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NOC scientists study how climate change is affecting seabirds around the UK

A team of NOC scientists have joined forces in a new study looking at how climate change is affecting seabird distribution. Russell Wynn, Simon Josey and Adrian Martin are experts on seabird distribution, climate variability and plankton ecology, respectively, and are currently trying to understand the controls behind a recent increase in numbers of the critically endangered Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus in UK waters. This species was formerly a rare bird in the UK, but is now regularly seen during the summer and autumn post-breeding dispersal period, particularly off SW England. It is of major conservation concern as the global breeding population, centred on the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, is down to about 2000 pairs and the species may become extinct within 50 years. The NOC team are looking at factors such as sea surface temperature, plankton and fish distribution, as well as recent distribution changes in other seabirds such as Guillemots. The first results were recently presented at the 2nd International Manx Shearwater workshop in Belfast, Ireland in August 2005, and the study should be completed by the end of 2005. The project is being supported by the RSPB and colleagues in France and Spain.

Rare Triggerfish caught by angler off Hurst Beach

On Monday August 16 2004 local wildlife expert Marc Moody saw a sea angler catch a rare Triggerfish from Hurst Beach. This observation ties in with recent studies carried out at Southampton Oceanography Centre, where scientist Dr Ken Collins and his colleague Jenny Mallinson have discovered that Triggerfish may actually be breeding in Poole Bay. Triggerfish are more usually found in the warmer waters of the Mediterranean, but in recent summers this subtropical species has increasingly been seen in the English Channel, corresponding with rising water temperatures.

Whales and dolphins in the Solent

Following the unprecedented sighting of a group of Bottle-nosed Dolphins off Hurst Beach, Hampshire in May, two further reports of cetaceans in local waters have been received. The first concerned a group of about ten dolphins, also probably Bottle-nosed Dolphins, that were seen from the research boat, RV Bill Conway in mid-Solent on July 12 2004 by Graham Etheridge. Then came the amazing news that the decomposed body of a 25 m-long Fin Whale had been spotted floating in The Solent on Aug 2 2004, and was posing a serious danger to shipping. It was eventually beached at Lee-on-Solent before being broken up and transported to a landfill site in the New Forest. Records of large whales in south coast waters are extremely rare, and normally relate to sick or injured animals. It is most likely that the Fin Whale involved in the latest incident had died in deeper waters further south or west before being washed into The Solent. Further details can be found on the local BBC website at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/3527212.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/3530086.stm

Seabirds and upwelling

A new study on seabirds and upwelling, led by Russell Wynn of SOC, just been published in the journal British Birds. The full reference and abstract are shown below: Wynn, R.B. and Knefelkamp, B. (2004) Seabird distribution and oceanic upwelling off northwest Africa. British Birds, v.97, p.323-335.

Large numbers of seabirds from northern Europe, including the UK, migrate south to winter in a major zone of upwelling off northwest Africa. This area also attracts seabirds on migration to and from wintering areas farther south, as well as immature seabirds which are too young to move north to their breeding grounds. In spring 2003, the research ship R.V. Meteor visited this upwelling zone off Mauritania. The factors affecting seabird distribution were assessed by comparing observational data on seabirds with a unique combination of other data from the study area. Fish, zooplankton and phytoplankton are concentrated along the shelf edge and upper slope where relatively cool, nutrient-rich, upwelled waters are brought to the surface, and the highest concentrations of seabirds are also found here. Although upwelling, and the associated concentration of food, appears to be the key control on seabird distribution, this pattern is complicated by human fishing activities, which are also concentrated around the shelf edge.

SERPENT project reveals secret life of the deep sea

Capturing wildlife in action