A good storm-petrel season in Portugal

Gemma holding a petrel

Every summer since 1990, A Rocha Portugal has caught and ringed European Storm-petrels Hydrobates pelagicus as they migrate northwards along the Algarve coast. In a partnership with Cardiff University, the team is led by Dr Rob Thomas and Dr Renata Madeiros who are investigating wider issues of petrel diet, influenced by changing sea temperatures. Rob reports, ‘We caught 210 birds this June, including seven which had already been ringed: three from the UK, two from Denmark, one from Portugal and one from France. We strongly suspect that some of the birds we examined are breeding nearby, as a few with brood patches and abraded feathers got caught several times. We’ve not yet managed to locate any colonies, but there are lots of possible sites.’

The team was out on 17 nights. Predicting when the birds will appear is difficult – sometimes none were attracted by the taped calls, but on other nights dozens of petrels fluttered in out of the darkness.

This year 16 students helped Rob, Renata and A Rocha team members. Three of them were funded by the EU Erasmus exchange programme, and during their time at the A Rocha centre, Cruzinha, they benefited from other field experiences, which included surveys of Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus and moth recording. It was especially useful for Gemma, who got a First Class Honours in Biology at the University of Bath, as she hopes to pursue ornithology and do a Masters in conservation.

Photos: Andrew Shepherd