Puffin-counting season begins with two new livestreams
It's puffin-counting season–and you can watch. Bird monitors on the Farne Islands off the northeastern coast of England are tallying the roughly 200,000 seabirds that return to this important sanctuary every year. In honor of the 100th year of bird monitoring by the National Trust, two webcams have been set up by the conservation organization on the 28-island archipelago in the frosty North Sea.
The first webcam will be fixed on the puffin burrows. Here, viewers can look out for 'parading puffins and ruffled feathers' while the males defend their territory. Puffin pairs will also be billing, or rubbing their bills together to reinforce their bonds. Towards the end of the season in late July, viewers may spot young pufflings when they fledge the nest.
The second webcam will cover the rugged cliffs where puffins, guillemots, razorbills, shags, and various species of gull typically gather. Viewers can spot birds coming and going to feed their young, including birds of prey such as the peregrine falcon and merlin.
'In this significant year we want more people to become 'watchers' of this annual spectacle to have a window into this unique world,' Sophia Jackson, Area Ranger on the Farne Islands for the National Trust, said in a statement. 'We hope by seeing the birds, people will be inspired to visit in person one day, but also to realise just how special these wild isles are, and how we must do all we can to ensure these islands and bird species have a long and healthy future ahead.'
The islands sit about 1.5 miles off the coast of Northumberland, England and are an ideal habitat for 23 species of seabirds. It is also an important stop-off point for migratory birds from long eared owls to blue throats and ring ouzels. The islands are also home to a significant colony of grey seals who return each year to pup.
The seabirds that make this annual migration to breed also include cliff-nesting birds such as razorbills, guillemots, and kittiwakes, ground nesting birds such as terns (Arctic, Common and Roseate), and the endangered puffins. The puffins build burrows underground to lay their eggs and raise any 'pufflings' that hatch.
Studying these small colorful-beaked birds has been a draw for scientists in the area for over a century.
'The earliest official scientific records for seabirds date from 1913,' Jackson added. 'Reports for the majority of returning bird species started in the 1920s thanks to the 'watchers' stationed on the islands over the summer period, and in 1939 puffins were particularly noted as increasing.'
While viewers get to watch the antics of the 'clowns of the sea,' the team from the National Trust will be doing the important work of counting, weighing, and banding some of the birds. The colored rings will help scientists better track the birds, who are threatened by dwindling and shifting fish stocks and rising ocean temperatures.
[ Related: In Iceland, humans throwing baby puffins is a good thing. ]
'Despite puffins spending much of their time 'rafting' out at sea, ringing them will help us to understand more about the individuals as we'll be able to follow them over several years, as well as how long they live and how far they travel to other colonies,' Area Ranger Tom Hendry said in a statement. 'Over the next few weeks, we'll aim to ring 50 adult birds as part of our census and productivity monitoring.'
Reported sightings of blue rings by other rangers, research organizations, and the public elsewhere will indicate that the adults that breed on the Farnes will be a useful measurement for tracking the birds' movements and well being.
The team will also be using geolocation tags to better understand the various species on the island. The tags were first put on some Arctic terns in 2015 and retrieved in 2016.
'In using tracking technology we were able to discover for the first time just how far the Arctic terns travel during their annual migration with distances of up to 70,800 miles recorded – or to put this into context, close to three times around the globe each year which means they witness two summers! When you think about what that means over the lifetime of one of these tiny seabirds, it is nothing short of incredible,' said Jackson.
This year's puffin count and other seabird numbers will be particularly important. The islands were closed for three seasons between 2020 and 2024 due to COVID-19, followed immediately by bird flu. According to the team, the data they were able to collect last year indicated that the puffin population was 'stable' with 50,000 pairs recorded. However, species like shags and terns saw large losses, primarily due to winter storms and bird flu.
Looking towards the next 100 years, the team stresses that they are doing their best to ensure that the seabirds have a bright future, despite enormous threats from climate change.
'Shining a spotlight on seabirds and their migratory routes crossing many international boundaries shows how what happens to wildlife elsewhere has a huge impact on the birdlife we see here,' added Rosie Hails, Director of Nature & Science at the National Trust. 'These annual cycles illustrate the vulnerability of our wildlife and how vitally important clean and healthy seas and oceans are to ensuring our seabird populations have the stability needed to recover and grow.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump travel ban hits immigrant family coming to U.S. amid bloody civil war in Myanmar
A Burmese American woman was eager to bring her siblings over to the U.S. from Myanmar amid a more than 15-year wait for visas. She'd been hoping to reunite with them since the 1990s, during military rule in her home country, so her brother's family could start a life in the U.S. But a day after she bought the plane tickets, President Donald Trump ordered a travel ban that included Myanmar. The woman, 51, and her husband, who were granted anonymity due to fear of retaliation, had sponsored her brother and sister-in-law to immigrate to the U.S. The siblings were then were hoping to bring their own adult kids, too, so that they wouldn't have to fulfill mandatory military service in the country's active civil war. With the travel ban in effect Monday, they said the policy has a heightened impact on people from war-torn countries like Myanmar who had hopes of finding sanctuary in the U.S. 'It's really frustrating because we were on the cusp of securing their safety to leave that situation,' said her husband, 57, adding he felt like a 'rug got pulled out from under us in an instant.' White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Trump's policy is in the 'best interest of the American people and their safety.' 'His commonsense, country-specific travel restrictions include places that lack proper vetting, exhibit high visa overstay rates, or fail to share identity and threat information,' Jackson said. 'The restrictions fulfill the President's day one promise to protect American citizens from dangerous foreign actors who may come to the United States and cause us harm.' The travel restrictions, announced on Wednesday, completely bar entry to the U.S. for people from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, in addition to those from Afghanistan, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Other countries, including Cuba, Laos and Venezuela, are under partial travel restrictions. According to Trump's proclamation, several of the countries on the list had declined to accept the repatriation of their nationals while others had visa overstay rates that the administration deemed 'unacceptable.' A few countries lacked 'the competence of the central authority' for issuing passports, the proclamation said. Jackson also pointed out a section in the proclamation that allows for applications for refugee status. 'Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to limit the ability of an individual to seek asylum, refugee status, withholding of removal, or protection under the [international Convention Against Torture], consistent with the laws of the United States,' the proclamation said. However, after he took office, Trump limited refugee admissions for almost all countries including Myanmar. And in May, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to revoke the temporary legal status of more than 500,000 immigrants that was granted by the Biden administration. Those immigrants came from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela and are now subject to deportation. Myanmar was among the nine countries in the latest proclamation that Trump also targeted during his first term. In fiscal year 2023, the U.S. issued 13,284 visas to the country, with business and tourism permits making up the most common types of visas. Myanmar recorded 1,384 overstays that fiscal year, equating to an overstay rate of almost 30%. The new travel ban comes as Myanmar's violent military regime fights to hold on to power after it seized control from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in a 2021 coup. Since then, violence has escalated across the region as the military clashes with ethnic minority rebel groups and pro-democracy militias. 'Junta forces have slaughtered thousands of civilians, bombed and burned villages, and displaced millions of people,' Tom Andrews, United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, said in a press release earlier this year. 'More than 20,000 political prisoners remain behind bars. The economy and public services have collapsed. Famine and starvation loom over large parts of the population.' Under the new travel ban, anyone who obtained a visa prior to the policy is still able to come to the U.S. But there's confusion over how the restrictions will be implemented and enforced. The Burmese American woman and her husband are among those with concerns, particularly as there have been several cases of lawful permanent residents and citizens being swept up in the dragnet of Trump's immigration policies. 'It's terrifying to think that they could be randomly picked up because somebody had a bad day at the office, or somebody didn't do their job or didn't believe that their visa was true,' the woman's husband said. 'It's quite frankly terrifying.' For the woman, reunification with her brother has been a long time coming. She became a citizen in the late 1990s and began the process to help bring her sibling over a few years later. At the time, Myanmar had been under the control of a strict military junta that held power from the 1960s until 2011, and for decades had kept the country in a state of extreme isolation and deprivation. She said her brother, whose children were just a few years old then, hoped to come over and root his family in more stability. 'Their circumstances in Myanmar at that time were very, very bad. That was the system that I grew up in. There was no future for them, no prosperity,' the woman said. 'My brother was concerned for his children's future and education.' Amid moves and address changes, the couple said they never received the standard letter notifying them that the woman's brother had been able to progress in his visa process. They assumed the wait was a product of notorious immigration backlogs. It wasn't until the situation in Myanmar intensified again in recent years that the couple found out that the brother was close to finally being able to immigrate. But by then, the woman said, her brother's kids had aged out of the system. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, those who turn 21 before being approved for legal permanent resident status are no longer considered a child for immigration purposes and need to file an entirely new application, prolonging the green card process. At this point, the woman said, her brother and sister-in-law said they were willing to risk possible detention to come to the U.S., particularly if it meant easier access to the American immigration system that would enable them to fight to get their children to come over as well. However, with Myanmar's military draft in effect, the family is particularly concerned for their safety now that the travel ban adds another barrier to leaving. 'The reason they wanted to come here was for their kids,' the woman said of her brother and sister-in-law. 'Now, it's really hard to bring my nephews here to save their lives.' Quyen Dinh, executive director of the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, said the bans are ultimately another part of 'the engine of Trump's mass deportation machine.' 'It's focused on demonizing immigrant families and communities by denying them family reunification, that we all rightfully deserve to be whole — especially now, when the world is more dangerous than ever,' Dinh said. Rather than protecting individuals' safety, Dinh said, she believes Trump's policy punishes those who need an escape from dangerous conditions. 'It perpetuates the violence that is happening across the world, as opposed to creating conditions for peace or humanitarian relief, and for these families who've been separated,' Dinh said. She also said she views the ban as evidence that the U.S. is misunderstanding its role as a humanitarian leader. 'We've got people who are legitimately trying to escape a civil war,' the woman's husband said. 'Now, because of some arbitrary decision by the Trump administration to pick a certain number of countries … without consideration of the actual cases, without an exception policy, it hurts them. They've done nothing wrong.' This article was originally published on
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Mills reaffirms commitment to foreign trade partners amid tariff uncertainty
Jun. 9—Gov. Janet Mills reaffirmed Maine's commitment to its northern and European neighbors and to preserving the Arctic landscape in the face of climate change at an annual breakfast with business and trade leaders. Speaking to a crowd of hundreds at the Governor's International Breakfast on Monday, Mills emphasized the interconnectedness of trade and the environment, and she championed the importance of understanding and minimizing the worst effects of climate change. The theme of Monday's breakfast was "Maine: Gateway to the Arctic and North Atlantic." Speakers, including representatives of shipping logistics company Eimskip and the Maine International Trade Center, discussed Maine's role as a shipping and marine industry hub. Mills said the actions of other nations working in the Arctic, including Canada and Maine's European trading partners, directly impact "our little state." "And the actions of our little state affect the Arctic," she said. Mills paid particular attention to Maine and Canada's "historic friendship and deeply intertwined economies," noting that the state took in billions of dollars' worth of goods last year, including high quantities of fuel and heating oil that rural Mainers rely on. She highlighted a recent campaign to install signage welcoming Canadians at each of Maine's 13 border crossings. Canadian tourism is anticipated to drop by about a quarter this summer, as Canadians feel increasingly hesitant to visit in light of President Donald Trump's tariffs and threats to make their country the 51st state. "While we can't fix this economic uncertainty coming from the nation's capital," Maine can show Canadians tourists that they are welcome, Mills said. "It's the least we can do." Mills followed remarks by Bernadette Jordan, consul general of Canada in Boston, who thanked the governor for her "steadfast friendship." The Arctic, including Canada's Arctic Archipelago, has been warming four times faster than the rest of the world, Jordan said. Meanwhile, the country's northwest passage could become the most efficient shipping route between Europe and East Asia, which would lead to increased international traffic, she said. "The threats to our sovereignty are real when it comes to the North," she said, adding that Canada is pursuing intelligence-sharing agreements with other nations that include or do business in arctic territories. At one point, Mills directed her remarks to a table of visiting students from Edward Little High School in Auburn, urging them to ask questions of their elected officials and to avoid isolationism when they grow old enough to vote. She said Maine has learned improved forest production and fishery techniques from officials and tradespeople in Finland and Iceland, citing these as examples of cross-cultural knowledge sharing that drives innovation at home. Mills will join a handful of northeastern governors and a half-dozen Canadian premiers in Boston next week to discuss the impacts of tariffs and develop plans for ensuring cross-border trade continues. Copy the Story Link
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
National Trust gears up for packed summer across Gloucestershire
NATIONAL Trust sites across Gloucestershire are gearing up for a summer of activities. Whether it's a day of archaeology, an afternoon of theatre, or simply a picnic in the park, there is something for everyone to enjoy. Chedworth Roman Villa, near Cheltenham, is hosting a variety of events. These include the Gladiator Weekend on June 14 and 15, and the Festival of Archaeology from July 19 to August 3. And visitors can peruse a collection of rare Roman coins on July 19 and 26. Dyrham Park, located near Bath, will be hosting nature tots sessions every Tuesday until July, excluding school holidays. The Festival of Archaeology will run there from July 19 to August 3, offering guided walks, a heritage explorer trail, and a display of previously collected finds. Outdoor theatre will be a highlight at Dyrham Park, with The Lord Chamberlain's Men performing Shakespeare's Twelfth Night on July 25 and 26. Over at Newark Park, near Wotton under Edge, Father's Day celebrations on June 15 will include tea, cake and jazz. On July 13, visitors can enjoy a display of pre-war and classic cars on the lawns. Bug hotel making sessions will be held on July 24 and 25, while outdoor theatre enthusiasts can look forward to performances of Sense and Sensibility and Hamlet on August 2 and August 30, respectively. Woodchester Park in Stroud is preparing for a summer filled with outdoor play. From July 23, the park will be transformed into a mini-festival with outdoor games, trails and activities for younger visitors On September 2, The Three Inch Fools will return for a special outdoor performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. And for younger audiences, Quantum Theatre will present The Tale of Jemima Puddleduck on July 19. Lodge Park and Sherborne Park Estate will be open on various weekends throughout August. Visitors can tour the building, play games on the lawn, and enjoy the Sherborne landscape. In addition to the above events, Summer of Play activities for families will be taking place across all the sites. All the listed events are free, although normal admission charges apply. National Trust places not only provide a day out but also help in the preservation of these special sites for future generations. For more details on what's happening at these locations, visit the National Trust website. .
