2010 Catches

May 23th-24th: 1 faulty battery, 1 very bright moon, 0 stormies, 6 sleeping petrellers and 8 Pastéis de Nata.
May 24th-25th: 1 bouncing bird, 3 very desperate ringers by the net whole night, 1 armed policeman and 8 warm Pastéis de Nata.
May 25th-26th: 0 stormies, 6 Pastéis de Nata.
May 26th-27th: night off
May 27th-28th: 0 stormies, 7 Pastéis de Nata with a good discount.
May 28th-29th: 2 stormies!!!!!!!! Nevermind the Pastéis de Nata.
May 29th-30th: 0 stormies, back to Pastéis de Nata
May 30th-31st: night off, goodbye Team 1
May 31st- June 1st: night off, welcome Team 2
June 1st-2nd: 0 stormies; 0 Pastéis de Nata!! getting worse...
June 2nd-3rd: 2 stormies :))))
June 3rd-4th: 1 stormie, a retrap from 5th June 2009, weighing the same (26g)
June 4th-5th: 0 stormies! Ze wins the mars bar - again! 8 creamy doughnuts (later re-identified as custard by Abi Gordon, doughnut conniseur).
June 5th-6th: 0 stormies again -what is going on???
June 6th-7th: night off -boat trip tomorrow -maybe we'll find some stormies further offshore....
June 7th boat trip: 8+ common dolphins, 7+ stormies 6miles and 9 miles S of Lagos
June 7th-8th: 0 stormies, but a couple of birds very briefly over the net. We are taking solace in Odiaxere bakery products which are consoling us about Renata's depature as well...
June 8th-9th: End of team 2 party!
June 9th-10th: Night off, welcome team 3
June 10th-11th: 1 stormie, Cory's shearwater overhead. A bag of custard doughnuts and pasteis de nata was briefly sighted at dawn.
June 11th-12th: 4 stormies -Happy Days!!!
June 12th-13th: 5 stormies + 1 police-boat encounter
June 13th-14th: 0 stormies again, though 1 bounced at 3am.
June 14th: boat trip, 2.5 miles S of Lagos: 8+ stormies coming for mackerel amazingly close to the boat, including 1 ringed bird.
June 14th-15th: 2 stormies ringed, 2 seen off Ponta da Almadena at dusk.
June 15th-16th: 6 stormies, including 1 ringed in the UK
June 16th-17th: 5 stormies, including 1 uk ring
June 17th: End of team 3 -party!

June 27-28th: 22 stormies, including 1 UK ring & 1 Spanish ring

Hurrah for team 4!!!!

June 28-29th: 10 stormies

Running year total: 60 stormies in 21 nights of fieldwork.

2009 catches

May 24th-25th: 47 stormies, 3 carrying Spanish rings, 1 UK ring + 1 CORY'S SHEARWATER!!!
May 25th-26th: 24 stormies, 1 UK ring
May 26th-27th: 20 stormies, 1 Spanish ring
May 27th-28th: night off
May 28th-29th: 0 stormies (but amazing waves!)
May 29th-30th: 35 stormies, 2 UK rings
May 30th-31th: 21 stormies, 1 Norwegian ring
May 31th-June 1st: night off (Goodbye Team 1)
June 1st-2nd: night off (Welcome Team 2)
June 2nd-3rd: 2 stormies
June 3nd-4rd: 7 stormies
June 4th-5th: 3 stormies
June 5th-6th: 10 stormies
June 6th-7th: 11 stormies, 1 Spanish retrap from May 24th,
PLUS our 5,000th stormie!!!
June 7th-8th: 8 stormies
June 8th-9th: 24 stormies
June 9th-10th: night off (Goodbye Team 2)
June 10th-11th: night off (Welcome Team 3)
June 11th-12th: 8 stormies
June 12th-13th: 25 stormies, including 1 retrap from last night
June 13th-14th: 31 stormies, 1 UK ring
June 14th-15th: 59 stormies, 2 UK rings
June 15th-16th: zero stormies -perplexing!!!
June 16th-17th: 28 stormies
June 17th-18th: Night off (various island and isopod - related activities)
June 18th-19th: 7 stormies
June 19th-20th: End of season party!!!

2009 Running total: 370 stormies (4 Spanish, 7 UK, 1 Norwegian, 1 Portuguese retrap) + 1 Cory's shearwater
All-time running total: 5,198 stormies

On nights in green, the Secret Weapon (dimethyl sulphide) was used as a scent lure.

Storm Petrellers 2009 -Team 3

Team 3 at the Cape

Swimming near the Cape

A megalithic monument moment!

Walking home at dawn

Note to Rebecca's mum; we are feeding her well!

One bakery customer preferred to remain anonymous

Team 3 night off; all ready for the big night out in Alvor!

Storm Petrelers 2009 -Team 2

At the Cape

Transport to the field site

Ready for action

Clearing the net ride!

Catching sea creatures

Early morning bakery visits are an important new development!

