BIRDS

As you might expect with Ramsey Island being an RSPB reserve it is a very important site for rare and more common birds. To view these it is best from the vessels as many are on the rocky ledges of the steep sea cliffs.

Here we list a few of the birds that you may encounter.

Visiting Birds

Guillemots and Razorbills are the only type of auks which breed in significant numbers on Ramsey.  They are early summer visitors to the island, arriving in April and leaving in mid July.  They come to the island solely to breed and spend the rest of the year at sea, they do not migrate over large distances for the winter but simply head out to sea.

In many respects these small auks are the northern hemisphere’s equivalent to the penguin.  Whilst they haven’t lost the ability to fly, they are not very efficient fliers with large bodies and relatively short wings and the only time they spend any length of time in the air is when they come to land to breed.  During the winter they will spend most of their time on the water.  They are very efficient divers and, like the penguin, they use their wings to propel themselves underwater often diving to considerable depths.  They will sleep on the water and will usually dive to avoid danger rather than take off as it is much quicker.

 The Razorbills, which are the smaller of the two, tend to choose breeding sites on small ledges which are tucked away under overhangs or around cave entrances and as a result, tend to breed in smaller colonies.  This provides them with some protection from larger predatory birds such as Greater Black Back Gulls, Peregrines and Ravens.

 The Guillemots choose long narrow ledges preferably on sheer cliffs where they will cram as many birds as they can onto a ledge, going for the safety in numbers approach, because of this they tend to breed in much larger colonies.

Both birds have very similar breeding habits.  Neither of them builds nests, laying instead, a very pear shaped egg directly on the rock ledges.  The adult birds will then incubate the egg on their feet taking the incubation and feeding of the chick in turn.  When the chicks leave the ledges they are only about 2/3 the size of the adult bird and cannot fly properly.  They jump off the ledges into the sea and follow the male bird out to sea under the cover of darkness to avoid predation. Once out at sea they are reasonably safe, because although they won’t be able to fly for a number of weeks they can both swim and dive well at this stage.

Fulmar Petrels

The Fulmar is another visitor to the island, again coming in only to breed.  These birds are a member of the Albatross family and have a number of interesting features.  The Fulmar spends most of its life at sea and is very well adapted to life on the ocean wave.  They have twin nasal tubes on their beaks which are thought to act as a desalination plant enabling them to drink sea water.  They also have a very economical, straight winged gliding flight which enables them to cover great distances with very little effort; in addition they have their feet set far back on their bodies, ideally placed for taking off from the surface of the water.  These adaptations to life at sea result in them finding it very difficult to land on the cliffs where they have their nest sites.  They have to choose very open accessible nest sites for ease of landing which would potentially leave them open to predation.  This is a problem they have overcome with a highly effective self defence mechanism which takes the form of projectile vomiting their stomach contents at any predator that threatens them.  Of all the visiting sea birds to Ramsey the Fulmar is here for the longest; they arrive in April and will not leave until early September, it takes over a hundred days between laying and fledging.

Gannets

The gannet is the largest of the British seabirds and has an almost 6 foot wingspan.  They nest on Grassholm which has approx. 35,000 nesting pairs.  They have a highly adapted hunting technique; they can spot their prey from up to 100 feet in the air and will dive from this height. They dislocate their wings a split second before they hit the water at speeds of up to 60 mph.  In order to protect themselves from the impact with the water they inflate airsacs in their head and body to absorb the shock.  They feed on the same food as porpoises and are often found fishing in the same areas.

Kittiwake

Smallest British gull to breed on Ramsey.  Choose nest sites around caves for protection and are heavily predated on particularly by the Greater Black Backed Gull.  The Kittiwake is named after its call and is the only cliff nesting seabird that makes a proper nest out of wet grasses, saliva and mud.

 Shearwater

The Manx Shearwater is the only visiting seabird to this area that migrates to the southern hemisphere for the winter; they over winter off the coast ofArgentina.  Over half the world’s population of Manx Shearwaters breed on Skomer, Skokholm and Ramsey.  They are burrow nesters and very clumsy on land which makes them very vulnerable to predation, because of this, one of the pair will stay down the burrow with the chick whilst the other goes out to sea fishing.  They leave at dawn to go fishing and return at dusk, not risking the final flight to their burrows until darkness when potential predators are asleep.  Sometimes 30,000 birds an hour can be seen off the headlands heading to the islands for nightfall.  They can fly up to 50mph with scarcely a wing beat, flying low over the water using the updrafts off the waves and it is this flight which has given them their name.

Resident Birds

Shags and Cormorants

Both of these birds are a bit of a compromise sea bird as they have only partially waterproof feathers to enable them to dive to greater depths.  As a result they often need to come out of the water and dry their wings, this action of spreading their wings is also thought to create heat to help them digest their fish.

Oystercatcher

Wader, fiercely protective of young.  Does not feed on oysters unless feeding in an estuary as they can’t swim.

Peregrine

Nationally rare.  The peregrine is one of the world’s fastest living creatures, reaching speeds of 180mph in its stoop after prey which is other birds.  There are two breeding pairs on Ramsey.  Ramsey peregrines were once sought after by British royalty  and one formed part of the ransom for Richard the Lionheart when he was imprisoned in Austria.

Kestrel

Prey consists of mice and voles.  Has a distinctive hovering flight when hunting.

Buzzard

Commonest bird of prey in theUK

 Chough

Rare and there are 7 breeding pairs on Ramsey.  The chough has a distinctive acrobatic flight and a very distinctive call.  It feeds on insects in very short grass and the land on Ramsey is managed to help provide ideal habitat for the insects the Chough feeds on.

Raven

Two pairs breed on the island.  They predate quite heavily on the auks, stealing the eggs.  They will take more eggs then they can eat and hide them, retrieving them later on in the season when the pickings are slim.

Birds will be seen on all of our Voyages and what we see depends on the time of year. Gannets in spectacular numbers at Grassholm whilst the Puffins best on the North Bishop or Grassholm.