AWEG learns about seabirds

Over twenty members of AWEG, the Audlem Wildlife & Ecology Group, enjoyed a fascinating talk yesterday afternoon by Tessa Cole who has been working for the RSPB on Colonsay, an island off Scotland's west coast, over recent summers.

Tessa, daughter of Audlem residents Roger and Beryl Cole, has been part of a project trying to discover why seabird populations have been reducing over recent decades, albeit populations can fluctuate significantly up and down, it appears, between individual years.

She is part of a team that has been following the feeding habits of a number of species such as Kittiwakes, Black Guillemots, Razorbills and Shags. As well as Colonsay, the research has covered mainland and island sites including Fair Island, Cape Wrath and the Moray and Forth Firths.

Birds are tagged with sophisticated GPS tracking devices and the presentation showed the amazing distances some birds travel to feed.

It was an extremely well presented view, with numerous and sophisticated illustrations, of a major study that resulted in many questions raised by the audience.

The next AWEG meeting is on Tuesday 18th November at 7.15pm in the Lord Combermere.

The guest speaker then will be Barry Probin, on 'A Year on the Moss', a look at Whixall Moss which some AWEG members visited in the summer.

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