Watch as a newly hatched Northern gannet chick briefly peeks out from beneath its parent. Thanks to the Scottish Seabird Centre for the amazing camera.
Sue Lewis
@sue-lewis.bsky.social
Seabird ecologist and lecturer @edinburghnapier.bsky.social and teaching fellow at UoE, she/her. Love exploring wild places, walking, running, spending quality time with family and friends.
The first chick of the season was spotted this evening, though I am sure there are a few others tucked away. Thanks to the Scottish Seabird Centre for the amazing cameras.
Update from one of my gannet plots at the Bass Rock. Sadly there have been some losses, perhaps linked to the intense heat yesterday. Thanks to @seabirdcentre.bsky.social for access to the cameras.
Bass Rock study plot update 🪶 Almost a full house of eggs now - a few still to go, and already some loss (red sticky dot) After recent HPAI impacts, monitoring breeding success this season feels especially important. Thanks to @seabirdcentre.bsky.social for access to the cameras.
The gannet breeding season has properly arrived on Bass Rock. At a second study plot I’m monitoring, the first egg appeared on 01/05 - today there are already 18 eggs. The yellow sticky dots are multiplying 🟡 Big thanks to @seabirdcentre.bsky.social for access to the cameras.
It was lovely to catch this on the camera this morning. They are mesmerising to watch!
Scottish Seabird Centre@seabirdcentre.bsky.social · 5mo agoA tender moment on the Bass Rock yesterday as a male gannet returned to the nest to take over egg incubation duties from the female🥹🥚 This changeover allows gannet parents to take it in turns to forage for food at sea while the other protects the egg on their nest🩵
Now May is here, it’s time to pause the seed and peanut feeders and switch to safer summer feeding with small amounts of mealworms or suet. Remember, feeders can spread disease, so keeping them clean matters. Click the link below for our full guidance on keeping garden birds healthy year round 👇
RSPB@rspb.bsky.social · 6mo agoTo reduce disease, we all need to make some urgent but simple changes to how we feed our garden birds. See our website for the latest guidance: brnw.ch/21x1t4w
Back watching gannets with @seabirdcentre.bsky.social 📷 First egg spotted today 🐣 Time for sticky dot #1 on the plot 🎯✨
Egg-citing news!🥚 The first gannet eggs of the season have been spotted on the Bass Rock👀 Our Bass Rock guide, Maggie, spotted several out on the rock yesterday and Dr Sue Lewis of Edinburgh Napier University spotted this one on our live cameras too🎥
Proud to have been part of this research - great to see it featured by the BBC www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Bass Rock gannet population falls by almost a third since bird flu outbreak
More than 100,000 northern gannets are thought to live on the Bass Rock, despite a population decrease.
bbc.co.uk
Any volunteers in Norfolk who can survey this @bbs-birds.bsky.social square? #NorfolkBirding
Breeding Bird Surveys (BBS)@bbs-birds.bsky.social · 8mo ago(1/) Now is a great time to think about signing up to survey a BBS square ready for when the survey season begins in April. Here is just one example of a vacant square that we are looking for a volunteer to survey! @btobirds.bsky.social JNCC RSPB Science #norfolkbirds
The BBS Team is currently busy verifying 2025 data. For the next couple of weeks, we are going to share some species info from 2024. This week, we share the 10 most numerous species recorded on BBS squares across the UK in 2024! @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social
Wild seabirds are more likely to split up in windy weather, new Edinburgh Napier-led research with UKCEH & @bioss.bsky.social shows. This is significant as climate change is bringing windier weather conditions. UKCEH's Francis Daunt spoke to BBC Scotland (~1hr 27m) www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... 🧪
Lunchtime Live - 05/11/2025 - BBC Sounds
News updates from Scotland and beyond, plus all your lunchtime sport, travel and weather.
