Northern Ireland This is the sixth edition of the Northern Ireland Seabird Report, covering 2019. The report is the published outcome of the work of the Northern Ireland Seabird Network Seabird Report – a network of volunteers, researchers and organisations – coordinated by the BTO Seabird Coordinator, and funded by NIEA. 2019 British Trust for Ornithology Head Office: ISBN No 978-1-912642-17-5 The Nunnery, Thetford Norfolk IP24 2PU Tel: +44 (0)1842 750050 www.bto.org Registered Charity No. 216652 (England & Wales) SC039193 (Scotland) Company Limited by Guarantee No. 357284 (England & Wales) FRONT COVER IMAGE: GUILLEMOT, BY PHILIP CROFT / BTO 9 781912 642175 Northern Ireland Seabird Report 2019 NI Seabird Steering Group Dave Allen (Allen & Mellon Environmental) Katherine Booth Jones (BTO) Kendrew Colhoun (KRC Ecological) Gillian Gilbert (RSPB) Kerry Leonard (Sterna Environmental) Neil McCulloch (NIEA) Andrew Upton (National Trust) Report editor Katherine Booth Jones This report is the published outcome of the work of the Northern Ireland Seabird Network – a network of volunteers, researchers and organisations – coordinated by the BTO Seabird Coordinator, and funded by NIEA. British Trust for Ornithology The Nunnery Thetford Norfolk IP24 2PU www.bto.org [email protected] +44 (0) 1842 750050 Registered Charity No.216652 (England & Wales) No.SC039193 (Scotland). Company Limited by Guarantee No. 357284 (England & Wales) February 2020 © British Trust for Ornithology & Northern Ireland Environment Agency ISBN 978-1-912642-17-5 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. Northern Ireland Seabird Report 2019 NI Seabird Steering Group Northern Ireland Seabird Report 2019 Dave Allen (Allen & Mellon Environmental) Katherine Booth Jones (BTO) Kendrew Colhoun (KRC Ecological) Gillian Gilbert (RSPB) Kerry Leonard (Sterna Environmental) Neil McCulloch (NIEA) Andrew Upton (National Trust) Report editor Katherine Booth Jones This report is the published outcome of the work of the Northern Ireland Seabird Network – a network of volunteers, researchers and organisations – coordinated by the BTO Seabird Coordinator, and funded by NIEA. British Trust for Ornithology The Nunnery Thetford Norfolk IP24 2PU www.bto.org [email protected] +44 (0) 1842 750050 Registered Charity No.216652 (England & Wales) No.SC039193 (Scotland). Company Limited by Guarantee No. 357284 (England & Wales) February 2020 © British Trust for Ornithology & Northern Ireland Environment Agency ISBN 978-1-912642-17-5 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. Contents Editorial ...............................................................................................................................................3 Seabird Monitoring Overview ..............................................................................................................4 Breeding seabirds in Northern Ireland in 2019 .....................................................................................7 Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) .................................................................................................10 Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) ...................................................................................................12 European Storm Petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus)......................................................................................14 Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) ..............................................................................................15 European Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) ............................................................................................18 Great Skua (Stercorarius skua) .............................................................................................................21 Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) .............................................................................................22 Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) .................................................................................25 Mediterranean Gull (Larus melanocephalus) ........................................................................................28 Common Gull (Larus canus) ..............................................................................................................30 Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus) ..............................................................................................33 Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) ..........................................................................................................35 Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus) ...........................................................................................37 Little Tern (Sternula albifrons) ............................................................................................................39 Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis) ..............................................................................................40 Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)..........................................................................................................42 Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii) ............................................................................................................44 Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea) ............................................................................................................46 Common Guillemot (Uria aalge) .......................................................................................................48 Razorbill (Alca torda) ..........................................................................................................................50 Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle) ........................................................................................................52 Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica).......................................................................................................54 Tern foraging over wake structures in the Narrows tidal channel, Strangford Lough ...........................59 Irish Sea Tern Network Meeting .........................................................................................................63 Biosecurity for LIFE Project ...............................................................................................................65 Seawatching at Ramore Head .............................................................................................................68 Strangford Lough tern productivity 2019 ...........................................................................................71 2019 Seabird Nesting Report for Strangford Lough and the Outer Ards ............................................75 MarPAMM work in the Republic of Ireland .......................................................................................78 Appendix: Species counts ...................................................................................................................80 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................84 4 Northern Ireland Seabird Report 2019 Editorial Katherine Booth Jones BTO NI Science Officer and Seabird Coordinator RAZORBILL, BY SARAH KELMAN / BTO This is the seventh edition of the Northern Ireland Seabird Report, covering 2019. This report is the published outcome of the work of the Northern Ireland Seabird Network of volunteers, overseen by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA). At the core of the Seabird Network in Northern Ireland are our surveyors, some of whom work for Government bodies such as NIEA, and others on behalf of Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) such as Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Ulster Wildlife and the National Trust. All are important contributors through the provision of data for 2019 and previous years, and provide advice and guidance from their expert staff. I am grateful for their co-operation and assistance. Many other surveyors are volunteers who give their time freely to help. The amount and quality of work undertaken by volunteers in Northern Ireland is exemplary, and we are fortunate that many enthusiastic and talented people are part of the Northern Ireland Seabird Network. As always, it is important that volunteers who are interested in staying connected to the Northern Ireland Seabird Network for news and surveys make sure that they have provided their GDPR consent and contact details to the Seabird Coordinator, Katherine Booth Jones ([email protected]). I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this report and to encourage more people to join the Seabird Network. I would also like to thank NIEA for their continued financial support for both the Seabird Coordinator role and for the production of this annual report. This 2019 report on breeding seabirds in Northern Ireland follows the format of the preceding reports. However, you may notice that the bar-charts found in previous reports