Team 2 have had a full moon to contend with
(it keeps the stormies offshore)
but its rising later in the night at last

Survivors' photo, dawn day 10

Our 5,000th stormie

After 20 years of storm petrel research at A Rocha Portugal, our project has reached a new landmark; our 5,000th storm petrel. Well done everyone! Here is the momentous bird, caught on the night of June 6th-7th 2009.

Team 2 boat trip

No stormies this time, but 3 Cory's shearwaters, 2 Mediterranean sheawaters, approx. 20 common terns, 1 skua sp., loads of gannets and best of all, 8 common dolphins frolicking around and under the boat. They were even seen mating! Thanks to Jelle and Bert for the great photos.

Storm petrelers 2009 - Team 1

Getting ready for the first night on the cliffs

Fun in the field

Other fun

Ready to go!

The 2009 storm petrel season is about to start. We have 26 participants about to descend on the A Rocha observatory for one of its busiest months in recent years! Lets hope for an exciting and productive season, with the great team spirit that is A Rocha's speciality.
Watch this space for all the latest news from the cliffs!

The project field site on the cliffs at Ponta da Almadena

Recommended reading

Wow, what a fantastic book! This is an exhilarating combination of travel writing, field guide, "surround-sound" audioguide and scholarly research. Its beautifully produced, with high-quality reproduction of paintings by Killian Mullarney and photos by lots of seabird explorers including our very own Mark Bolton. Congratulations to Magnus Robb, the main author, on a ground-breaking publication which I'm sure will keep us all thinking, discussing and researching for years to come. Highly recommended reading for all storm petrel enthusiasts!

If you want to read a detailed review, click here.

To order a copy, click here.

New arrival

Apologies for the recent break in transmission -I have an excellent excuse, namely Bryony Kate Thomas, who arrived into the world on July 21st. Seen here taking a nap after a busy day being born.

2008 catches

May 26th-27th: 28 stormies
May 27th-28th: 20 stormies, 1 carrying a Norwegian ring
May 28th-29th: 58 stormies
May 29th-30th: 23 stormies
May 30th-31st: 33 stormies, 1 Spanish ring
May 31st-June 1st: 34 stormies
June 1st-2nd: Night off
June 2nd-3rd: 14 stormies, 1 UK ring
June 3rd-4th: 10 stormies
June 4th-5th: 30 stormies, 1 UK ring
June 5th-6th, 28 stormies, 1 French ring
June 6th-7th: 32 stormies, 1 UK ring
June 7th-8th: 30 stormies
June 8th-9th: Night off!
June 9th-10th: 2 stormies caught and ringed at sea, 6 nautical miles S of Portimao
June 10th-11th: 102 stormies, 2 UK rings, 1 MADEIRAN PETREL
June 11th-12th: 46 stormies
June 12th-13th: 38 stormies
June 13th-14th: Night off!
June 14th-15th: 21 stormies, 1 UK ring
June 15th-16th: 16 stormies
June 16th-17th: 38 stormies, 1 French ring & 1 Norwegian ring
June 17th-18th: 17 stormies
June 18th-19th: 6 stormies, 1 recapture from the 26th May
June 19th-20th: Night off!
June 20th-21th: 10 stormies

End of 2008 season!

Year total: 636 stormies, 11 controls + 1 Madeiran petrel

On nights in green, the Secret Weapon was deployed.

The Secret Weapon

Our secret weapon for catching stormies is a small bottle of Dimethyl Sulphide -which is the chemical released when phytoplankton are grazed by zooplankton. Amazingly, the smell of this can be detected by petrels over large distances at sea, and used to home in on patches of high productivity in which larger zooplankton and fish (storm petrel prey) are likely to be found. Whether this actually lures petrels in to our nets is a topic of much debate at Cruzinha -Renata is healthily sceptical while Rob is a True Believer. Only time and an end-of-season stats test will tell us the answer...

SECRET WEAPON UPDATE

The end of season stats were rather ambiguous (there either is, or is not, a Secret Weapon Effect, depending on which stats test one chooses), so we are keen to continue this experiment over the summer, at other points along the migration route. If you are a petreller and would like to take part in this experiment by using the Secret Weapon on 50% of your catching nights, please contact Rob Thomas (ThomasRJ@Cardiff.ac.uk) to be sent a bottle of dimethyl sulphate (with accompanying risk assessment).

FURTHER UPDATE

Thanks to those who have volunteered so far to join in with this experiment:

Bob Harris (Eilan Nan Ron, Scotland)

-Adrian George (Anglesey, Wales / Tyne & Wear, England)

-John Brown (Tyne & Wear, England)

-Declan Clarke (Sheepland, Northern Ireland)

-Kieran Foster (North Wales)

Here are some additional notes on the method:

1. In Portugal, we simply alternated nights with and nights without the dimethyl sulphate scent-lure, to test whether we caught more stormies on nights with the scent-lure in operation.

