick. 7pm. Can sea monsters cope with climate change? Speaker: Dr Sebastian Hennige, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh
The oceans are changing faster than ever before, and corals are under threat. We will explore the ways that these sea monsters support us, the kinds of threats they are facing and what this will mean to them (and us). These threats include ocean acidification and increases in temperatures, which can cause mass coral bleaching and potential death. Our journey will take us from the spectacular deep cold-water coral reefs off the west coast of Scotland, to tropical sun-soaked reefs and white sandy beaches. Please note that the Centre will be closed but full details will be available on our website www.seabird.org or call 01620 890202.
10 Feature We are very happy to announce that we will be undertaking a muchneeded internal refresh of the Centre in early 2019.
The work is entirely internal and will include a reorganisation of the upstairs space to allow visitors a clear line of sight to the Discovery Centre, reinforcing that we are a visitor centre and giving us space to share details of our charitable mission; ‘to inspire people to appreciate, understand and care for wildlife and the natural environment’.
The works will include:
Adding new exhibits downstairs in our Discovery Centre (new exhibits will be phased in over the year). Removing an internal wall and relocating the retail and café space so that we can; 1 Have conservation and education exhibits upstairs. 2 Improve sight-lines to the Discovery Centre. 3 Provide more circulation space in the café seating area.
Redecorating and freshening up the retail, café and toilet areas.
In order to complete the programme of work the Centre will be closed for approximately 12 weeks over January, February and March. We plan to re-open in April 2019. To ensure you don’t lose out on your valuable membership benefits, while we are closed, we will extend your membership term for another 3 months. We hope this will allow you to make full use of the newly-refurbished Centre when it re-opens. We will continue to update you on our progress with the renovations, via our social channels and newsletters, as plans and visuals are finalised. We apologise for any inconvenience this will cause but are confident that you are going to love the improvements we are making to the Centre.
Sharing our Marine Conservation Message Throughout 2018, we have been running our ‘marine activities programme’ which will continue through the period of closure and on into 2019. Our aim with this programme is to share our marine conservation message with a wider audience through schools and science festivals.
The key components of the programme include:
Events (both at the Centre and external venues) such as ‘Meet the Scientist’ evenings and taking activities out to Science Festivals; Science Engagement (including taking our ‘Oceanarific’ science show on the road); Increasing education and outreach work (via our marine-themed loan box scheme and developing new marine workshops); Participating in marine-themed days such as World Oceans Day and Marine Week.
This year we extended our reach as far as the Orkney Science Festival. We have also participated in the Edinburgh, Fife and Dundee Science Festivals and intend to visit all again in 2019. Our aim is to bring marine-related learning opportunities to wider audiences around Scotland in addition to the visitors we have here at the Centre. We hope to build on this further in preparation for 2020, the Year of Coasts and Waters.
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
Looking to the future:
Exciting refurbishment plans for 2019
12 Education Education Officer, Andrew, gives us an update on everything he has been up to, including collaboration with the Prince’s Trust.
We have reached the end of another busy summer term, and we were pleased to welcome hundreds of children from many schools to engage with our education programme. Many school groups have visited us before and enjoyed their experiences so much they wished to return with new classes. But there were also several schools that had never been here before, and these too we hope will return. The overwhelmingly positive feedback we have received from teachers suggests so!
Towards the end of 2017 we launched a competition for schools to “find the next David Attenborough”. We challenged schools to narrate a short film of the gannets on the Bass Rock. We had many wonderful entries from many talented children. Our winner was Fraser Findlay from Armadale Primary School in Bathgate. He delivered a wonderful commentary, very confidently and described the action on screen perfectly! As a reward, he and his whole class came to visit the Seabird Centre to see Fraser’s prize-winning film on the big screen in our Wildlife Theatre. We also welcomed from Sunnyside Primary School the winning class of another competition run by Keep Scotland Beautiful. They made a fantastic sculpture called ‘Gannet With A Sore Tummy’, a poor gannet with a glass stomach full of fish and plastic straws! As part of their prize they got a free education workshop with us here, and their sculpture has been on display in our Education Centre all through the summer term so that all visiting classes this year can see it and learn an important message about plastic waste in our seas.
We have been keen for a long time on getting children to visit us that ordinarily may struggle to get here for various reasons, including economic ones. Thanks to our funders, we have been able to help children from schools identified as being in the lowest 15% on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. By organising transport for these groups, we have seen a steady increase over the last few years in classes from deprived areas, and this year we saw our highest numbers yet. Many children had access to nature and outdoor learning that would not have been available otherwise, and some enjoyed their first ever visit to the seaside! Another way to break down barriers to marine education was to take it to them! I was lucky to be able to visit a class in St. Martin’s Primary School with severe disabilities that made transport difficult. I was able to teach them about some key Scottish sea creatures, with lots of fun sensory activities to help them learn. We hope to be able to bring the class out to the beaches here one day soon.
The next David Attenborough:
We challenged schools to narrate a short film of the gannets on the Bass Rock. We had many wonderful entries from many talented children.
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
We also collaborated this year with the Prince’s Trust to bring a group of young volunteers who had fallen out of traditional education to our beaches to collect plastic and litter. They engaged well with their task and learned why plastic pollution is such a big problem. We will keep working with the Prince’s Trust in the future to develop this scheme further, with an SOS Puffin trip planned for them very soon! And the Prince’s Trust wasn’t the only organisation we worked with this term. We have developed a workshop for schools called ‘Claws!’ focusing on lobsters, crabs and other crustaceans. We created this with the Firth of Forth Lobster Hatchery who bring along equipment, posters and live lobsters, from tiny hatchlings to enormous adults, for children to see up close and touch. Broxburn Primary School were brave enough to meet these impressive creatures at the end of June. We also work frequently with the local charity Fidra and their Great Nurdle Hunt, raising awareness of plastics on the beach and in the sea. They came along to help out with Humbie and Saltoun Primary Schools as they took part in beach cleans and hunted for nurdles (small beads of plastic) in the sand.
Education Accessibility:
We have been keen for a long time on getting children to visit us that ordinarily may struggle to get here for various reasons, including economic ones.
Busy days:
Many school groups have visited us before and enjoyed their experiences so much they wished to return with new classes.
16 Holiday Club Education Officer, Andrew provides an update on all the fantastic fun and games of the Seabird Holiday Club!
It has now been two full years since we began our Seabird Holiday Club programme, and this summer we saw our largest uptake of children yet. We had 28 members in total, and thanks to the hard work of our wonderful volunteers and staff, everyone had a fantastic and rewarding week!
This year, we were also delighted to work in collaboration with the Firth of Forth Lobster Hatchery, who very kindly opened their doors to the Holiday Club for an hour and showed the children the equipment they use, the larvae and juvenile lobsters and the enormous adults. The children were delighted and really enjoyed getting an up close view of these impressive beasts, including a female carrying hundreds of eggs! As ever, we did lots of exciting science experiments. This time we learned about light and taste. We looked at how white light contains all the colours of the visible spectrum, and then had a go at splitting beams of light into spectra using glass prisms. We also learned about how we taste different things with our tongues and used ‘miracle fruit’ to change our sense of taste (temporarily!) It made lemons taste like cheesecake and oranges like Fanta. Weird! We also learned about the natural world, and spent an afternoon looking at the amazing variety of fish that can be found in the sea. The children seemed particularly fascinated by some of the stranger species of the deep, such as anglerfish and gulper eels. We also designed our own fish and made beautiful handmade fish decorations to take home.
Good times:
The children all had a fantastic time with us and we were delighted to welcome so many this time around. We are always keen at the Seabird Centre to promote outdoor learning, as the great outdoors makes a wonderful ‘classroom’ for all children and creates a love of nature that they will carry with them throughout their lives. As such, we took the children out every day for lots of different activities. We had a sandcastle competition, explored the rockpools at low tide and enjoyed a nature walk along the beach, collecting interesting items to take home and start their own nature table. The children’s creative side was let loose too, with a different sea creature craft activity starting off each day. We made paper plate lobsters, woven fish and jellyfish from card and wool. We also built in lots of arts and crafts to our other workshops. To help us learn about light and shadows, we made sea creature shadow puppets! The children all had a fantastic time with us and we were delighted to be able to welcome so many this time around. Let’s hope for many more exciting adventures to come!
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
Holiday Club
Learning is fun:
We are always keen at the Seabird Centre to promote outdoor learning, as the great outdoors makes a wonderful ‘classroom’ for all children.
20 Wildlife Watch All the highlights from Andrew and the Wildlife Club team this year.
The Wildlife Club has had a super summer term, with lots of fun activities and some wonderful weather too! All three groups enjoyed pond dipping at the base of North Berwick Law. We found lots of interesting creatures, including pond snails, water spiders, dragonfly larvae and plenty of tadpoles. Our Senior Branch also enjoyed a nature hike up the Law, spotting lots of birds, plants and insects and finally reaching the top for a spectacular view.
The Seniors also got a much closer view of the Bass Rock when they took a boat trip out to see the gannets up close. We circled Craigleith on the way and saw lots of puffins, razorbills and even a seal, before heading out to the world’s largest gannet colony to watch them nesting, diving and soaring overhead. Our younger groups also had lots of fun this term. They were pleased to welcome our local countryside ranger, Sam, on a scavenger hunt for items you can find on the beach. We found lots of interesting shells and seaweeds, as well as items that are bad for the beach. We also got the chance to make some beautiful beach art with our findings.
Marine life:
We circled Craigleith on the way and saw lots of puffins, razorbills and even a seal, before heading out to the world’s largest northern gannet colony to watch them nesting, diving and soaring overhead.
Our younger members also looked at the wonderful insect life in our surrounding grassy areas thanks to the sunny weather we had this summer. We used sweep nets to comb through the long grass and vegetation and emptied them into a tray so we could see what we had all found. There were lots of flies, beetles, aphids and even a few snails. All very important, not just as wonderful creatures themselves, but as food for the birds and other larger animals. The major activity we ran this summer term was with our Senior Branch, who over several weeks organised and finally ran a community beach clean. This was in collaboration with Sam, our ranger, as part of the Scottish Government’s Year Of Young People initiative. We wanted to give the children lots of important skills for the future. So they learned about the issues of marine pollution and litter and went out to see the problem on the beaches themselves. They created posters for their beach clean to put up around town,and promoted the event to their school friends and teachers. Come the big day, they ran a sign-in stall, talked all volunteers through the safety rules and why the work they were doing was so important, and handed out equipment. They all did a fantastic job and we were all very pleased with the outcome – over twenty volunteers and several bags of litter cleaned up off the beach. Wonderful work from our Wildlife Clubbers!
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
Life’s a beach:
Our younger groups also had lots of fun this term. They were pleased to welcome our local countryside ranger Sam on a scavenger hunt for items you can find on the beach.
22 Feature Trustee and SOS Puffin founder, John Hunt, reflects on the project’s impact over the last 11 years and what the future might bring for our local puffin populations.
The Scottish Seabird Centre launched the SOS Puffin project in 2007 to tackle the problem of the invasive plant tree mallow which threatened the important populations of Puffins and other seabirds on three of the islands near North Berwick. At that time none of us fully realised what we were taking on or would have guessed that 11 years and 300 work parties later, we would still be hard at it.
When we began, Craigleith was completely covered in a jungle of tree mallow up to nearly three metres high, Fidra was rapidly heading the same way and tree mallow was spreading on the Lamb. It was a daunting task and it took two years hard work by our volunteers before we completed a first cut of the tree mallow, only to discover that the plant regenerated like crazy and we seemed to be back where we started. However we kept at it and slowly we have brought tree mallow under control. For the last eight years Puffins have been able to nest on the islands without being prevented or deterred by tree mallow and the population on Craigleith has recovered from a very low level, while numbers on Fidra and the Lamb have held up well. The project has of course depended entirely on the enthusiasm and commitment of our volunteers who continue to come forward offering their help. Nearly 1200 people of all ages have been out on work parties, many of them coming back again and again. It is marvellous to see how much they enjoy the whole experience of a work party – the fun of the boat journey, the magic of the island wildlife and landscape together with the satisfaction of clearing areas of tree mallow. Many volunteers have made good friends on these trips and for a few it has been a life changing experience.
The project is overseen by a management group and has been a happy collaboration between various individuals and organisations. Aberdeen University carry out the ecological monitoring on Craigleith which has provided a valuable ongoing guide to the practical work. The RSPB owns Fidra and they contribute there by organising some additional work parties. Scottish Natural Heritage provides help and advice since the islands have official designations for their scientific interest. Other landowners have also been very supportive. Various lessons learnt from the project are promoted through talks and publications. Where do we go from here? The number of work parties needed has slowly declined as less tree mallow returns each year. However there is a great deal of seed still in the soil and we are really fighting a long term battle with this seed bank. Each year we aim to cut all the mallow to prevent it producing more seed and slowly maritime grasses and other plants are replacing it. We shall need to continue work parties for a number of years yet before we can relax. It is unlikely that we will ever eliminate tree mallow but we hope to reduce it to the stage that it can be dealt with by the occasional work party. The future of our seabirds really depends on what happens at sea, but I am sure our wonderful volunteers will continue to keep their island homes in good condition. Many thanks to Viridor Credits who generously grant aided the project and to many others who have supported us in various ways. In particular, thanks to the boat skippers who have safely transported us to and from the islands.
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
John Hunt:
SOS Puffin 300!
The future of our seabirds really depends on what happens at sea, but I am sure our wonderful volunteers will continue to keep their island homes in good condition.
Longniddry Primary School:
Bubbles beat balloons Concerned by their research of the environmental impact of mass balloon releases, the Longniddry youngsters were shocked to learn that the tag found by their teacher was an example of a huge worldwide problem.
Longniddry teacher, Yvonne Hart, could not have imagined that a chance find of a balloon tag, at Canty Bay would lead to a community campaign.
“A few years ago, I’m sure we would have been excited that this might be an opportunity for the children to write to the school on the label. I knew my class would be anxious that this was part of the plastic pollution on our beaches and seas,” said the P4 class teacher. Delta Sym of P4 explained “we found out that balloon rubbish is causing problems for wildlife and sea creatures so we decided we should make a campaign called Bubbles beat Balloons.”
25 Feature
Celebrating their award of silver status in UNICEF’s Rights Respecting School’s scheme, the school had an opportunity to hold a mass bubble release back in June and used the occasion to promote their campaign.
East Lothian Pupil’s Campaign Goes Global. Yvonne Hart, teacher at Longniddry Primary, talks to us about their amazing community campaign.
In fact it is estimated that 10% of all balloons released do not burst but float back down to earth where they pose a danger to wild animals. The Marine Conservation Society UK say that dolphins, whales and seabirds have all been killed by balloons. Turtles are particularly at risk as they mistake the plastic remnants for jellyfish. If swallowed, the plastic sticks in the animal’s gut and causes it to starve. It is not just the balloon which is problematic but the attached ribbons, valves and labels. Birds and animals can become entangled in the plastic ribbon and are then unable to feed or move. Even supposedly bio-degradable balloons can in fact take several years to break down. Over the past 10 years, the Marine Conservation Society estimates the amount of balloon debris found on our beaches has tripled. Concerned by their research of the environmental impact of mass balloon releases, the Longniddry youngsters were shocked to learn that the tag found by their teacher was just one tiny example of a huge world-wide problem. “It horrifies me when I see the amount of pollution in our oceans” says Tamaro Oria, who represents the school’s media group. “Part of that is leftover rubbish from mass balloon releases.” Pupils began to notice balloon debris on their local beach at Longniddry as well as in the wider community. Setting a good example and to avoid endangering wildlife in the school grounds, the caring pupils changed their annual P7 water fight to a weapons only battle, avoiding the plastic balloon water bombs.
