Inishark Grey Seals 4th Nov 15

We were out on Inishark and the surrounding islands again during the week to carry out another count of Grey Seal pups. They seem to be having a good year. There were a couple of casualties recently though with one adult female and ten dead pups encountered. Many of these were in dangerous coves. We had a very large swell last week which combined with high tides and bad weather meant that some were trapped in these coves with no where to escape from the battering waves. Some of the younger pups may have drowned or become hypothermic as they are unable to survive for long in the water when young. The adult female looked like she was absolutely pummelled as she may have been trying to protect here pup.

As we landed on Inishark we saw two bull Grey Seals doing battle right by the slipway. They can be fairly ferocious when they go at each other. If you're of a squeamish nature then the photos below may not be for you! Both had numerous fresh battle wounds and blood was literally flying. They were obviously fighting for the right to mate with the females in the area. One of the males seemed to have the upper hand for most of the time. It was only on editing the photos for this post that I realised that this dominant male had a cataract or was possibly even blind in the right eye. I remembered the male with a similar damaged eye which we saw in the exact same spot back in November 2013 which had the GPS Phone Tag attached to his head. It had been caught in Brittany, France twice and on both occasions has made it's way up to Inishark for the autumn.
http://dermotbreen.blogspot.ie/2013/12/inishshark-27th-november-2013.html
When I compared my photos from November 2015 and November 2013. I was able to find at least three unique marks on the head which confirmed that it was actually the same male! He has earned himself quite a few more battle scars during the last two seasons. The tag is glued onto fur but is shed when the male moults each year. It must surely have made the same journey many times now although he obviously hasn't been tagged this year.

While I mention seals there was an interesting piece in the news about a week back which was reporting on research addressing the theory that seals compete with Irish commercial fish stocks.
http://afloat.ie/item/30438-seals-not-competing-with-commercial-fishing-stocks-says-new-research
The study was carried out by the Queens University Belfast, University College Cork and Marine Institute. They found that "seals are not threatening commercial fishing stocks in Irish waters, with the possible exception of wild Atlantic salmon". While they can cause damage to static fishing gear they have no significant negative effects on commercially fished species along the south and west coast of Ireland. As mentioned by the study the huge majority of Salmon sold in Ireland is now farmed which if run properly should be immune from the attention of seals. When they do cause damage to fish in nets it's usually down to just a few individuals who have learned about an easy source of food. Seals along with Cormorants have long been demonised throughout the world by fisher folk and I'm sure this scientific study will do nothing to change many minds in the industry here. I was at a talk a few years ago given by a fisheries officer who was suggesting a Cormorant cull while using a picture of Shag as part of the presentation - need I say more. When had a locally elected county councillor calling for cull and returning to "keeping the place clean" (paraphrasing) of seals not that long ago.
http://afloat.ie/marine-environment/marine-wildlife/item/19000-seal-cull-needed-on-west-coast-says-fg-councillor
Culling wildlife now seems to be the standard go to option for many in recent years even if the slightest issue arises e.g. Pine Martens, Badgers, "seagulls", Barnacle Geese, birds of prey, etc. God forbid we would actually look at the facts first, no, just shoot first and as questions later.

Very loose skin on the neck - adaption for fighting among males?

2013 and 2015 pics. Large gash to the left hand side of the top of the neck. Wound seems to have been reopened.

2013 and 2015 pics. Very distinctive scarring on bridge of nose. Starting from top working down - diagonal mark over three vertical marks with a two horizontal marks. 

2013 and 2015 pics. Distinctive pockmarked scar behind left eye, almost the same shape as county Clare!

Female Grey Seal

Young Grey Seal playing with its mother. Both were nearly 100 metres up from the shoreline.

Barnacle Geese, about 200 on the island.

Fieldfare

Redwing

Redwing

Redwing

Leatherbacks, Osprey & Seal Pup

Bunch of random stuff, mostly dead unfortunately but with one good story to finish up with.

These remains of a Leatherback Turtle was reported to us a fortnight back or so. It's the first dead turtle I've personally encountered here. There are several records for the county however with one (dead) turning up at Barna as recently as this February and a rarer still Loggerhead Turtle washed up dead on Mweenish Island, Carna in January. This individual measured 1.46 metres in length and wasn't far off the average size for an adult. They are the largest turtle species in the world and are one of the few that can survive the cool waters at this latitude.

Underside of Leatherback Turtle, Aillebrack, Ballyconneely, 24th October 2014. Three vertebrate still attached to the underside.

Upperside of Leatherback Turtle, Aillebrack, Ballyconneely, 24th October 2014. Half the left-hand side of the carapace is missing.

Some may recall photos of a juvenile Osprey perched on the gateposts of a Brackloon Primary School, South of Westport last September. The bird was very tame so something obviously wasn't quite right. Unfortunately the bird was picked up dead shortly afterwards. The bird was very underweight as was evident in the wasted breast area. It's currently residing in the freezer at Connemara National Park.
 http://www.irishbirding.com/birds/web/Display/sighting/71498/Osprey.html



Osprey feet.

