Aurora borealis: Summer update

July 21, 2005

Summer update

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No news recently on here for the very good reason that there's not been much happening, except of course for the wind swinging back to where it's most comfortable these days, in the north. Speaking to a friend on the island last night, he muttered something to the effect that this was the worst summer he'd seen for 60 years. There's a silver lining to this gloomy cloud, and that's the potentially successful breeding season for our seabirds.

Last year was, as I've mentioned before, an utter disaster for them, and of the countless thousands of birds that usually rear young on our cliffs virtually none of them managed to rear a chick. The reason appeared to be a shortage of their staple diet, sandeels. The reason for this shortage? Well, the politically acceptable reason is that it's global warming, and the elevated sea temperature has driven the sandeels away in search of cooler waters. Why can global warming be described as politically acceptable, I hear you ask... Squarely because it's a collective blame that we can all share. As opposed to the fact that sandeels have historically been heavily overfished for processing into fishmeal. Which would be the fault of a far smaller, but politically vociferous lobby, one which environmentalists and politicians alike are shy of antagonising. As with all things, there's no simple answer to why our sandeels vanished - I can't help but feel it may be a combination of the two things, and probably other factors too which I'm unaware of.

Anyway, our fishermen haven't been fishing for sandeels for some years, and this cold cold summer may have resulted in a cooler sea, as the seabirds appear to be finding some sandeels where last year there were none. Every morning and evening as I drive along the island the tirricks (terns) are flying over the road to their small colonies carrying sandeels in their beaks. It's heartwarming stuff to see.

Around the house is currently a vast Wheatear nursery, with many scruffy youngsters perched on grass tussocks and any other vantage point they can find. My new fences are proving especially popular. Despite being allegedly the height of summer, the weather doesn't make it hard to accept that autumn is just round the corner now, and wader migration should shortly be kicking off. At least the northerlies ought to guarantee a good supply of Arctic waders! I just hope that we get some good spells of south-easterlies in the course of the next three months. The Pallid Swift was a timely reminder of just how well-placed this island is to attract truly top-drawer rarities.

Finally, a quick plug for the latest edition of I & The Bird, a bird-blogging carnival. Hosted this time on the always excellent Charlie's Bird Blog, it's a great way to quickly find some inspired and passionate writing from all around the world on the subject of birding, birds and the people who watch them. For those not familiar with a blogging carnival, think of it as a magazine jam-packed with articles you'll enjoy reading.

So, to read issue #2 of I & The Bird, follow this link

Follow the Weather Starling for a forecast, or see Shetland live on the NAFC webcam…