Refreshed after their holidays the pupils soon turned to campaigning once more and enlisted the help of the Marine Conservation Society (Scotland) who visited the school and led workshops on the topic of plastic pollution. Rolling out their campaign to the village, the school’s pupil voice group presented the case to Longniddry Community Council who backed the youngsters. Several local businesses and organisations, including the local church, the Co-op and Gosford Estate have signed the campaign’s pledge, agreeing not to use balloons as outdoor decorations for displays or promotions. Events turned global when P5 found out that Melbourne Zoo in Australia has been championing the same campaign under the name Bubbles Not Balloons. Cara Burns, P5 rep of the Press Pack said,“When we found out the zoo in Victoria had this campaign we were delighted so we asked them if they would join up with us!” Her classmate, Logan Chiole told us, “we were astonished that a zoo on the other side of the world were trying to do the same as us and now they have also signed our pledge!” To join the pupils of Longniddry Primary in their cause, follow the campaign on Twitter: @longniddryps.
Yvonne Hart:
We found out that balloon rubbish is causing problems for wildlife and sea creatures so we decided we should make a campaign called Bubbles beat Balloons.
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
Migration May
A great refueling point:
One aspect of the island which is not as well talked about is its appeal to migrating birds.
27 Feature The Isle of May is a National Nature Reserve, owned and managed by Scottish Natural Heritage. David Steel, Reserve Manager on the Island, gives us his insights into the incredible variety of migrating birds that visit each year. The Isle of May National Nature Reserve is famed for its seabirds and important Grey Seal colonies as well as its history dating back to the seventh Century. It is home to thousands of nesting Puffins (the largest east coast population with over 40,000 pairs) and over 2,500 Grey Seal pups are born annually between September-December. However one aspect of the island which is not as well talked about is its appeal to migrating birds.
Known as the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ the Isle of May is situated at the mouth of the Firth of Forth between the coasts of Lothian and Fife. At 57 hectares and just under one mile long, it is the largest of all the islands in the Forth. During the spring and autumn migration periods, thousands of birds will use the island like a service station; stopping over to re-fuel (on seed and insects), rest and take relative safety from the rigours of travel. As well as resting, birds use the island as a way-marker to cross the Firth of Forth whilst any flying in from the east will be greeted by the island before any other landfall. This unique position makes the Isle of May one of the most important migration stations on the east coast with thousands of birds using the island annually. In the spring, birds which have overwintered in southern Europe and beyond travel back to breeding grounds in Scotland and further afield. When they pitch down on the island the majority are in fine summer plumage, but the urge to keep on migrating north to their breeding grounds to claim the best territories usually means they do not stick around the island very long. However, that all changes in the autumn as birds take on a more relaxed approach on their return journey. Migration between AugustOctober is very different and usually involves a lot more individuals. Young inexperienced birds undertaking the journey for the first time
migrate through the island and often linger for several days, whilst adults are in no hurry as they feed up putting on valuable fat layers before undertaking non-stop flights to southern Europe. There are other key factors to birds arriving and leaving the Isle of May as weather dictates numbers (easterly winds will bring more birds) whilst timing is crucial. Certain birds like warblers and chats will migrate early whilst crests and thrushes will move later. It’s also not all about birds heading to Europe. In late autumn birds escaping the harsh weather of Scandinavia will head to the UK to winter and use the Isle of May as a gateway into the country. If the weather conditions are right, thousands of thrushes can be counted over the island with redwings, fieldfares, song thrushes and blackbirds all moving. Add in birds such as woodcocks from Russia, geese from Iceland and owls from Scandinavia, the Isle of May can certainly feel like the M1 on the migration route. As staff living on the island throughout these exciting times, we work alongside volunteers at the Isle of May Bird Observatory (Scotland’s oldest Bird Observatory) to monitor, record and ring thousands of birds each year. Detailed studies have shown that in recent years blackbirds from Norway, goldcrest from Finland and bramblings from Belgium have all been caught as they pass through on their journeys. With over 280 different bird species recorded, the Isle of May is certainly in a class of its own. So the next time you look out to the island, just think how important it is for wildlife, whether it’s seabirds, seals or all those migrants winging their way over the Jewel of the Forth.
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
28 Feature Seabird Centre Trustee and Head of Policy and Operations at Open Seas, Phil Taylor, shares his thoughts on climate change, renewable energy and what this could mean for our seabird populations. As members of the Seabird Centre will only be too aware, Scotland’s seabird populations have struggled over the past 40 years. Things have become increasingly desperate year-on-year - Fair Isle reportedly recorded its lowest ever kittiwake population this year, puffin counts are well down in Shetland and Arctic skua numbers are falling to such a degree that they may soon stop breeding around our coasts entirely.
So what does the future hold for our seabird populations, and more importantly, what can we at the Centre do to conserve them? Without doubt, our climate is changing. In our seas this is happening in serious ways. A 2°C change in climate will not only mean our seas become warmer, it will also mean a half metre rise in sea level by 2100, about a 25% increase in ocean acidity and that the Gulf Stream reduces in strength by a third. Unfortunately, climate change is a doubleedged sword for our seabirds, renewable energy is both our best hope of mitigating climate change, and competes for space with seabirds in our sea. In Scotland we are now expecting to see about 4 GigaWatts of offshore wind built in the Outer Forth banks (this is around the same amount as all onshore developments combined). Is this the right place for such developments? They have the potential to displace razorbills, guillemots and puffins from their feeding grounds, to act as a barrier for gannets trying to reach distant feeding sites and to collide with and kill kittiwakes in the air – but they will significantly reduce disruption caused by climate change, and its impact on our seas and seabirds.
Critically, we need to figure out a way to ensure such developments can be built alongside and without harm to our seabirds – this is made more urgent by the fact that there is potential for more renewables. Governments have had the tools to designate and protect areas of sea for around 40 years and in 2016 Scottish Government committed to using them, designating a suite of ‘Special Protection Areas’ in our sea – these included the waters in the Forth up through St Andrews Bay to Carnoustie and south to St Abbs. Unfortunately, little progress has been realised in the 2 years, and such protection is yet to be given. These sites remain simply proposals on paper, without legal protection and without a clear plan of how they might be used to recover the seabird populations we have watched decline and disappear. Whether it be offshore wind, fishing, marine traffic or any other use, our activity in the sea needs to be balanced and thoughtfully planned out alongside our wildlife. If those in power continue to overlook this problem, they will hamper not only our seabird futures, but the ability of these industries to make progress themselves. The future is opaque, our climate will change and with it so will our seas, its impact on our seabirds is less clear. However, in profound and meaningful ways, we now have an opportunity to decide that future. Renewables genuinely have the potential to deliver a sustainable future, but this is only possible if done alongside protection, and honest consideration of our seas and seabirds.
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
Phil Taylor:
Renewables genuinely have the potential to deliver a sustainable future, but this is only possible if done alongside protection, and honest consideration of our seas and seabirds.
What might the future hold for Scotland’s Seabirds?
30 Feature Our friend, PR guru and wildlife expert, Keith Broomfield, explores the wonders of snorkelling in Fife.
A spell of fine weather and settled seas last summer prompted me to dust down the wet suit and snorkel gear and explore the wonderful marine world of the east coast.
I had long eyed-up Kingsbarns between St Andrews and Crail as looking like a productive spot, so one evening when the tide was out, I found myself slowly inching down a seaweed-choked watery channel between two rock shelves. I was immediately struck by the sheer variety of seaweed in this wonderful little sea artery, including lime-green coloured sea lettuce, the long wavering strands of bootlace weed, as well as dulse, oarweed and so much more. As I glided over this tangled mass of greens, reds and browns, my mind drifted into hypnotic heaven. On several occasions, by little sandy patches, flounders torpedoed ahead of me as I inadvertently disturbed them from their resting places. They are mighty fast fish and so well camouflaged that I soon gave up hope of getting a good view of one. But such negativity was unwarranted, for shortly afterwards I saw one lying like a dinner plate on the seabed. It had seen me too but decided to rely on its cryptic coloration to remain undetected. So, with baited breath, I slowly glided towards it and was able to take the photograph shown here. Flatfish are such incredible creatures – their larvae look like a normal fish, but as they grow, one of their eyes migrates over to the other side of the head and the body becomes laterally compressed. Whereas young pollack are the most abundant fish whenever I snorkel on Scottish west coast, here in these Fife waters it was the closely related saithe. There were many young cod
around too, easily recognisable by their larger heads and more mottled coloration. Saithe and cod are both valuable commercial fish and their presence here underlines the importance of our inshore areas as nursery grounds. Another numerous fish was the two-spotted goby – wee ruddish gems that exhibit a distinctive spot at the base of the tail and another just behind the head. They were incredibly tame, and with the low evening sun filtering through the water, these fish sparkled and glowed as they swum in amongst the seaweed. There were more surprises too, including a small scuttling lobster, which then turned to face me, claws raised in defiance. As I dived down to take photographs, the feisty crustacean slowly backed-off into a rock crevice. I snorkelled for as long as I could, totally engrossed by the richness of these East Neuk shallows. Eventually, I pulled myself out onto a rock and sat for a while, my mind buzzing with what I had just seen. An oystercatcher piped, and at that very moment, a wave of sheer contentment swept across every fibre of my soul.
Hypnotic heaven:
On several occasions, by little sandy patches, flounders torpedoed ahead of me as I inadvertently disturbed them from their resting places.
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
Our marine world:
Snorkel heaven at Kingsbarns I snorkelled for as long as I could, totally engrossed by the richness of these East Neuk shallows.
32 Feature We love to encourage our sponsors to get hands on with our conservation work. The team from Cirrus Logic were more than up to the challenge.
As a registered charity, the Scottish Seabird Centre depends on the generosity of our sponsors to continue to develop and expand our education and outreach work. We are very lucky to have partners whose funding enables us to do this.
One such partner is Cirrus Logic, who we were delighted to work with for the first time this year. Cirrus Logic is a global leader in audio and voice integrated circuits for the world’s top smartphones, tablets, digital headsets, wearables and emerging smart home applications. Their work aligns well with the Scottish Seabird Centre’s mission to help visitors engage with and interpret our stunning marine wildlife and habitat, through interactive exhibitions, education programmes, science events and guided boat trips. Cirrus Logic are keen to do more to support the environment. In addition, as the world’s largest audio semiconductor company, Cirrus Logic supports the STEM curriculum as it is critical to developing the Engineers of the Future. They appreciate the need to engage people of all ages in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths in an accessible, thought-provoking way. We were delighted to receive a donation to help fund our programme of Live Science Shows throughout the school summer holidays. The Shows use an engaging central character, interactive experiments and props to inspire some of our youngest visitors in the wonders of science and the natural world.
Staff and families from the Edinburgh office took part in a Saturday beach clean, helping remove all manner of litter, from cigarettes and plastic straws to a pair of discarded socks! In the afternoon they were able to see first hand the work they helped fund, enjoying their own Live Science Show performance. We were also pleased to invite a team of eight staff from the Edinburgh office to join one of our SOS Puffin work parties on Craigleith. Being engineers, they were naturally very organised and efficient! The team made real impact cutting back the invasive tree mallow, which must have been a very different experience from computers and digital technology. We are extremely grateful to everyone at Cirrus Logic for their support, both financially and in terms of willing hands and enthusiasm!
Nigel Ward:
Scottish Seabird Centre depends on the generosity of our sponsors to continue to develop and expand our education and outreach work.
As part of our partnership, Cirrus Logic staff were also keen to help conserve our stunning coastal environment in a more practical way.
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
Cirrus Logic Inspiring science learning and helping protect our environment
34 Volunteers Our update by Chairperson, Sandy Forrest
Amazing volunteers:
We would very much like to welcome some new members to our Group – many of us are Members as well as Volunteers – and perhaps some of you reading this report might consider joining our “ranks”. The Volunteers continue to amaze both me and others with their commitment, enthusiasm and involvement in activities at the Seabird Centre. There is no formula or programme for their support of the Centre, merely a readiness to do whatever is needed, and aiming for regular fund-raising events, to ensure that the bank balance remains constant (or even increases) to cover our frequent donations to Scottish Seabird Centre projects, particularly children’s activities.
This was my opening paragraph for the Chair Report at our AGM in May. I went on to highlight the multiple tasks in which we had been involved during the past year and was able to release a long-held secret of recognition for our efforts – the Volunteer Group had been awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. Vice Chair, Jenny Macdonald, and I were invited to the Queen’s Garden Party at Holyrood Palace in July (wonderful weather and a delicious afternoon tea, plus Her majesty the Queen just feet away as she walked past!), plus a presentation of the Award by Michael Williams, Lord Lieutenant, in September.
As I ordered our lapel pin badges for the Award, I realised how slim our numbers had become since the Centre opened in 2000. The Volunteer Group then amounted to 50+ people. Sadly almost 20 years have taken their toll and we have lost many of our group through illness and/or old age so that we now number only around 25. We would very much like to welcome some new members to our Group – many of us are Members as well as Volunteers – and perhaps some of you reading this report might consider joining our “ranks”. Volunteering is very flexible, ranging from greeting visitors to the DC, to helping at Coffee Mornings, to helping with admin tasks in the office (we do not help in the café or retail where specialist training is required). For the remainder of this year we will be holding our Coffee Morning on 8 December, with hopefully a social lunch at Puffin restaurant. It would be great to see some of you at these events – please come up and say hello to a “purple person”!
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
Volunteering is fun!
36 Gift shop James, our Retail Manager has been busy sourcing an exciting and varied range of gifts and homewares for the Seabird Gift Shop.
Retail therapy:
Indulge in our fantastic range of gifts and local products this Christmas.
Richard Bramble Brand new for Autumn in the Gift Shop, we are very pleased to welcome a gorgeous ceramic range from Richard Bramble, British Artist and Designer. Richard has had a very interesting past, not to mention his work with top Michelin starred chefs in the UK, creating a range of ingredient and wine paintings and handmade limited edition prints. This also inspired Richard Bramble to create his first ceramic collaborations, notably between Chef Gordon Ramsay and Villeroy and Boch Pottery to create an Aubergine design porcelain dress plate for Gordon Ramsay’s first restaurant.
Richard worked with the Jersey Pottery for 15 years and now designs and manufactures his own ranges, supplying select stores around the world. We are of course delighted to have been selected as a supplier for his wonderful range of wildlife pottery designs. The creative style of Richard Bramble has become a globally recognised ‘signature’ which continues to attract commissions and interest. Consequently his work is becoming accessible to a wider audience who appreciate his landscapes, chef collaborations, wildlife and culinary themes. At present Richard Bramble splits his time between London, Dorset and the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, as well as undertaking commissions in the UK and worldwide.
Pop into the gift shop to see for yourself, the range of coffee cups, plates and decorative bowls. They will make fabulous presents for weddings, anniversaries and Christmas gifts too. Knops Brewery – Puffin Ale In Spring 2013, Knops commissioned a brand new brewery on the beautiful East Lothian coastline in the Archerfield Estate. The Knops Brewery is situated in the beautiful walled garden complex, set alongside restaurant, bar and farmshop.
The brewery equipment is brand new and state of the art which allows great control and flexibility over the beers produced. Knops have their own bottling line giving end-to-end control over the brewing process. Currently producing a core range for bottle and draught (cask and keg), Knops also create seasonal and one-off beers and we are thrilled to introduce Puffin Pale Ale to the Seabird Gift Shop. 10p from the sale of each bottle of the Puffin Pale Ale will go to SOS Puffin.
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
Ortak Jewellery A fabulous range of marine inspired jewellery by Ortak has arrived in our gift shop this month. Ortak pride themselves in their manufacturing processes using the most up-to-date equipment along with skilled craftspeople to create beautiful jewellery. Every piece of jewellery is hand-crafted in Kirkwall, Orkney and sent onto its future owners with pride.
