BTO Seabird ringing trip to Skokholm

Last year, I was lucky to receive a BTO Seabird ringing grant which allowed me to go on a
week-long ringing trip to the island of Skokholm, off the coast of Pembrokeshire.

Seabirds are a fantastic bellwether for the health of the ocean and as their numbers are
declining, I felt that getting involved with seabird ringing lets me do my bit for marine
conservation.

Skokholm was the UK’s first bird observatory, established in 1933 by Ronald Lockley who
nicknamed it ‘Dream Island’. It has internationally important populations of Manx Shearwater
and Storm Petrel, which were our priority on the trip, as well as other colony nesting seabirds.

It’s difficult to choose a favourite moment - ringing Puffins was totally different from what I
expected, and using the gull trap was fun too - but I think my most memorable part of the trip
was ringing Storm Petrels.

I’m a morning person, so going out to ring at 10:30pm was a challenge, but I had plenty of
coffee and chocolate to get me through. I have a vivid memory of sitting in a harbour with
Stormie calls blasting out from an amp while working in darkness to extract these soft, smelly
creatures that unfathomably survive at sea. I had dreaded attempting to extract from mist nests
at night but actually, I found it quite meditative and it helped to improve my technique.

I got to ring 10 new species* at Skokholm, which was a fantastic opportunity to learn more about
seabirds, how to age them, their behaviour and ecology. It was really interesting to try the
different methods of catching birds - walking transects with hand nets for Shearwaters, spring
traps for Wheatears, night ringing, heligolands, etc. I hope to use this trip as a springboard for
other seabird ringing opportunities in the future.

I learned about the value of spending time with other ringers who are so knowledgeable and
keen to pass on their knowledge, supporting trainees to become better ringers.

Thank you very much to the BTO for giving me this opportunity and to the Northants and Tring
ringing groups who made me feel so welcome, particularly Kenny for organising, and to Richard
and Giselle the observatory wardens.

Holly James

*New species: Manx Shearwater, Storm Petrel, Puffin, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull,
Great Black-backed Gull, Wheatear, Swallow, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail.