Rockabill 2014

OpenYourEyes

Hey guys, as many of you know I'm one of the wardens on Rockabill this year -looking after and gathering data on the thousands of terns and some other seabirds too. Myself and the other warden have started a blog that we hope to update whenever we have news.

The blog is at: http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/

(still a work in progress, but it's a start!)


Weve put out nestboxes yesterday and today and the Terns are investigating them, sitting on top of them and even walking into them already, so we'll keep you posted as thinds develop!

Judgement Day

Lucky sods - a paid holiday. Any chance of posting some general pics of the island, buildings etc. on the blog?

Fiolina

Very best of luck to you. Hope you have the experience of a lifetime.

OpenYourEyes

Judgement Day wrote: »

Lucky sods - a paid holiday. Any chance of posting some general pics of the island, buildings etc. on the blog?

If you saw the work we've been doing the last few days, and the weather we've been doing it in you wouldn't be saying that :P Very rewarding to see the Terns investigating the nestboxes in the areas you've just prepared though

Will work on getting a few general pics of the island etc. this week!

V_Moth

Good to hear that the terns are settling in. Love the tern pic on the blog:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dg_Fsf1VaTM/U2vzknPBFMI/AAAAAAAAAFk/dwpsBKrJzX0/s1600/11.jpg

Interesting challenge for anybody:

-Find the Roseate Tern
-Bonus points for the ringed Common Tern

The Hill Billy

Hi OYE - I'm a Skerries lad myself. Wishing you the best of luck on the Rock. Maybe catch up with you for a pint in Skerries when you get back to drier land. Take care!

Zoo4m8

V_Moth wrote: »

Good to hear that the terns are settling in. Love the tern pic on the blog:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dg_Fsf1VaTM/U2vzknPBFMI/AAAAAAAAAFk/dwpsBKrJzX0/s1600/11.jpg

Interesting challenge for anybody:

-Find the Roseate Tern
-Bonus points for the ringed Common Tern

Ringed common first left, roseate second right (second right beak from edge!)
Please, no applause...:D

Woodville56

What's the story about visits/ day trips to the island ? Are visitors allowed , if so when, departure point, etc ..

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

My understanding is that access is rarely permitted and then strictly only with prior approval of the Irish Lights. OpenYourEyes will know more I'm sure.

Woodville56

yeah, have be advised that access not generally allowed
Thanks for clarification

V_Moth

Woodville56 wrote: »

What's the story about visits/ day trips to the island ? Are visitors allowed , if so when, departure point, etc ..

As Srameen said, the island is strictly private. Skerries Sea Tours organise trips around the island (but don't land) and to Lambay so that may be an option.

If you want to see Roseate Terns, Red Island in Skerries and Gormanstown Beach are good places to look, as is Coliemore in South Dublin. From mid-August to mid-September there is a very large roost (10000+) in South Dublin Bay every night.

OpenYourEyes

Woodville56 wrote: »

What's the story about visits/ day trips to the island ? Are visitors allowed , if so when, departure point, etc ..

Sorry for the delay, but as was said above there's no access permitted for the general public I'm afraid. The island really does get jam-packed with Terns, and it's a small island. Even just sticking to the paths you disturb a very big number of birds, and it's best to keep disturbance to a bare minimum for obvious reasons.

If you look up 'Skerries Seatours' - they do day-trips to Lambay Island - you can land and walk around etc., and then after that they take a spin by Rockabill - you'll get a good view of the island and birds if you bring binoculars, but they keep a safe distance to minimise disturbance too. They're the guys who brought us out on day 1 and look after us and our boss for getting from/to the island.

I'm dying to visit Lambay myself but I'll have to wait 'til next year!


Edit: Just saw V_Moth's post - what he said!

OpenYourEyes

We have another blog post up - a few pictures and a bit of a description of what the the island itself is actually like!

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2014/05/so-whats-actually-on-rockabill.html

We should have another post in a day or two about our species list on the island to date, so keep an eye out for it!

Judgement Day

I see that there's no pub - hope you're well stocked up.

Thanks for all the info on the blog - I've never seen any photos of the island (rock) before despite having known about the place since the late 1960s.

OpenYourEyes

Judgement Day wrote: »

I see that there's no pub - hope you're well stocked up.

Thanks for all the info on the blog - I've never seen any photos of the island (rock) before despite having known about the place since the late 1960s.

I was trying to look for images from around the island over the last few weeks when I applies for the job and couldn't find any either! Hopefully that gives a bit of an insight into what's here though. Obviously there'll be plenty more pics as the season progresses, so that'll help paint more of a fuller picture!