These pieces are perfect for Christmas gifts or a special treat for yourself! Fancy a guilt-free chocolate treat? Another new addition to our shelves, the wonderfully packaged, luxury chocolate range, Montezuma. This chocolate business, started very small in 2000 by a very enthusiastic Helen and Simon Pattinson, with the aim to bring chocolate innovation to Britain. Montezuma is now a very successful business continuing to take their ‘trading fairly policy’ very seriously, covering everything from how they work with suppliers, packaging through to farming of their raw ingredients.
Delicious choices in the range include white chocolate and coconut, dark chocolate with a hint of lime and dark chocolate and cherry.
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
38 Café The Seabird Cafe is the ideal location to enjoy stunning views and yummy produce, whatever the weather. Enjoy 10% members’ discount and don’t forget to fill up your coffee loyalty cards!
Winter warmers at the Scottish Seabird Centre.
Welcome to Jordan We are very pleased to congratulate Jordan Ralston on her promotion to Assistant Catering Manager. You may have already met Jordan as she has worked in both the café and gift shop in the Centre over the last two years. There is never a dull moment working in our busy Seabird Café but she will always greet you with a cheery smile and help with any enquiries you may have.
Taste our Best! Visit Scotland has accredited the Seabird Café with the Taste our Best award for the 4th year running. This award is in recognition of our food and drink sourcing policy which means the Seabird Café is fully committed to serving our customers quality Scottish produce.
This initiative, launched by VisitScotland, with support from the Scottish Government and Scotland Food and Drink, brings together the tourism, food and drink industries to recognise businesses which not only offer a quality food and drink experience, but include and promote Scottish produce on their menus.
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
Treat yourself to a delicious Christmas Lunch In the two weeks leading up to Christmas, our chef will be preparing full Christmas turkey dinner with all the trimmings. A lovely treat and what better place to sit back, relax and enjoy the amazing views over the Firth of Forth to the Bass Rock. Add a glass of wine to enjoy with your meal, for some festive cheer!
Don’t forget, members get a 10% discount in the Seabird Café.
Only the best:
Seabird CafĂŠ is fully committed to serving our customers quality Scottish produce.
Maggie Sheddan: Bass Rock
41 Boats Gannet guru and expert guide, Maggie Sheddan, shares her insights on a very unusual season on the Bass Rock.
Bass Rock matters:
The gannet is about the territory, all the ritual and bonding between the breeding pair, is centered around the nest. The ‘Beast’ was ferocious; however, it was the unrelenting easterly storms that not only brought destruction along the coast line but also contributed to the mortality of returning seabirds, in particular shags and guillemot.
Surely the Bass gannets could ride out the bad weather? We knew they were late in returning but we were somewhat taken aback when, landing on the 20th April, not only were birds not settled, but many had still not returned. Nesting should have been in full swing with the odd egg being seen, but there were significant gaps in the colony. Several of the study birds were just standing around, alone, waiting. These birds were weighed and found to be significantly underweight. Would this impact on their ability to breed successfully? Over the next few weeks the dynamics of the colony were very different to the norm. The first eggs were laid in early May, however, nests were scarce and unstructured. There was almost a feeling of apathy over the colony. If not in peak condition the mature birds will take a year out from breeding and, given the delay with nesting, would that be the case this year?
Finally, in June and early July, we started to see the chicks hatching on the Bass but the nest sites themselves were still very poor. Without the security of a strong nest the eggs were under increased threat of predation or simply rolling out of the nest territory and being abandoned or crushed. Late July saw the first serious rain of the season. Young chicks are vulnerable in such conditions particularly without the mounds of seaweed nests that would usually protect the eggs and young. The gannet is about the territory, with the ritual and bonding between the breeding pair, centred around the nest. It’s a wonderful spectacle to see strings of gannets purposely flying toward the rock, seaweed hanging from their bill. Had the early season storms churned up the seabed so much that there was none around for nest building? Interestingly, seaweed started to re-appear in July with ‘non-breeders’ returning to sites, but for many breeders the young endured ‘Gannet Glastonbury’ in mid August. Water cascaded down the rock gathering mud and creating landslides. Several young without the protection and confinement of the nest were displaced. A couple of healthy if somewhat mud-caked gugas were taken back to the mainland into the care of the SSPCA team. There is a fine balance between interfering and rescuing a bird that you know, with care, may survive. Heading out early September only two gugas were spotted on the sea. On landing, where normally we would be freeing dozens of young trapped on low areas, there were none! Down-covered young confirmed that fledging was late. The beginning of November saw a handful of gugas remaining, parents still returning to feed while the rest of the colony had left.
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
Beautiful Bass:
It’s a wonderful spectacle to see strings of gannets purposely flying toward the rock, seaweed hanging from their bill.
44 Kids Activities for big ones and little ones alike. Enjoy!
A-mazing Gannets go to the Bass Rock every year to lay their eggs but one gannet has forgotten where he built his nest. Help the gannet find his nest!
There’s a lot of different M G P I H O D Q K E wildlife around North Y J A Y U X F C G S Berwick. See if you can find some words to do K S J N E M O G O I with this. T R K U N R S K A G M M V M S E H A T N BassRock J Z V S R R T C N E Eggs S P A P U F F I N T Gannet J B B P P R O X M U Puffin Z O B T G Q R W N I Signet E T W I F X B E O D Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
45
Six easy steps to create a super scary peg shark. You will need:
Make your own Peg Shark! Wooden clothes peg Light blue and white paper or card Orange and grey pens Tooth pick (cut in half- get an adult to help!) Googly eye Scissors Glue or sticky tape
Step 1: Draw and cut out the top half of the shark and bottom fin on the blue paper, and the bottom half of the shark from white paper.
Step 2: Cut out a fish shape and colour in orange. Use glue or tape to attach the fish to toothpick and bottom fin to shark.
Step 3: Glue or tape the bottom of the toothpick to the back of the white body, 2-3cm from the mouth edge.
Step 4: Tape/glue the shark’s body to clothes peg – leaving the spring exposed.
Step 5: Use a grey pen to draw on gills. Stick on it’s googly eye.
Step 6: Nearly finished! Now bend back the white part of the shark so that the little fish doesn’t hit the top of the shark.
Scottish Seabird Centre magazine
Control the cameras and zoom in on the super-cute seals.
www.seabird.org 01620 890202 The Harbour, North Berwick EH39 4SS Image © Maggie Sheddan / Scottish Charity no SC025837
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Travel, discover, explore with East Coast Buses – getting you around East Lothian
Travelling to or from Edinburgh or around East Lothian? Plan your trip in advance using the East Coast Buses journey planner at: www.eastcoastbuses.co.uk
East Coast Buses connects communities across six zones, from Edinburgh City Centre to North Berwick, via Aberlady and Gullane, and to Dunbar passing through Tranent, Haddington and East Linton on the way. The important services bring the delights of East Lothian’s villages, beaches and golf courses within the reach of city dwellers and visitors, and provides residents of this popular commuter belt with easy access to Edinburgh and the further highlights of East Lothian. Whichever direction your journey’s taking you, there’s plenty of opportunity to ‘travel, discover and explore’ the area on the way to your destination.
Depart from Edinburgh and explore the whole of East Lothian on a County Day Ticket for just £5 per adult. Single fare and day tickets are available from the driver and there are also savings to be made through m-ticket bundles available on the Lothian app (TfEapp.com), offering a 25% reduction on the individual price. If Edinburgh is included in your day’s exploring, the CountyPLUS day ticket for £7.50 covers the entire network including the City Centre and can be used on all Lothian day services and trams (except to airport). East Coast Buses offer child and family ticket options too providing even more ways to save. East Coast Buses have regular timetables with departures on most services from early morning until late evening, and the NightHawk services providing links between Edinburgh and East Lothian up until 0430 hours. What’s more, you can travel on East Coast Buses knowing that you are doing your bit for the environment. The fleet includes 15 Euro 6 buses with engines designed to reduce C02 emissions by 25 per cent, and with approximately 60,000 customers using the buses every week, travelling by bus goes a long way in keeping cars off the road and improving air quality in the county. The investment in new buses also provides customers with a more comfortable experience, with more space on board (capacity for 89 passengers), 40 high-backed leather seats, free Wi-Fi, USB chargers and on-board state-of-the-art announcement screens. East Coast Buses also provides an express link to Scotland’s Capital City. Why not venture in and see the sights of Edinburgh from a different view? Step aboard an open top bus tour with the five-star rated Edinburgh Bus Tours. The hop on hop off tours, showcase the best of the city, with a choice of multilingual commentary or a specially trained live guide. Sights include Edinburgh Castle, Palace of Holyroodhouse, The Royal Yacht Britannia and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
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Scottish Seabird Centre and the environment Sustainability and the environment are at the heart of everything we do. We have produced this magazine in an environmentally-friendly way. However, to help save trees and to reduce costs, you can receive your magazine by email – just contact membership@seabird.org or call +44(0)1620 890202. Also, sign up to our enewsletters to be kept up-to-date with our latest news. You can do this at www.seabird.org
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February, March, September and October Monday – Friday 10:00 –17:00 Saturday & Sunday 10:00 –17:30 April – August Monday – Sunday 10:00 –18:00 November – January Monday – Friday 10:00 –16:00 Saturday & Sunday 10:00 –17:00 *P lease note we will be closed for refurbishment during January to early April 2019. Check our website for further details. Design: Wordpicturestory / www.wordpicturestory.co.uk
News
Features
05 News 06 Young Seabird Ambassadors 08 Winter Events 10 Plans for the Centre in 2019 22 SOS Puffin 300! 24 Bubbles beat balloons 26 Migration May 28 The future for Scotland’s Seabirds? 30 Snorkel heaven at Kingsbarns 32 Cirrus Logic
Regulars
12 Education 16 Holiday Club 20 Wildlife Watch 34 Volunteers 36 Gift Shop 38 Seabird Café 40 Boats 44 Kids
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Scottish Seabird Centre, The Harbour, North Berwick, EH39 4SS W: www.seabird.org E: info@seabird.org T: +44(0)1620 890202
Grange Road, North Berwick EH39 5JA 01620 893 790 • 07779 167 253 carlene@gilslandpark.co.uk • www.gilslandpark.co.uk
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wonders of nature Scottish Seabird Centre Members’ magazine
Our Seabird ambassadors:
Dirleton Gullane
Princes Street
Aberlady
Abbeyhill
124 X24
Portobello
Semple Street
Musselburgh Prestonpans Longniddry
X2 4
Duddingston Park South
12 4
124 X24 X5
The Jewel A1
X5
X5
Edinburgh City Centre
Scottish Seabird Centre North Berwick 124 X24 X5
Year of Young People 08 Winter events 20 North Berwick Wildlife Watch 22 SOS Puffin 300