2. On the long Portuguese summer nights (7 hours of catching), we set up the scent lure at dusk, but further North with much shorter nights it may be worth setting up the scent lure some time before dusk, so that a downwind odour trail is already well established by the time catching begins.

3. In Portugal, we simply took the lid off the container to let the smell drift downwind, but it may be worth experimenting with some sort of absorbent wick, to increase the rate of evaporation.

4. We had the impression that our pot of dimethyl sulphate became less smelly over time, so for the last few nights of our field season we used a fresh bottle. Let us know if you need fresh supplies sent to you!

By way of encouragement, here is a reference suggesting that the secret weapon effect really does work on land, at least in the middle of a Leach's petrel colony!

Nevitt, G.A. & Habermann, K. 2003. Behavioral attraction of Leach’s storm-petrels (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) to dimethyl sulfide. Journal of Experimental Biology 206: 1497-1501.

Madeiran storm petrel!

On a very busy first night for team 3, a Madeiran petrel was ringed by some very tired petrellers... here are some photos of a great bird -only the 3rd Madeiran petrel ringed at Almadena in 19 years of ringing stormies.



10th primary growing on both wings
1 tail feather growing
Primary coverts, secondaries & alula all fresh
Active body moult
Wing 156mm
Tarsus 23.1mm
Mass 41.7g

News from the 2008 field season

May 26th-27th: A wet first night by all accounts, but Renata and Jaime report 28 birds caught -a great start to the season!

A small flock of stormies ready for take-off

May 27th-28th: More rain, but another 20 birds. A Norwegian ringed bird was the highlight.

May 28th-29th: Rob's first night on the cliffs (having just finished all his exam marking). 58 birds caught -a remarkable catch for this stage in the season, perhaps due to the trial run of our "secret weapon" - more news on this to follow...

Renata releasing the 100th bird of the year

May 29th-30th: a Fishermens' strike meant no boats offshore, but still 23 stormies caught.

Jaime & Gui ringing stormies in front of this year's deluxe accommodation. Note the Jo Lello Memorial Picnic Blanket.

May 30th-31st: The fishermens' strike continues, but the Secret Weapon was deployed and 33 stormies were caught. Highlights on another soggy night were a Spanish-ringed bird, and some dramatic lightning flashes over the sea. Thanks to Jaime, who departs today (after eating record amounts of strawberry jam), for his hard work and enthusiasm.

May 31st-June 1st: Another 34 stormies, bringing the total to 196 birds in just 6 nights. Volunteer reinforcements arriving this afternoon :)

June 1st-2nd: Our new volunteers have arrived! Left to Right: Ida, Jenny, Lucy, Ingrid, Esther & Vanessa. A night off from the cliffs was much appreciated by Rob & Renata.

At the Cape

June 2nd-3rd: Fewer birds around tonight -a British ringed bird was a highlight. The fishermens' strike continues so no boats inshore to bring us stormies.

June 3rd-4th: Even fewer birds on a breezy night -we all got a bit of sleep. A Cory's shearwater was heard calling to our storm petrel tape in the darkness.

Continuing the tradition of eating enormous meals at Cruzinha

June 4th-5th: A cool night in the sea breeze, but the fishing boats were back and 30 stormies were caught, including a UK-ringed bird. Other highlights included Gui's candlelit birthday celebration on the cliffs at midnight, at which he was presented with his own sponsored storm petrel. Lowlights included someone sitting on a teabag.

Gui with his sponsored stormie: http://www.justgiving.com/sponsor_a_stormie_2

June 5th-6th: Local bird ringers Leila and Anna joined us for another productive night with 28 stormies caught and several others bouncing out of the nets. Another Cory's shearwater was heard and highlights included a French ringed bird and the re-filming of the Blair Witch Project using the infra-red video camera.

June 6th-7th: A strange night, which got off to a bad start for Rob when a stray dog ran off with his sardine sandwiches! With the Cardiff students on their Big Night Out in Portimao, we were a joined on the cliff by Sara Roda -a long time friend of the project -and Bebe and her foster daughter Diana. Once darkness fell and in perfect conditions, we got off to a busy start with 11 birds in the first hour, but then the rate fell and we finished on 32 birds including 1 from the UK. Other highlights included a mole cricket that flew into the net at dusk, and a lot of sleep for Rob and Tim later in the night.

The mole cricket.


June 7th: Daytime boat trip -Mike Whale!

European storm petrel & Cory's shearwater, by Renata



Yes its a whale, its just not a good photo -Ida, can you send me a bt=etter one?


June 7th-8th: Last night on the cliff for the Cardiff students, some of whom got straight onto the train at 6am! 30 stormies and no sardine sandwich problems -a good night!



Esther with storm petrel


June 8th-9th: We are all exausted -a much needed night off :) Our new vols have arrived; Rosie, John, Melissa, Sarah and Ricardo. We spent the evening hatching plans for tomorrow's voyages of discovery...