OpenYourEyes

Oh - we should be on Newstalk for a bit tomorrow morning around 8.45 I think, for anyone interested!

OpenYourEyes

Just to add to what I said before - the Skerries Seatour boat went by the island today - got quite close to the island so I'm sure those on board had a great view - but he took it slow etc. and didn't cause any disturbance at all, which is great!

Also we had our first egg on the island this morning - hope to have a blog post about it tonight! Will post it here when it's up.

martinn123

Can I ask a probably stupid question, I assume you have a generator for Electricity, how are you connecting to Internet?

OpenYourEyes

martinn123 wrote: »

Can I ask a probably stupid question, I assume you have a generator for Electricity, how are you connecting to Internet?

Not a stupid question at all!

Yeah we have a generator that we have on for 3-4 hours a day, to charge phones/laptops, for lights and to keep the fridge cold!

For the internet we have an internet dongle, and I can get the internet through my phone too. The signal is fairly alright - comes and goes a bit but is generally ok!

OpenYourEyes

A short piece about Rockabill etc. on Newstalk this morning, plus a few pics the guys took when they came out to us!
http://www.newstalk.ie/Two-men-one-island-10000-birds

And here is our latest blog update about the first egg found for this breeding season!
http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2014/05/eggcellent-news.html

The Hill Billy

Great article about you both in Skerries News this week. Hope you got to enjoy some of the good weather today.

OpenYourEyes

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Great article about you both in Skerries News this week. Hope you got to enjoy some of the good weather today.

Oh great, looking forward to seeing that! I think the reporter we met on the day we left said he'd arrange for copies to be sent out to us at some stage!

Two lovely sunsets in the last few days alright! and a nice view of a full moon!

trebor28

Is/are? there any commoner garden birds out there?

V_Moth

trebor28 wrote: »

Is/are? there any commoner garden birds out there?

Besides migrants, it is pretty much only seabirds on Rockabill. Occasionally some Swallows may breed as did a pair of Stock Doves a few years ago.

OpenYourEyes

trebor28 wrote: »

Is/are? there any commoner garden birds out there?

We've had migrants like Willow Warbler and Whitethroat - I'll do a blog post about our species list to date in the near future. I know last year they had Goldfinch and Redpoll, but generally any non-seabirds, with the exception of maybe Swallows and Willow Warblers, will only stay a day or two and then go!

martinn123

Hope you don't mind an off-topic question.

Any Seals on the rocks?

And have you cast a line yet, for some fresh fish?

OpenYourEyes

martinn123 wrote: »

Hope you don't mind an off-topic question.

Any Seals on the rocks?

And have you cast a line yet, for some fresh fish?

Yeah we get seals.

And no - not yet anyway. I'm not a big fish-eater, but I might bring a rod and some gear from home after one of my home-breaks - will see as the season goes on!

OpenYourEyes

A weekend update from Rockabill:

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2014/05/weekend-update.html

OpenYourEyes

Another species has started laying eggs - its shaping up to be a busy weekend!

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2014/05/now-its-commons-turn.html

OpenYourEyes

We found the first Roseate Tern egg of the season today! Roseate's are our top priority on Rockabill because it's the largest single colony of them in Europe - nearly half of the European population (including the Azores), and over 80% of the Roseate Tern population in Ireland/France/Britain.

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2014/05/everythings-rosy-on-rockabill.html

Kess73

Loving the thread and blog OYE.



Of course you do realise that Mickeroo and I are still jealous as hell, and will be waiting to get you in the mod forum once you are back fulltime.

OpenYourEyes

Thanks!


Ah jesus, better enjoy this place while I'm here so :P

OpenYourEyes

We've been keeping a species list since we arrived on Rockabill, check it out here:

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2014/05/rockabill-species-list-2014.html

Not too bad so far! Kinda hoping that if it does have to be windy, that the winds would be westerly rather than anything else though

Capercaille

How many Roseate pairs or are they still arriving?

OpenYourEyes

Capercaille wrote: »

How many Roseate pairs or are they still arriving?

Still arriving, settling and mating. At the moment we're just doing twice-daily checks of our study areas (9 small areas around the island) and counting/marking nests in them. We'll do a big nest census of the entire island in around three weeks time and we should have figures for each species then!

briany

What's night like on the Rock? Can you get a decent view of the stars ( in between pulses at least, and when there's no cloud cover ) ? How close do cargo ships come? Would this be a good time to relate private Frasier's spooky lighthouse storey from Dad's Army?

