Glasgow And Ships Of The Clyde

Winter Visit To Horse Island To Study The Bird Population

Article by T. Graham Couper
and photographs by William S Paton, A.R.P.S.

Normally my colleague, Mr William S Paton, A.R.P.S. of Kilmarnock, and I visit Horse Island during the months of April, May and June to study and to photograph the countless numbers of sea birds which nest there.
At that time the sky above the island is a whirling white mass of black-headed gulls, but during our recent winter visit we found a totally different situation.

Gone were the thousands of black-headed gulls, not even one of which was to be seen on the island.
Gone also was the high luxuriant green growth.
In its place were brown, bent and broken stalks battered by winter winds and rain.
As we walked over the withered clumps of sedge grass, which were deep green when we last saw them, you wondered what the rabbit population of the island could find to eat at a time like this. There were few patches of green grass but no doubt they could exist on roots and other vegetable matter.

NOT OFTEN DISTURBED

We noticed that a live branch which had been washed up on to the shingle had been stripped of its bark by the rabbits to supplement their diet.
Because these animals are not often disturbed, it is not unusual to see them running around during the day. We saw quite a few, one of which we were able to catch alive when it ran into a cleft in a rock.
After the rabbit had been handled for a few minutes, it quietened down considerably and eventually we were able to sit it down on the ground where it remained.
Occasionally it wandered off for a few yards but even then we were able to walk forward and lift it up.
After taking a few photographs we left it and continued our walk round the island.

At the rocky southern tip of Horse Island we saw oyster catchers and redshanks sitting in small flocks, also quite a few of the island's moorhen population searching for food among the rocks along the shore-line.

Out to sea we spotted a few pairs of eider duck, the males looking particularly attractive in their black and white plumage.
Nearby a few cormorants were seen swimming and diving in search of fish.

FLOCK OF TWITES

Two common seals ventured into one of the island's small bays but did not land, so all that was seen of them was their heads as they swam back and forth, watching us all the time.

Near the beacon tower we disturbed a flock of about three hundred finches. We were not certain at first what kind they were but we managed to get a closer look at the birds when they settled a little further on and we found them to be twites.
They made quite a bit of noise when they were feeding and did not seem very much to mind our presence, thus enabling us to observe them through our binoculars at a distance of about twenty yards.
To us, the interesting thing about the flock was the fact that they all seemed to rise into the air at the same time as though some signal had been given.

Next to the tower we found a dead rock dove. A few pairs of these birds nest in the tower every year.
Walking on we were startled by a curlew which rose from the ground almost at our feet and which flew seawards, calling loudly.
At most of the stagnant pools near the centre of the island we disturbed a number of snipe, most of which flew only thirty or forty yards before settling again.

A few blackbirds and thrushes were also seen on the island.
These birds are not present during the summer but the wrens and rock pipits seem to remain here all the year round.

It was now almost time for us to return to Ardrossan but, as were making our way back to the boat, a female sparrow hawk was seen flying low over the island.
It chased a few small birds near the shore-line before flying off.

FAVOURITE HAUNT ?

No doubt the abundance of small birds will make Horse Island a favourite haunt for sparrow hawks which, unfortunately, are not nearly as common as they once were.

Nearing the northern end of the island we saw a fine pair of shell duck flying above us, their plumage shown to advantage in the sunlight.

A pair of greater black-backed gulls were also flying above the island and they seemed to call anxiously when we approached the area where they nested last year. We were not surprised to find nothing, but these birds are early nesters and they were sitting on three eggs by the end of April last year.

As the boat drew away from the shore we looked back across a very calm sea to Horse Island to which we would return in about three months' time to find it transformed once again into a nesting place for thousands of seabirds.