Select a region
The world’s gaze will once again be on the remarkable resilience of Alderney’s marine birds – especially its Puffin colony – with a new, advanced PuffinCam soon to be making its debut alongside two existing cameras.
The colony was almost wiped out in the last century and again in 2014 when severe storms resulted in the death or stranding of 35,000 puffins across Europe.
But now, 17 years after 1,500 hectares of Alderney’s west coast and islands was designated a Ramsar site, these brightly coloured birds which symbolise Alderney’s uniqueness are now holding their own and doing well.
New PuffinCam features for 2022, which will go live to the public on April 11th, include not only seeing new areas of the busy Puffin colony which are never normally visible as the island has been closed to visitors during the breeding season since 1987. They also allow the opportunity to watch the growing Grey Seal colony on the reefs north of Burhou, and livestream these to social media. This can only increase the staggering 668,520 pageviews of Alderney’s PuffinCam in 2021.
Key to the colony’s success is the monitoring and protection of all seabirds that breed in and around Alderney, including Gannets, Fulmar, Common Terns, Ringed Plover, a number of gull species, Guillemots, Razorbills, Shags, Cormorants and Storm Petrels.
Since 2007, the Ramsar site has been managed using five-year management strategies with an annual review prepared by the Alderney Wildlife Trust (AWT) on behalf of the States of Alderney. These are developed and reviewed in consultation with the Alderney Ramsar Advisory Group (ARAG) which offers technical advice to the States’ General Services Committee (GSC).
ARAG experts include staff working for the RSPB, the British Trust for Ornithology and the States of Jersey who volunteer their time to independently assess proposals before they are presented to GSC, providing independent expert comment to create robust and vetted management strategies.
The reports are ratified by GSC which recently confirmed continued AWT management of the site on their behalf and approved the creation of an Alderney Ramsar Strategy for 2022-2026. A stakeholders’ forum is being planned to unveil and discuss the strategy.
This strategy outlines the need to monitor the key species listed in the site’s designation as well as the wider marine life and habitats. Population trends and threats are monitored so that effective management decisions can be taken which maintain or enhance the site’s integrity. The objectives of the strategy are assessed annually through various research projects undertaken by research bodies on behalf of GSC and conservation management techniques.
The existing PuffinCams (with the new camera joining soon) can be accessed at www.alderneywildlife.org/wildlife/puffin-cam
• The monitoring programme has also shown how Alderney’s Gannet population has dramatically increased in size since the 1940s. However, the 2021 census appears to show the population has stopped growing in size for the first time in its history. Although the colonies in Alderney still make up more than 1% of the worlds Gannet population, there are no signs of expansion at the two gannetries and its population has experienced concerningly low productivity in recent years. GannetCam was introduced in 2021, streaming from the cliffs overlooking Les Etacs, which helps researchers monitor the Gannets as well as allowing thousands of viewers the opportunity to watch the most southerly Gannet colonies in the British Isles. GannetCam can be accessed at www.teachingthroughnature.co.uk/gannet-cam/