Osprey

Osprey

I got a call from Féicín Mulkerin on Saturday morning to say that there was a Grey Seal pup on the Aughrus pier just past Claddaghduff. I've gotten a few calls about apparent injured seals over the last few years but they've all proved to be perfectly healthy adults who were just hauled up in somewhat unusual locations. This poor wee fella was in obvious trouble when I saw him. Most of our Grey Seals in Connemara pup on the offshore islands such as Inishshark, Inishgort and Friar Island. If any pups were to be washed offshore none would make it to the mainland as they would quickly drown or die from hypothermia. A search of the area failed to find any possible candidates of a mother. The pup had been present on the pier since Friday. It was obviously dehydrated at this state and weak from hunger. With the help of Féicín we managed to put it in the back of my van after cutting it free from a fishing net that it had managed to get itself entangled in. After a few phone call I managed to find a place for it in the Irish Seal Sanctuary in Courtown, Co. Wexford. Three hours later I meet up with volunteers Mel and Leena halfway in Athlone where they successfully managed to rehydrate the pup. This definitely raised a few eyebrows in the carpark of Woodies DIY store as seal pups aren't exactly a common sight in Athlone town! Athlone is just about as far away from the coast as one can get in Ireland. It will be cared for in Wexford and fingers crossed it will have a good chance of being released back into the wild once it matures in a few weeks time.

Grey Seal pup

 

No sign of a mega gull at the end of this rainbow.

Sea Kale, rare(ish?) marine plant.

 

Inishmore Sea Mammals

A few shots from Inishmore over the last few days. The group of four Bottle-nosed Dolphins were just off the main pier at Kilronan when I arrived on Friday morning. According to a few local they had been there a while. A little odd to see them this close in but not quite close enough to get enough detail on the fins to identify individuals. It was a particularly gloomy day so it wasn't ideal for good shots.

The Grey Seal pup was on the shoreline at Loch Phort Chorrúch. I'd classify it as a Stage II pup i.e. 3 -7 days old. This is the first time I've seen a Grey Seal pup here and it's usually Harbour Seals that haul out here at low tide. Greys have been recorded breeding on Rock, Brannock and Straw Islands which are small islands just of the West and East side of Inishmore however. Hopefully if it's left alone by people and dogs it will be fine. The biggest problem it probably faces is being "rescued" by some well intentioned but ill-informed persons who think the poor thing has been abandoned. There were numerous adult seals just offshore, one of which was certainly its mother.

Having a good stretch.

 

Inishshark 27th November 2013

We managed to get out to Inishshark last Wednesday thanks to the extended settled spell we've been having of late. Conditions weren't too rough considering the time of the year. As we pulled into the main "harbour" we were greeted by a handful Grey Seals hauled out on the slipway including the male below. I noticed something odd stuck to the back of its head and on further inspection it proved to be a GPS Phone Tag developed by the Sea Mammal Research Unit out of Saint Andrews University, Scotland http://www.smru.st-and.ac.uk/Instrumentation/GPSPhoneTag/
We later discovered that it had been caught in NW France in early June. I got some really interesting maps and more info on its movements but have been asked not to reproduce them until the research is published. He was very interested in one particular female that remained with her pup the whole time we were on the island (that time of year for Grey Seals). I can't imagine how one would manage to catch, restrain and attach a tag like this onto an adult male Grey Seal, must be a bit of handful to say the very least! Even though it was getting very late in the season there were still a good few seal pups present.
We saw the Barnacle Goose flock here again, around 400 birds. Like every other time anyone lands on the island the majority of the geese left the island and moved out to Inishgort and Cruagh Island. The Connemara Barnacles seem far more skittish compared to mainland flocks in Mayo, Sligo and Donegal for some reason. Numbers of Barnacle Geese have been significantly increasing in recent years and they show no signs of slowing down any time soon.
We also had a pair of Chough on the day as well. Not the first time we've seen them out there and there must be at least one pair breeding out there. Must seem a few days out there in the summer to try and pin them down along with a few other breeding species.

Eoin McGreal and Dennis Strong with the RHIB and friends.

Inishshark from the East end looking back West.

Inishshark looking back East over to Stags of Insihbofin and Westquarter on Inishbofin.

Inishshark Geese & Grey Seals

Some photos from last Friday taken on Inishshark just before things went completely mental here in Galway. I joined a few others from NPWS to help count Grey Seal pups on Inishshark who seem to be doing well. Four Pink-footed Geese were seen flying over the island even before we landed. These are presumably the same flock Anthony McGeehan had about two weeks ago on Inishbofin. Also eleven Barnacle Geese which I reckon were probably just arriving in. 470 were counted here on the last aerial survey in 2008. They are impossible to survey other that by the air due to being extremely flighty. They often fly off and move to other adjacent islands even before you can land on the island. Secondly more often than not it's usually not possible to land a boat on the island during the winter months due to heavy swells and poor/no harbour facilities.
This is one of the main reasons why Inishshark was abandoned by the very last of its 24 inhabitants in October 1960. Islanders were often stranded on the island for weeks at a time without any communication to the outside world or access to shops, a doctor and importantly at the time a priest. I'd really recommend watching "Inis Airc; Bás Oileáin" (Inishshark; Death of an island) done by TG4 about island life and the evacuation. It's divided into five parts on Youtube, first one is here. Nothing left on the island now apart from the geese and seal. Very sad going through some of the old houses out there and just imagining what life would have been back in the day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=VmXb2sIFJuY&NR=1

Pink-footed Geese

Barnacle Geese

This could actually be a Harbour Seal, doesn't seem to have the typical Roman-nosed appearance of a Grey.





This "looker" unlike all other female seals stands her ground every year we do the count. Not a lady you'd want to tango with!

Day old Grey Seal pup, whence the blood probably from the afterbirth.

Another very young pup having a little stretch, note the fresh umbrilical cord.

An older pup, note the old white furry coat being moulted.