bbc.co.uk
Importantly, birds that remained with the same partner tended to lay eggs earlier, which is strongly tied to how many chicks they rear 🐣. See our news story: ceh.ac.uk/news-and-med... Read the full paper: sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #seabirds #ClimateChange 🧪
Seabirds are more likely to ‘divorce’ in bad weather
Wild seabirds are more likely to split up in windy weather, according to a new study involving the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.
ceh.ac.uk
📣 New publication in the journal Animal Behaviour from our Adam Butler led by @edinburghnapier.bsky.social in collaboration with @ukceh.bsky.social. 📰 Read the summary here: www.bioss.ac.uk/case-studies... 📕 Read the full paper here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Seabirds more likely to ‘divorce’ in bad weather
Wild seabirds are more likely to split up in windy weather, according to a newly published study led by Edinburgh Napier University, in collaboration with the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH)...
bioss.ac.uk
🐦⬛ | Wild seabirds are more likely to split up in windy weather, according to a newly published study led by #EdNapier. The paper reveals that environmental conditions before the breeding season appear to have an impact on mate faithfulness. Full story ➡️ orlo.uk/Zfiqf #MustBeNapier
Today’s #AutumnArrivalSpotlight shines on the Starling! Forget fireworks...Autumn’s skies come alive with magnificent murmurations: vast, swirling clouds of Starlings dancing at dusk. One of nature's greatest spectacles. 😍
NEW on #theBOUblog from Sue Lewis After the outbreak: how gannets bounce back from bird flu bou.org.uk/blog-lewi... Based on this IBIS paper doi.org/10.1111/ibi.... #ornithology 🪶
EARLY VIEW in IBIS Effect of a previous high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAIV) infection on the breeding success of Northern Gannets (Morus bassanus) | onlinelibrary.wiley.... Sue Lewis et al | #ornithology 🪶
Paper can be found here: doi.org/10.1111/ibi....
Effect of a previous high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAIV) infection on the breeding success of Northern Gannets (Morus bassanus)
Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAIV) caused widespread mortality and breeding failure among many wild, avian populations in Europe and North America in 2021–2023, but most populations exhibited ...
doi.org
New @edinburghnapier.bsky.social study suggests that exposure to #avianflu does not affect breeding success in gannets, but shows worrying declines in breeding productivity over all. We're very proud to be part of this vital research project. Learn more↙️ www.napier.ac.uk/about-us/new... 📷J Lane
🪹 | Seabirds that survived recent bird flu outbreaks have continued to reproduce, although overall breeding performance remains notably low, according to a new study. The study has looked at breeding success in Northern Gannets at two locations during 2023. 🔗 orlo.uk/44CaS 📸 Dave Pressland
The paper, led by #EdNapier's Dr Sue Lewis, in a collaboration with conservation scientists and staff from the @rspb.bsky.social, the @seabirdcentre.bsky.social and the @ukceh.bsky.social has been published by the international avian science journal Ibis. 📸 James Glossop
So, while the news in 2024 isn’t exactly what we were hoping for, the absence of new flu cases during 2024 and improved survey methods are promising signs. With continued monitoring and care, there’s still hope that this spectacular seabird colony can bounce back in the years ahead. 📷©️J McDermaid
But there is some good news. The 2024 survey didn’t turn up many signs of ongoing illness, suggesting that the avian flu did not return during 2024. Also, the presence of so many chicks implies that foraging conditions were good, allowing parents to feed their young successfully. 📷©️Greg Macvean
Although these figures are estimates (so should be treated with caution) these results suggest that the gannet population has not yet started to recover from the impact of the avian flu outbreak in 2022.
From this, we estimated the total number of AOS (apparently occupied sites) on Bass Rock in 2024 to be around 46,045. This indicates a 6.7% decrease compared with the last survey completed in 2023 & comparison of the estimated total population between 2023 & 2024 indicates a decrease of around 11%.
The 2024 Bass Rock Gannet Count is complete✅ A high-resolution drone survey - carried out in partnership with @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social School of Geosciences, @ukceh.bsky.social & @edinburghnapier.bsky.social in July 2024 - provided a detailed new look at the Bass Rock gannet colony. 📷©️G Macvean