OpenYourEyes

briany wrote: »

What's night like on the Rock? Can you get a decent view of the stars ( in between pulses at least, and when there's no cloud cover ) ? How close do cargo ships come? Would this be a good time to relate private Frasier's spooky lighthouse storey from Dad's Army?

The evening sky is generally quite nice if its not too cloudy - some great colours over the last week or so! Night time, it has generally been too cloudy to get a proper look at the stars, but hopefully we'll get another spell of nice weather soon - I'm told the sky looks great due to the lack of light pollution. Its interesting to see the lights and glow of Dublin City to our south though.

In terms of noise it's not too bad - we're well used to it at this stage. Tbh its actually more unsettling to wake up and hear silence when the birds have all gone out feeding or from a brief disturbance!

Cargo ships don't come that close at all - we generally just see them in the distance to the west, along with a few ferries.

And eh, no - keep spooky lighthouse stories to yourself! :P

martinn123

http://youtu.be/T9WMSxV6lMs

V_Moth

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

The evening sky is generally quite nice if its not too cloudy - some great colours over the last week or so! Night time, it has generally been too cloudy to get a proper look at the stars, but hopefully we'll get another spell of nice weather soon - I'm told the sky looks great due to the lack of light pollution. Its interesting to see the lights and glow of Dublin City to our south though.

In terms of noise it's not too bad - we're well used to it at this stage. Tbh its actually more unsettling to wake up and hear silence when the birds have all gone out feeding or from a brief disturbance!

Cargo ships don't come that close at all - we generally just see them in the distance to the west, along with a few ferries.

And eh, no - keep spooky lighthouse stories to yourself! :P

Just be sure not to shoot any passing Albatrosses with a crossbow and you should be ok :pac:

Speaking of Albatross, one has been seen yesterday and today around Helgoland in the North Sea. Some unbelievable photos of the bird flying around the local Gannet colony:

http://www.club300.de/gallery/index.php?gal=1&cat=0&mode=1&val=13

OpenYourEyes

A Bank Holiday weekend update from Rockabill - complete with pizza, eggs and jellyfish!

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2014/06/june-bank-holiday-weekend-update.html

OpenYourEyes

We made the short hop over to 'the Bill' part of Rockabill for the first time today:

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2014/06/so-whats-actually-on-bill-part-of.html

OpenYourEyes

We made the short hop over to 'the Bill' part of Rockabill for the first time today:

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2014/06/so-whats-actually-on-bill-part-of.html

OpenYourEyes

A few of the more unusual nesting places used on Rockabill this year - though it's hard to do justice to the extremes the Common Terns take their 'nest anywhere' policy! There are eggs EVERYWHERE at the moment - we have to be super careful walking around!

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2014/06/uncommon-tern-nesting-places.html

OpenYourEyes

We carried out our Nest Census over the last few days - and we should have some provisional results soon to see how things are on Rockabill this year compared to previous years - here's a bit of a preview:

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2014/06/a-preview-of-big-count.html

OpenYourEyes

Our first Common Tern chicks of the year have hatched on Rockabill! The first of a few thousand to come over the next few weeks........

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.com/2014/06/first-tern-chicks-of-summer.html

OpenYourEyes

First Roseate Tern chicks of the year Rockabill today! Over 80% of the NW European population is here, so fingers crossed things will go smoothly over the next few weeks!

http://rockabillterns.blogspot.ie/2014/06/rockabills-first-roseate-chicks-of-2014.html

Judgement Day

Good to see that Kilcoole is going well too but it's incredible after all the years of the Liitle Tern wardening that members of the public and their dogs still run wild.

OpenYourEyes

We were featured on the Six-One news this evening!

http://www.rte.ie/news/player/2014/0623/20603331-rockabill-castaways-enjoying-summer-experience/

Also should have a blog post about our census results this week - good news for two species, bad news for another two, and another species doing alright!

Capercaille

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

We were featured on the Six-One news this evening!

http://www.rte.ie/news/player/2014/0623/20603331-rockabill-castaways-enjoying-summer-experience/

Also should have a blog post about our census results this week - good news for two species, bad news for another two, and another species doing alright!

I'll guess common tern and roseate tern doing well, while artic tern and black guillemot doing poorly.

martinn123

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

We were featured on the Six-One news this evening!

Are you the Guy with Bird Krap all over his jacket, or the brave one in a tee-shirt.

Well done bye the way.

OpenYourEyes

A short article on the RTE website accompanying the video above!

http://www.rte.ie/news/special-reports/2014/0623/625998-rockabill/

Capercaillie - what about the Kittiwakes? :P

And Martin, I'm the one dressed more appropriately :P