Damian, Sarah and I headed off to Aberystwyth last night to try and catch a few more Manx Shearwaters. Despite there being no known nesting locations on the Welsh mainland it is virtually a nightly occurrence to get Shearwaters flying low along the coastal slopes north and south of Aberystwyth uttering their weird nocturnal caterwauling.
They may look gentle but you don't really want to be doing this!
Last week Brendan and I did battle with 25 Shearwaters near Clarach and last night we caught another 8 plus this cracking Little Owl, a bird which is getting very scarce now locally.
Far more unusual though was the single Storm Petrel we also caught. This is the first Storm Petrel I have ever managed to attract to a lure on this section of coast and it was already ringed!
It had been caught originally by the Teifi Ringing Group at Mwnt on 22nd July 2012 about 35 km south of where we controlled it
It is not the first between year retrap/control that they have had of birds ringed at Mwnt and it is very interesting to speculate on why these birds are being retrapped at these sites well inside Cardigan Bay.
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